Akira Kurosawa: Every Movie Ranked Worst To Best
8. Kagemusha (1980)
The '70s were a famously rough time for Kurosawa, but he thankfully came out the other side more energised and creatively eager than ever.
An epic and sombre fantasy-action film, Kagemusha gained funding thanks to the advocacy of George Lucas and Francis Ford Coppola, and over three hours follows the exploits of a thief (Tatsuya Nakadai) who is hired to impersonate a warlord, and then must defend his land from encroaching invaders.
Visually one of the director's most impressive projects, Kagemusha is at once surreal and violent, unpredictable and dreamy, and finds Kurosawa at his most relentlessly innovative and challenging. Watching it is like witnessing a master painter at work, and the finished results are simply divine in both scope and beauty.