In 1980, Akira Kurosawa, a Japanese director and one of the giants of 20th Century cinema, had his career revived with *Kagemusha*, a jidai geki spectacle made possible, among other things, with the aid of George Lucas. The American filmmaker felt a strong sense of obligation towards his Japanese colleague, as his own *magnum opus*, the 1977 science fiction epic *Star Wars*, had been heavily inspired by Kurosawa's j…