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Plot: A heinous crime and its aftermath are recalled from differing points of view.
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Recent Reviews
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MCT:September 17, 2008
Kurosawa, né. Fotografia maravilhosa (principalmente por ser um filme de 1950). Muito bonito apesar de uma história muito triste. Uns enquadramentos que deixavam tudo extramamente realista, senti até medo!
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MCT:September 16, 2008
The structure of the film is fascinating, & it is an excellent film in general. Well worth watching.
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MCT:September 7, 2008Different perspectives never reveal the actual incident, but instead offer a rough outline of the selfishness and deceits that lay in everybody's soul. For a roughly 90-minute film, it offers a lot to ponder. Essential viewing for any movie freak.
That is all. ^_^ -
MCT:September 6, 2008
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"Commoner:
Well, men are only men. That's why they lie. They can't tell the truth, even to themselves.
Priest:
That may be true. Because men are weak, they lie to deceive themselves."
One of the most influential films of All-Time.Kurosawa's masterpiece
Review Coming Soon.... -
MCT:August 19, 2008Apparently this film was one of the first to use the "flashback from multiple perspectives approach", so it is historically and creatively significant for that. However, I found the acting style of Mifune, as the bandit, to be a distraction more than anything else. The use of the "medium" to convey one perspective was a highlight for me. Overall an interesting movie, but one that I expected more from.
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MCT:August 17, 2008
''It's human to lie. Most of the time we can't even be honest with ourselves.''
A heinous crime and its aftermath are recalled from differing points of view.
Toshirô Mifune: Tajômaru
Ironically, Japanese critics were not enthusiastic about Rashomon when it was released in 50's Japan.
In today's world, however, Rashomon is generally considered to be the film that introduced both director Akira Kurosawa and Japanese cinema to the western parts of the globe.
Often cited as the film that prompted The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to create an award for Best Foreign Language film. It is widely regarded as a masterwork of world cinema.
Set in 12th Century Japan, the film's premise is at once both very simple yet very complicated. A man is found dead in a forest, and several people are brought forward to give testimony in the matter. In some respects their accounts agree but in numerous others, some obvious and some very subtle, their stories differentiate. As each character gives his or her version of events, the various differences pile higher and higher, leaving the viewer to wonder at the motivations involved.
Personally, Rashomon has forever been among favourites of Kurosawa's directional works.
During Akira's lifetime he managed to confirm himself as one of the world's leading film-makers. He was a film maker who created cinema which was impossible to compare, and his influence still resounds within even the most mainstream works of today. For example, the non-linear styling structure of Rashomon has been respectfully woven in numerous films since.
Rashomon was the work which propelled the career of Kurosawa, even though it was not widely regarded in its own country at the time, it was hailed by the critics of the Western world as a definitive masterpiece.
Rashomon is the compressed story of an innocent woman's rape and her husband's murder, performed by a ruthless bandit (acted out by Kurosawa's long-time muse, Toshirô Mifune).
Even though the bandit is caught and consequently put on trial, the seemingly simple crime soon becomes questionably more complicated as it is recounted from four individually detached eye-witness perspectives. Posing many philosophical and debatable questions for the viewer, the picture asks which story is the one to believe, through -what was at the time and still remains- a highly stylized storytelling technique. Establishing a verdict on the heinous crime centered upon in Rashomon is as much an ordeal as the crime itself because it proves to be an incident which provokes moral questioning and fierce debate.
The film-making techniques used in Rashomon gave birth to a distinct style that Kurosawa was prepared to develop further in his later works, which can be seen in films such as Yojimbo and Shichinin no samurai.
Level-headed pragmatism plagued Kurosawa's features throughout his earlier years, this was something that came as an advantage for his films, being that the characters (even the bad) portrayed in his films were genuine people you could feel compassion and remorse for.
Also, Kurosawa began to define genres throughout the 1950s and 1960s, while also bringing to light some now-popular methods of camera movement, e.g. dutch angles, revolving shots and amplified close-ups.
For those who question the film's offbeat narrative structure, they should ask themselves whether or not the cut-throat editing is there as a means of symbolising the colliding viewpoints. I consider this to be a daring means of combining humanitarian lies and honesty, and also a means of creating a disorientating, volatile impression. With Rashômon, Kurosawa's admiration for silent cinema came into evident practice; this can be seen through the minimalist set-pieces, which are a contrast to the complex storytelling procedure that his work embodies. The ambiguity of Rashômon is detailed through subtly metaphorical cinematography and lighting techniques. I have seen the setting of the woods as a display of the work's central atmosphere (intrigue, depth) and the shadows periodically depicting a loss of empathy and symbolizing the isolated danger of the reflective surroundings.
Kurosawa's skill is not just in dialog and relationships, his visual acuity helps accentuate these themes. When the story begins, the woods is magical, even colorful (despite the black and white used). It is a woods of fairy tale proportions, with mystical breezes and tranquil streams.
As Rashomon progresses, the woods lose more and more of their mystical quality and become dirty, dry and ultimately more real.
By the time the battle between the husband and the bandit is played out in its final representation, it is no longer a valiant battle of skill against two well-versed opponents, its a stressful, scary affair that has the two kicking up more dust than swinging their blades. The dust itself shows the degradation of the story, that is Rashomon, coming away from the abstract qualities, derived of truth and justice. -
MCT:August 9, 2008Akira Kurosawa's 1950 "masterpiece" had it's moments of intrigue but moments of tedium as well. The reason this movie is praised to high heaven is because of it's thoughtful analysis on truth and justice. The human mind and spirit are studied here, and shown is how perspective changes from person to person, mostly due to bias. Set outside a village to start, there is a discussion of something terrible that has happened, and as the story progresses, it's revealed that a crime took place between a bandit, a warrior, and his wife. Each testimony is told, and with each side of the story given, there seems to be an inconsistency in what really happened. With their lives and reputation on the line, each one desperately skews the truth showing the selfishness of humans. The story works in it's agenda for creating a scenario that displays character (or lack of), but it wasn't entirely interesting, especially considering that it had to be told numerous times (with different outcomes of course). If the message doesn't hit home, there seems to be some entertainment value sacrificed and it's hard to forgive from my perspective. The acting was fine, although I could do without some of that annoying overacted laughing, and it's nicely shot, so it's got that going for it, but this movie requires some patience. I can appreciate this artistic piece, but it's not my favorite, especially after seeing Kurosawa's grand epic "Seven Samurai".
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MCT:August 5, 2008
Once again, Kurosawa is way ahead of his time with this one. I really wish I could have viewed this when it first came out...
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MCT:July 30, 2008
As innovated technically as it is story wise, this film one of Kurosawa?s first great widely acclaimed films deconstructs the storyline by having the story told from differing perspectives. The same story, but each time told a separate way. There are three players in the main story and one other, which I will not reveal for those who have not seen this foreign masterpiece. The three players are the bandit Tajômaru, played by Toshiro Mifune, the samurai Takehiro, played by Masayuki Mori, and Takehiro?s wife Masako, played by Machiko Kyô. Each is given the chance to relate his or her accounts although it is clear after hearing each that no one is revealing the full truth of the matter. Rashomon is a masterfully woven film about the selfishness inside. Through the story and innovative cinematography, Akira Kurosawa is able to unravel some sort of story that makes sense, but ultimately leaves it up to the audience to decide for themselves. For any fan of Kurosawa?s films or great story telling, this is a must-see.
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MCT:July 30, 2008
Ambiguous in its conclusion- Who's story do you trust? What a way to explore an event or theme though! Great illustration of the metaphysical allegory of several blindfolded men feeling different parts of an elephant and not being able to agree on what it is that they are feeling. Everyone's description reveals some truth, but not the whole truth, everyone is lying about something, and the audience is put in the position of judge to figure out what the big picture is. On my second viewing, I noticed how little dialog there was in the segments in the woods. Relationships and ideas are being expressed, but in silence. It is probably this silent lack of words, which causes some viewers to think the movie is slow.
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MCT:July 30, 2008
It took me a while to get into this film, but Kurosawa's treatment of how different viewpoints can shed light on a crime or situation is masterful. Includes some absolutely breathtaking shots as well!
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MCT:July 25, 2008
A rape is the central event in the story, and I try to avoid movies where this is the case. I know they happen, but I don't want to see movies about them for any reason. It is top flight work from Kurosawa and Mifune. This is one of the few movies with rape as a subject that I might watch again.
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MCT:July 25, 2008
"Rashoman" begins grey on grey with rain coming down in buckets. Three men are sitting the storm out under cover of the ruins of a temple. One is a priest, one is a thieving marauder and the other is an ordinary working bloke, a peasant/woodsman. One of the men, the woodsman is quite distraught. He complains mysteriously about how "it" can't be true. The others ask him what "it" is. And so the story begins.
A murder trial has occurred. An infamous bandit has been caught and charged with the murder of a traveller and the rape of the traveller's wife. The bandit is being interrogated by the authorities. One can never see these authorities; only the person giving testimony faces the camera, thus, giving the audience the authority of a jury. What transpires at this trial are a series of testimonies about what happened at the scene of the crime, each from a different perspective, each with a differing take, nuance and emphases on the matter of the murder and rape. The bandit has his turn and then comes the wife and finally, using the wife as a medium, the ghost of the husband has his say. But, there's more. There was a witness there that fateful day, an observer who was in the very same forest, an ordinary man who will tell his version of events only to those gathered beneath the ruins at Rashoman.
"Rashoman" is a study in perspective and a reflection on meaning. By the time the film has run half its length, the audience has been told many truths about what happened on the fateful day when the husband met his untimely demise, not the least of which answers the question of who was responsible for a murder. As a part of the audience, you become a member of the jury.
Who are you to believe: the bandit, the wife, the husband's ghost or the woods man, who has not testified at the trial? Further, what if none of them can be believed, which parts of their conflicting stories are true and which false?
Do people really compulsively embellish the truth about themselves and their motives?
Can the truth be known?
A baby cries in the ruins. Someone must take responsibility for life. Will it be the priest, the marauder or the woodsman. The Sun has come out. -
MCT:July 24, 2008
A stunning film that is one of many from Akira Kurosawa. His films are always made with a high standard right across the board. The direction doesn't get any better. The casting is perfect. The acting is quality by all the actors involved. And the plot. The plot is one that has been used a million times by other directors. I think when that happens it shows the impact the original film had on all other moviemakers. This really is a must see film, don't be put off by the fact it's in black and white. Don't watch a dubbed version. All of these things just adds to the intensity of the film itself. Excellent movie that will still be being watched in hundreds of years with people still saying this is how the masters do it.
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MCT:June 28, 2008
Kurosawa is perfect. Toshiro Mifune does him a lot of credit. This movie is very visual and awesome in many levels
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MCT:June 13, 2008
loved how each version of the story was colored so greatly by the teller. very interesting and some great surprises. the medium who channeled the husband was a highlight for me. freaky!
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MCT:May 27, 2008
Kurosawa's ageless epic Rashomon is nothing short of admirable, some stunning plot and character development and outstanding cinematography are only few of the many geniuses of this narrative masterpiece.
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MCT:May 13, 2008
While the same story/multiple viewpoints concept is somewhat commonplace today, it began w/ this film by the master Kurosawa. An engrossing story with another great performance by Mifune. Very interesting, if not very realistic, but perhaps my jaded opinion is a result of my being spoiled by more modern filmmaking techniques.
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MCT:May 3, 2008
A deep philosophical study embedded inside of an intrinsic narrative, Rashomon shows itself as a rumination on lies, deception, and the commonplace they hold in our deteriorating society. While Rashomon holds heavy subject matter and shines a relatively harsh light on humanity, it holds a form of levity through its bumpy score to its near whimsical characters, which manages to an act as a brilliant overlay highlighting man's ignorance of the meaning of truth. To lie is to step into immorality - yet it remains an ideal sorely lost to the larger community.
Kurosawa's film of a looping story being retold is a fascinating and wide depiction of a very simple premise. The film is something to treasure as a piece of cinema that seems to grow with time. -
MCT:May 1, 2008
completely engaging and thoroughly thought provoking. Masterful execution of the story demands attention throughout. my mind was in overdrive the entire time. fantastic.
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MCT:April 29, 2008
Excellent film. Mifune is fantastic as are all the supporting players. Mifune plays a man accused of raping a woman and then murdering her husband. The attcak is explained from several view points and it is sort of left up to the viewer to figure out which one actually happened.
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MCT:April 24, 2008
A film of brilliance throughout, in it's tackling of subjects like life an death, morality, humanity and how we, as humans, do and say certain things to feel a certain way or to be looked at by others in a certain way. There are countless reasons why this should rightly be considered a masterpiece.
It's a difficult task to sum up what makes this, or any Kurosawa film for that matter, so great. In Seven Samurai, one of the highest achievements in the history of filmmaking, Kurosawa's scope was much broader, and he tackled issues of a much larger scale yet at the same time keeping it feeling intimate and personal. With Rashomon, however, it's not about issues that could potentially affect populations of people but rather an incident of murder that affects a very small group of people. We are shown this incident from several different perspectives; each person involved giving either a slightly different or completely different version of what happened. And what is Kurosawa's most brilliant stroke is to never reveal which of the versions is the correct one, leaving it up to the viewer to decide who to believe.
If I'm not mistaken this was the first film to employ the multiple perspectives style of telling a story. Countless films have attempted it from then on, including the incredibly silly but still enjoyable Vantage Point, but none have even come close to matching this masterful piece of filmmaking. The film provokes so many emotions from the viewer, from affection to hate, happiness to sadness, panic to relief and everything in between. And not only is Kurosawa able to garner those emotions from the viewer but he makes us feel them all at the same time. The film isn't manipulative in any way, rather it deserves our emotional responses and to get us to feel all of what he does and in a way that feels justified is a tremendous thing for a director to be able to do.
The performances are similar to almost every (older) Asian film in that they don't necessarily conform to the conventions of Western acting. Some of it may seem forced, fake or over-the-top but that isn't down to bad acting but rather our Western eyes not being used to such a style of performance. Taking it within context of what it is and where in the world it comes from then the acting is nothing short of superb.
If I may speak more generally this is one of Kurosawa's easier to watch and enjoy films. With a runtime of only 85 minutes it is a lot easier to sit down and watch than the 190 minutes of Seven Samurai or the 185 of Red Beard. For any newcomers to the work of Kurosawa I think this would be a perfect way to begin the journey. It's a true example of what film can really be from a filmmaker who continues to impress, quite possibly the greatest director the world as ever seen. -
MCT:April 22, 2008
"No one tells a lie after he's said he's going to tell one."
Akira Kurosawa's Rashomon is a film that I both liked and disliked.
On the one hand it was a visual arresting, superb study of human nature. But on the other hand the film is highly boring not to mention monotonous.
Rashomon opens as a group of men start discussing a heinous crime that unfolded on an isolated bush trail, and then the film looks in-depth at four different perspectives of what happened.
For me this was a fascinating plot synopsis and I wanted to see it because it sounded quite intriguing. The audience is presented with a set of differing eye-witness accounts and are given the opportunity to draw their own conclusions.
The first thing that stood out is the cinematography and the locations. The camera is used to great effect and with great visual flair. The game actors give it everything they have and the dialogue is occasionally quite effective. At first I thought that there's no way that this could go wrong. Unfortunately, my interest in the film flew out the window within the first five minutes. Everything just became so tedious and boring, with eye-witness accounts that are poorly distinguished. I was struggling to not only figure out who is giving their testimony, but also what the hell is so different about each story. There were a few things, but nothing overly obvious. I was paying full attention to it, but you have to be some kind of mind-reader to actually comprehend what on Earth is going on!
Another thing that struck me was the melodramatic fashion in which the film was played out in. The leading female spent the whole time crying, screaming or laughing in a creepy manner. Whenever she's crying or screaming I was covering my ears as it was giving me a headache. She was indescribably irritating!
The male members of the cast weren't much better. There was one crazy maniac who spent the whole time laughing. I usually appreciate this form of acting as it displays what they're capable of, but he was so damn annoying and it was far past being a brilliant way to display the character.
But on the other hand Rashomon is a visual feast for the eyes, with impressive stylised action and some effective grainy black & white photography. The bush trail in particular gave the impression of isolation in times of danger. The film's underlying messages are truly worthwhile about the reliability of the word of a man. Lies, deceit and callousness abound. Rashomon is a much loved classic from director Akira Kurosawa. I'm not fan of the director, and therefore watched the film with an open mind, but I met the film with mixed feelings. The concept is tremendously original and groundbreaking. I just wished the execution had improvements.
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