Rashomon 1950

Postmodern before postmodernism. Introduced flash backs, a fractured plot, and different perspectives years before it became the norm. Rashomon was a game changer in cinema when it was released in 1950 by famed Japanese director Akira Kurosawa.Three vagabonds played by Takashi Shimura, Minoru Chiaki and Kichijiro Ueda meet in an abandoned temple. One has a tale that he finds outrageous that it challenges his idea of humanity.What happened is then told by different characters each with a different perspective of what happened. That includes Takashi Shimura who was a woodcutter who came across a dead body of a samurai played by Masayuki Mori in the forest. Then Minoru Chiaki adds how he first came across the samurai and his wife played by Machiko Kyo. Third is Daisuke Kato, a policeman who caught Toshiro Mifune who is accused of the crime. He came across Mifune acting like a crazed man. Next is Mifune himself who looks like a caged animal as he testifies bound before the judge. Kyo adds her own tale, and there’s even a psychic played by Noriko Honma who recounts the samurai’s experience. The narrative weaves back and forth between those characters.Kurosawa used a deft hand to introduced the characters and story. Shimura for example, first found Machiko’s hat in the woods. Then Minoru only saw a glimpse of her upon her horse and her large hat with a shroud around it. Mifune actually gets a glimpse of her face, which intrigues him. He tells the judge he thought he saw a goddess. It turns out this woman is at the center of everything that transpired, it’s just that no one has the same recollection. Was she the cause, the victim, the instigator or all or none of the above.Kurosawa never establishes which one was the true tale. Perhaps they all were and just represented the unique perspective of each character? Today this technique is routine, but they all pay homage to Kurosawa.C

𝑰𝒕'𝒔 𝒉𝒖𝒎𝒂𝒏 𝒕𝒐 𝒍𝒊𝒆.𝑴𝒐𝒔𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆 𝒘𝒆 𝒄𝒂𝒏'𝒕 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝒃𝒆 𝒉𝒐𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒗𝒆𝒔.Rashomon (Japanese: 羅生門, Hepburn: Rashōmon) is a 1950 Jidaigeki psychological thriller/crime film directed by Akira Kurosawa, working in close collaboration with cinematographer Kazuo Miyagawa.In 12th century Japan, a samurai and his wife are attacked by the notorious bandit Tajomaru, and the samurai ends up dead; Afterwards, four people recount different versions of the story of a man’s murder and the rape of his wife.Decades before ‘Rashomon’s conception ‘In a Grove’ was published by Ryunosuke Akutagawa in 1921. It's story in regards to its premise is simplistic and in essence identical to 𝑹𝒂𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒎𝒐𝒏, with their key similarities and differences revealing much about Kurosawa’s purpose and the creative advantages that come with his medium of choice. 𝑹𝒂𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒎𝒐𝒏 and ‘In a Grove’ include a collection of monologues that contradict one another in the context of an investigation on points that are both trivial and significant, with these inconsistencies being linked to the amount of control each character has over their own fate, their separate reputations in passing, and to some extent the grander relationship between accountability and self-deception. ‘In a Grove’ favors ambiguity over clarity in that it leaves readers with an open-ended conclusion and thus the responsibility of solving the crime in question, and this can only be done with assumptions and projections being made about the characters and human nature as a whole. Further borrowing from another one of Akutagawa’s short stories that is also titled ‘Rashomon’, Kurosawa introduces a seemingly unbiased account that serves as a resolution, but it still segues into conversations and behaviors that speak to the complicated and entangled elements that go hand-in-hand with morality and or sound decision makingStraightforward as it might be – 𝑹𝒂𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒎𝒐𝒏 uses visual cues to further enhance its content and themes using techniques that (especially) at the time were particularly revolutionary. Cinematographer Kazuo Miyagawa’s use of the handheld camera adds a tangibility to the obtrusiveness Kurosawa’s characters are subjected to as they are followed rather closely with the triangulated relationship between the Bandit, wife, and husband being emphasized through a series of close-ups and shots being edited together in a way that makes them deceptively continuous as opposed to a series of sporadic interactions. More interestingly - Miyagawa and Kurosawa’s use different variances in natural lighting (including shots directly towards the Sun) with the exposure to it (and metaphorically, to the absolute truth) being directly affected and obscured by elements that are both present by chance and deliberately imposed. Perhaps unfortunately - many scenes appear more optimistic than intended to be due to Kurosawa’s inability to manipulate the scenery to his wishes, but ‘𝑹𝒂𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒎𝒐𝒏’ openness to interpretation continues to speak for itself.Most notably - the largest discrepancy between Akutagawa's original piece and Kurosawa’s screenplay is the way in which the primary female character (Masako) is represented and the effect they have on the overarching story. In both versions Masako is prone to bursts of violence or hostility, but the difference is in the provocation of them and the capacity in which traditional gender roles call all of (if not most) the shots. Kurosawa's tendency to portray his female characters as being radically different from the stereotypical Japanese woman from the Meja era is far from a coincidence. Born on March 23rd, 1910, Kurosawa was raised with exposure to both the customs of a stern Samurai father and a traditional housewife mother. In his own autobiography Kurosawa speaks highly of this primary maternal figure out of an admiration for her inclinations towards mental over physical courage, and through his recollections implies that he subsequently learned to resolve conflict by means of impactful discourse as opposed to those that are aggressive or violent. On a larger scale, 𝑹𝒂𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒎𝒐𝒏 also acted as a way for Kurosawa to capitalize on the assertion that females by their very nature are subservient and/mere accessories of support for their husbands while inconspicuously relaying what Kurosawa observed them as 𝒄𝒂𝒑𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆 of being despite being unsupported as a belief by the larger cultural context of its production and release: independent and self-sufficient.Consequently, Masako is written as having an interest in maintaining the status quo as it relates to the expectations that come with being a female while successfully earning the upper hand in all of the eyewitness accounts documented by virtue of manipulation and clever facades without appearing over-zealous or merely outlandish as an individual.Both placating and antagonistic - 𝑹𝒂𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒎𝒐𝒏 stays partially true to Akutagawa’s initial vision while tactfully inserting dynamics and correspondences that may now act as insight in to Kurosawa's own ideals and values as they concerned a category of women that had not yet been seen or accepted in the public sphere of Japan. As if done in a self-referential way, through 𝑹𝒂𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒎𝒐𝒏 Kurosawa manages to lie to his audience by refusing to simply make a carbon copy of ‘In the Grove’ while simultaneously remaining true to himself.What can I say? Maybe sometimes dishonesty is actually the best policy.

The film Rashomon is a pure classic. The acting and plot twists make this a truly enjoyable movie to watch for everyone from film students to casual viewers. When you start watching the classics, you start to realize that modern film is built off of classic film like this. Truly, Akira Kurosawa's much revered movie has become a model off which countless other movies have been made. Overall, the film is enjoyable to watch, and the storytelling is superb, especially when taken in perspective with modern film. The structure of the story is one which has been copied in many movies, even those which are quite famous.What makes Rashomon notable, besides the fact that it was made in 1950 in Japan, well before the modern convention was used in most films, is that is uses a non-linear approach to the tale. Instead of having a static protagonist and setting, the same story is told from many points of view. In Rashomon, there are four main perspectives from which the same story is told. The event which the story revolves around is a rape and murder. However, just as in real life, the truth about what really happened is not as clear as we would like.The movie is full of action which keeps most viewers entertained, but it is also home to a stunning story of truth, justice, and consequences. The director, Kurosawa, focuses on the difficulty in knowing what human nature is really like, as it goes through the different perspectives of the characters in the story. The picture is better because background information about the film indicates that the director's favorite actor, Toshiro Mifune, plays the lead role. This unity is obvious throughout the film which is a work of art.

本作の面白さは既に伝説級で、何度観ても画面にかぶり付いてしまう日本映画の傑作。黒澤作品の中でも異色中の異色作だが、世界的にも驚愕の映画だったらしく、ベネツィア国際映画祭で初めて日本作品が金獅子賞を受賞した。翌年アカデミー賞名誉賞も獲得し、11作目にして初めて黒澤明の名が世界に轟いた瞬間だ。全ての人類史に喧嘩を売るが如き野心的なテーマ、モノクロながら自然光を活かした鮮烈な画面と躍動的かつ溜めもあるカメラワーク、同じ役柄を全く異なる性格で４回演じる達者な役者達、映画用の格好良い殺陣ではなく素人同士の敢えてみっともない決闘を撮るセンス、そして主役は事件当事者達ではなく陪審員的な傍観者、何れもが当時の映画のセオリーを無視していたのだろう。特に四者四様の自画自賛ストーリーこそ鍵だ。大映と黒澤の制作意図は人間のエゴイズムを嘲笑的に暴くだけだったかも知れないが、欧米映画関係者が日本作品として観た視点は全く違った筈だ。それは｢歴史は勝者によって記される｣の太古からの欺瞞に挑戦する、敗者日本の未曾有の大胆な試みに映ったからだ。原作通り｢歴史の真実は常に藪の中｣を、日本が撮ったのだから同じ敗者のイタリアのベネツィアで化学反応を起こした事はある意味で必然だったと言える。それが偶然の産物だったのは大映は映画祭への出品を辞退したのに、イタリア映画制作会社の社長が惚れ込んで無理矢理出品したからだ。だからグランプリ授賞式に日本人が誰も出席しない珍事が起きたし、黒澤も授賞を知らなかった。つまり大映も黒澤も、日本ですらヒットしなかった作品で世界に勝負する気はさらさら無く、ましてや世界的には黒澤は未だ無名なのに世界に訴える大それた作品とは思っていなかった。が、人間と歴史への高尚なアンチテーゼに世界が勝手に盛り上がったのだ。黒澤の類い稀な映像表現が有ってこその話だが、現実とは何と面白いのだろうと一人合点している。また、芥川龍之介等の日本文壇が世界に対しても普遍的に通用するメッセージを書き遺してくれた偉業にも感謝したくなる。邦画を世界に知らしめた歴史的作品を丁寧にリマスターしてくれた角川映画、他二団体の英断にも感謝したい。観る人の立場や主観でこれほど印象の違う作品は恐らく他に類をみない。無理矢理、観客も陪審員に引きずり込むとは何とも罪深い異色の傑作だ。

One of the best movies I’ve ever seen. When I first saw it, sitting there reading the subtitles, I thought it would be too taxing and simply boring. But you quickly get into this classic of Japanese cinema as we watch different versions of a story laid out before us, each one seemingly as true as the other.It is one of my all time top movies. Absolutely fascinating and definitely worth watching numerous times.I hope you find my review helpful

Rashomon is a groundbreaking 1950 film by the legendary Akira Kurosawa and starring the peerless Toshiro Mifune relatively early in his career. It is largely based on the short story In a Grove by Ryunosuke Akutagawa. What makes Rashomon so innovative is the explicit and repeated use of the unreliable narrator concept. The plot features the telling of the same story from four different perspectives, each perspective imposing the storyteller's own personality and prejudices onto the action.As Rashomon is a Kurosawa film, it is expertly directed. The pacing of the film is superb. Rashomon has quite limited periods of action but there is seemingly no let-up in the atmosphere. As a black and white film with subtitles for those without sufficient Japanese, it has a somewhat arty feel to it. Rashomon is thought provoking rather than exciting.Rashomon stars Toshiro Mifune and he is absolutely excellent. He is clearly the class act on screen, able to move his performance with great subtlety to express the different views the story is told from. At times he is the brash and super confident bandit Tajomaru. From the perspectives that see the dangerous bandit as the belligerant, Mifune is imposing and strong, his facial expressions convey his dominance of the environment he inhabits. From other perspectives, Mifune is afflicted by nerves, the very same outcomes happen almost despite Tajomaru rather than because of him.It is that distinction of perspective that makes Rashomon so cherished. Intriguingly each of the characters plays up their own negative role in the action rather than portraying themselves as heroic. Tajomaru sees himself as a brutal killer when others see him more comedic or even a victim of circumstances. The relationship between the couple in the woods is entirely dependent on the perspective being told from. From Machiko's perspective she is wronged by her partner seeing dishonour in her. From Mayusaki's perspective he is scorned by the woman he loves.None of the narratives are reliable. There is no real way for the viewer to decide which perspective is true. It is a fascinating study to watch, to be exposed so bluntly to egoistic way each of us understands the actions of others.Often great film is enhanced by tremendous music. This is not true of Rashomon. Fumio Hayasaka's score is not excellent. The sligtly disjointed tones of the majority of the film are somewhat ruined by an inappropriate use of Ravel's Bolero. Bolero really does not fit Rashomon, it was a bad choice by Kurosawa to insist on it.There are other aspects of the experience though that are tremendous, in particular the lighting. The oppressive rain experienced by the three characters at the Kyoto city gate is beautifully lit. The various woodland scenes also work very well with incredible use of sunlight.What makes Rashomon something special is the unreliability of each of the narrators. It is the subjectivity of perception explored so ruthlessly that makes it so intriguing. None of the narrators is willfully unreliable, the tale each tells seems genuinely theirs. These are not narrators manipulating the viewer deliberately and that makes them far more engaging.The scope and feel of Rashomon does not itself necessarily suit film brilliantly. Kurosawa makes it work thanks to his own genious and the presence of Mifune. They turn a concept into something compelling. Still, Rashomon seems more suited to being a stage performance, it just does not have the scope of Kurosawa's greatest films, tales like  Seven Samurai , Yojimbo , or  Hidden Fortress . Rashomon is not an epic, it is a thought provoking piece that sets and then exceeds expectations.The DVD Extras are ok. The Extras mainly offers a discussion among several of those who worked on the 1950 film. It is a somewhat technical discussion about how certain effects were created. The special edition includes a booklet with a terrific extract from  The Emperor and the Wolf  by Stuart Galbraith as well as text from the novellas Rashomon and In A Grove. Galbraith's history of the film and his own analysis are high quality and offers a fascinating 20 page insight.Rashomon is a very good film, not the greatest of Kurosawa's unequalled career but still fascinating. The concept is thought provoking and can sit with a viewer for a long time afterwards. The unreliable narrator has a very long tradition but to see that unreliability come about through subjective egoism rather than as a deliberate act is a terrific concept. Seven SamuraiYojimboHidden FortressThe Emperor and the Wolf

Although particularly notable as being the Kurosawa film that broke the Japanese director in the 'west', and (rightly) cited as a ground-breaking piece of cinema, 1950's Rashomon is a film (I have found) whose qualities gradually 'crept up on me'. Of course, its sensorial appeal is pretty much immediate, with its (for its time) innovative three-point flashback narrative, Kazuo Miyagawa's stunning cinematography (in particular the depiction of light through forests and clouds) and Fumio Hayasaka's mesmerising soundtrack tracking Rashomon's storyline almost to the second. However, its thematic and symbolic significance is more subtle (not to say deliberately opaque), as Kurosawa's film searches for 'the truth' in humanity (whilst along the way touching on elements of fate, chance, memory, honour, jealousy and love (or perhaps lust)).In one of the most stunning openings in cinema (Kurosawa's influence on Leone seems obvious here), as rain and wind lashes down on the dilapidated Kyoto city gate (a 'hell on earth'), the great Takashi Shimura's woodcutter and Minoru Chiaki's priest stare into nowhere, the woodcutter sighing, 'I don't understand. I just don't understand' (a metaphor for much audience reaction, no doubt!). What follows are (at least) three versions of the truth as Masayuki Mori's travelling samurai and wife (Machiko Kyo) encounter 'notorious' bandit Toshiro Mifune's Tajamuro, leaving the samurai dead. Is it a simple case of 'bandit rape and murder' or is there a 'ritual murder' or even suicide involved? Kurosawa leaves it for us to decide, as the three (the deceased samurai via a medium, no less) give their accounts of events (in court) straight to camera. Throughout, in order to emphasise the 'differing POV' theme, Miyagawa's camera constantly (and cleverly) shifts between 'over the shoulder' shots from each of the three protagonists.Acting-wise, given the film's cultural milieu these are stylised performances, owing much to the preceding silent film era. Mifune presages his Seven Samurai turn as Kikuchiyo, here as animated (hysterical even) bandit, in a performance of great infectiousness - a dreamer and liar who lives on base instinct certainly, more a petty criminal than cruel murderer, however. Kyo is equally impressive (insecure, desperate, fearful) as the dishonoured wife - either a brazen hussy or a devoted, compromised spouse (depending on your POV), whilst Mori is also good as the stoic cuckold. Shimura is (of course) superb as the priest's co-starer in a (relatively) peripheral role (albeit he is key to the film's denouement).By the film's conclusion, at which woodcutter and priest achieve some degree of 'redemption', we are left with the strong suspicion that Kurosawa's (almost mythological) characters are mere ciphers for the failings of humanity, moulding the truth to suit their own (nefarious) purposes (base desire, social honour, reputation, etc). Whilst (for me) Rashomon does not quite convey the feel for humanity of Ikiru or the character development (or, of course, pyrotechnics) of Seven Samurai, it makes up for this via its subtle perception, evocative symbolism and technical innovation. And just to reiterate, it is a film (for me at least) whose power (and reputation) grows with each repeat viewing.

There are lots of reviews here from viewers who obviously expected to see a modern style sword-fest along the lines of Hero. Others complain that the story setup has been seen many times in modern films. This is the original though, and surely must be given credit for that?From the huge catalogue of Mr. Kurosawa. This is an earlier work, from 1950, and was awarded an Oscar two years later. Filmed in black and white, and starring Kurosawa's frequent collaborator, Toshiro Mifune, this is set in the 11th Century, at a time of both plague, and Civil War. Today, the story seems simple, dealing with a rape and murder, and three alternative views of the event, seen in flashback, as told by different characters.At the time of this film's release, such a plot construction was unknown, and it received immense critical acclaim. Most stories of this nature filmed since, certainly owe their origins to this startling original. With twists and turns, tension, action, and brilliant direction at all times, this film is rightly considered for inclusion in the `Masters of Cinema' DVD series.