A Well Crafted Story
- Rashomon review by CP Customer
Akira Kurosawa's Rashomon is one hell of a story. It follows one story from different points of view so the audience is unsure of who is telling the truth, who is lying or who doesn't realise they are lying.
Told in flashback it constantly intrigues and surprises and becomes something quite profound.
Added to this are the visuals. Filmed in 1950, is still looks better than a host of Hollywood films I've seen this year.
I'm off to get the rest of Kurosawa's work!
3 out of 3 members found this review helpful.
A classic that holds up reasonably well and perhaps has a contemporary point to make
- Rashomon review by RCO
Its a classic which presages many elements in subsequent films. A bit slow paced at times with some over-expressive acting (but you could call that 'style'). The inner story told from four different points of view is not as outrageous as the main teller says, but as subject for a meditation on perception, ambiguity and reality it works well. In the end the truth is what you decide it is - which is perhaps something that resonates uncomfortably for us in these Trumpian times.
3 out of 3 members found this review helpful.
You Can't Underestimate This One
- Rashomon review by CP Customer
Kurosawa is the master - even Bergman acknowledged his influence. And this film is must be about Kurosawa's best. Other influences on this film (silent movies, early popular "modern art") can't take away how innovative it is (plot, technique, direction). But most of all, it is "the lack of a truth" that paved the way for many poor imitators.
2 out of 2 members found this review helpful.
my favourite film
- Rashomon review by MR
Fascinating, complex and worth watching regularly. Visually absolutely stunning. Up there with Cocteau's 'La Belle et la Bete' as one of the most enchanting films ever made.
1 out of 1 members found this review helpful.
“I don’t mind a lie if it’s interesting.”
- Rashomon review by LJ
I always feel awkward reviewing incredibly famous films, especially if I didn't like them. Three strangers meet during a storm and recount a trial two of them just witnessed. A woman was raped and her husband murdered. But the different accounts of the events around the crimes all contradict each other, so what really happened? I found this to be a disappointing period drama. It was slow, the characters were annoying and the differing accounts were oddly truncated so it wasn’t a satisfying exploration of the story.
1 out of 1 members found this review helpful.
Japanese Arthouse.
- Rashomon review by Steve
Arthouse masterpiece which was a main player in the wave of experimental film making that broke across world cinemas after WWII. This introduced western audiences to Akira Kurosawa, and won him an honorary Oscar. It even originated a new concept: the Rashomon effect. Which refers to the unreliability of its narrators.
They describe an incident deep in the forest of Kyoto during the middle ages. An infamous bandit (Toshirô Mifune) sexually assaults a woman (Machiko Kyô) and kills her samurai husband (Masayuki Mori) in front of a witness (Takashi Shimura). But all four tell a different version of events- the dead man via a medium- which reflects their own self interest.
It's the same principle as in 12 Angry Men (1957); the truth is personal. Except this is more cinematic. The impact of the reveal is diminished on repeat viewing, but what survives is the artistry: the composition of actors within the frame; the groundbreaking lighting effects; the poetic editing; the plangent music.
And the unforgettable rainfall which establishes the emotional tone: that the sorrow of life is relentless; and that these characters are in search of purification.The expressionistic performances are powerfully emotive. The ending is particularly haunting. The concept, from a novel by Ryunosuke Akutagawa, is transformed by Kurasawa into cinematic legend.
0 out of 0 members found this review helpful.