Rashomon

Rashoman

Directed by Akira Kuroswa

Written by Ryunosuke Akutagawa (stories), Akira Kurosawa and Shinobu Hashimoto

Few names in cinema are so universally praised as that of Akira Kurosawa. The famous Japanese director has a staggering number of acclaimed films under his belt: Yojimbo, Kagemusha, Seven Samurai and Ran to name just a few. A very prolific filmmaker, there's hardly a person, even one not interested in international cinema, who hasn't heard of one of the man's movies. There isn't a single moviegoer alive who hasn't felt the influence of his work, Star Wars was famously influenced by Kurosawa's 1958 film The Hidden Fortress and both George Lucas and Francis Ford Coppola were both big fans. But Kurosawa made his international breakthrough with 1950's Rashomon.

Rashomon begins in the ruins of Rashomon, a ruined castle in 11th century japan, where three men discuss a murder trial that had taken place earlier that day as they take shelter from a raging storm. A woodcutter (Takashi Shimura) comes across the body of a murdered samurai (Masayuki Mori) in the forest and reports it to the police. Days later the infamous bandit Tajomaru (Toshiro Mifune) is captured and the interrogator asks the bandit, the wife of the slain samurai (Machiko Kyo) and a medium channeling the spirit of the dead man (Noriko Honma) to recount what happened. The three give different versions of what happened with the only consistent elements are the rape of the wife and the death of the husband. Finally the woodcutter gives his own account of events before the movie ends.

The story is remarkable in the way it has influenced storytelling with multiple, contradicting accounts of events. It leads to an engrossing plot which constantly kept me guessing, trying to figure out what happened and who is responsible.

The acting is different, to put it diplomatically. I want to make it clear that I do like the acting overall and I understand there is a different perspective on the profession in the East that doesn't exactly correlate to that of the West. Be that as it may at times I felt it a bit much.

The biggest name on the bill of this film is Toshiro Mifune who has a staggering 183 acting credits on IMDB. He is easily the most famous Japanese actor of the last century, arguably ever, and in this film he plays a crazed bandit who attacks the samurai, ties him to a tree and rapes his wife and may or may not have killed him. He is very energetic, to say the least. Several times he breaks out into mad laughter and stomps his feet, flying off the handle seemingly at random. He's electric and energetic and while I can appreciate that I really did not care for it. It felt like he was trying to come off as crazy but overstating it. From what I've researched and seen this just seems to be how the Japanese prefer to act in film (I've heard that Mifune also loves to chew the scenery in general) and if this is the case I can understand and accept that but I did not really enjoy it, I would have preferred a more calm, understated performance.

I think my favorite performance in the movie is Machiko Kyo, the wife of the murdered man. While she does have some of the same overacting that Mifune exhibits she isn't quite at that level. She is able to get a lot of emotion across in just her face and she is especially strong when giving her testimony.

The cinematography from Kazuo Miagawa is nothing short of breathtaking. Even in black and white the beauty of the forest shines in every frame. I've heard the term 'every frame a painting' thrown around for a lot of movies but this is one of the only ones I've seen where I think that really does apply. In the introduction to the film (it's included in the Criterion Collection release of the film) given by director Robert Altman (MASH, Gosford Park) he says that Kurosawa may have been the first man to point the camera directly at the sun. I don't know if that's the case but I think he's the one who popularized it because it is such a great shot. The film is a visual masterpiece and I think it is my favorite part of the whole movie.

Another great aspect of this movie is the soundtrack, scored by Fumio Hayasaka. It is a fantastic work that goes a long way to endear this movie to me. It's a great soundtrack, I don't really have much else to add.

Movie critics have called Kurosawa a cynic, a man who doesn't think highly of people. In watching this film I think you can see it quite clearly. There are four stories told and at least three of them are wrong and personally I feel that all four might be wrong. Kurosawa seems to believe that people at their core are liars, cheats and cowards and even the one person you think is good and seems to have good intentions but is horribly naïve. It's a film that shows the worst human beings have to offer, but a single act at the end of the films seems to offer hope for humanity, or at least shows that despite these horrible character flaws humans have we are capable of genuine goodness and humanity. It's a surprisingly bright ending capping off a dark and heavy story. Needless to say I very much enjoyed it.

Despite my high praise of parts of the film I can't walk away saying that it is a must-see. If you are a film buff I'd say you should look into this because it is such a historically important film but for the common movie-goer I don't think I can really recommend it. Despite overall liking it I don't think this is one I'm going to watch it again any time soon. Maybe sometime later. If you are interested in one of Kurosawa's works but this doesn't do it for you I would recommend his 1985 film Ran, which I saw almost four years ago and liked a lot, or his 1980 film Kagemusha which I haven't seen but it's perhaps his most well-known and celebrated work, though I would say you'd need to set about three hours apiece aside to watch them.