Rashomon (1950) - Video On Demand

Rashomon - Movie Review

Rashomon is a 1950 Japanese film directed by Akira Kurosawa, working in close collaboration with cinematographer Kazuo Miyagawa. The film is based on two stories by Ryunosuke Akutagawa. Rashomon provides the setting, while In a Grove provides the characters and plot. Rashomon can be said to have introduced Kurosawa and Japanese cinema to Western audiences, and is considered one of his masterpieces.

The film depicts an assault and murder through the widely differing accounts of four witnesses, including the perpetrator and, through a medium (Fumiko Honma), the murder victim. The story unfolds in flashback as the four characters—the bandit Tajomaru (Toshiro Mifune), the murdered samurai Kanazawa-no-Takehiro (Masayuki Mori), his wife Masago (Machiko Kyo), and the nameless Woodcutter (Takashi Shimura)—recount the events of one afternoon in a grove. But it is also a flashback within a flashback, because the accounts of the witnesses are being retold by a woodcutter and a priest (Minoru Chiaki) to a ribald commoner (Kichijiro Ueda) as they wait out a rainstorm in a ruined GateHouse. Each story is mutually contradictory, leaving the viewer unable to determine the truth of the events.

The film has an unusual narrative structure that reflects the impossibility of obtaining the truth about an event when there are conflicting witness accounts. In English and other languages, 'Rashomon' has become a byword for any situation in which the truth of an event is difficult to verify due to the conflicting accounts of different witnesses. In psychology, the film has lent its name to the 'Rashomon effect'.

The film won a Golden Lion Award at the 1951 Venice Film Festival, and is widely credited to have introduced both Kurosawa and Japanese cinema to Western audiences. The film pioneered several cinematographic techniques, such as shooting directly into the sun and using mirrors to reflect sunlight onto the actor's faces. The film is also notable as an instance in which the camera "acts" or plays an active and important role in the story or its symbolism.

The film was produced by Daiei. The head of the company didn't understand what the film was about, and the company was reluctant to support the film so they gave the director only a small budget. However, despite their doubts, the company gave the film a two-week premiere, twice as long as usual.

Rashomon - Cast & Crew

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