Rashômon

Genre: psychological drama (in black and white)

With: Toshirô Mifune (Tajômaru), Machiko Kyô (Masako Kanazawa), Masayuki Mori (Takehiro Kanazawa), Takashi Shimura (the Woodcutter), Minoru Chiaki (the Priest), Kichijirô Ueda (the Commoner), Noriko Honma (the Medium)

Director: Akira Kurosawa     

Screenplay: Akira Kurosawa and Shinobu Hashimoto (based on stories by Ryûnosuke Akutagawa)

Release: 1950

Studio: Daiei Eiga

Rating: -

MBiS score: 9.0/10 

 

Of Self-Interest and the Search for Truth 

 

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Story-line: as torrential rains fall from the sky, two men, a priest and a woodcutter, find shelter under the roof of a dilapidated rashômon. Still shaken by their appearance as witnesses in a murder trial, they struggle to understand what really happened in the forest three days before when a samurai and his wife met a notorious bandit named Tajômaru.  

Pluses: an evil performance by Toshirô Mifune and strong acting all around, a well-structured, hard-hitting and brilliant screenplay built on twisted character psychology, intelligent and moderately-paced direction, lively cinematography (Kazuo Miyagawa), fine production values, a varied musical score by Fumio Hayasaka and a powerful ending.

Minuses: none I can think of. Aside from a building, the word rashômon refers to a situation that lends itself to contradictory interpretations.

Comments: if you have never sampled Akira Kurosawa’s genius on screen – I admit I hadn’t before now – RASHÔMON will give you a mesmerizing introduction to this great filmmaker’s oeuvre. Like a stage play, it transcends its modest means to weave a potent story about confusion, desperation, self-interest and guilt… while managing to close its bleak demonstration with a ray of sunshine and a promise of redemption. Please note that one pivotal character – the judge – is never seen nor heard during the trial, as if Kurosawa was asking viewers to sort out the contradictions of the case and decide Tajômaru’s fate. A winner in Venice and a recipient of the Honorary Best Foreign Movie Oscar, this unsettling film is ranked among cinema’s masterpieces… and that’s the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.  

MBiS 

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Suna no onna 

English title: Woman in the Dunes

Genre: psychological drama (in black and white)

With: Eiji Okada (Niki Jumpei), Kyôko Kishida (the ‟old hag”), Hiroko Itô (Niki's wife), Kôji Mitsui, Sen Yano

Director: Hiroshi Teshigahara

Screenplay: Kôbô Abe, based on his novel, with the help of Eiko Yoshida as scripter

Release: 1964

Studio: Toho Film (Eiga) Co. Ltd., Teshigahara Productions

Rating: -

MBiS score: 8.7/10

 

 

Clowns to the left of me

Jokers to the right

Here I am stuck in the middle with you*

 

 

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Story-line: when Niki, a teacher and entomologist, misses the bus back to Tokyo and finds himself stranded in a remote area, locals offer him shelter for the night. They lead him to a large hole at the bottom of which a house has been built – the one inhabited by the ‟old hag” – and help him down using a rope ladder. The next morning, the ladder has vanished and Niki realizes that no one wants him to leave that miserable hole.  

Pluses: fine acting by Eiji Okada and Kyôko Kishida as two afflicted souls struggling with and against each other, a symbolic, quiet yet potent screenplay that uses sand (!), silences and eroticism to good effect, Tôru Takemitsu's avant-garde musical score, Hiroshi Segawa's evocative cinematography, suitable production values.  

Minuses: if you have a choice between two versions of this film (123 and 147 minutes), pick the longer one because nothing in it feels superfluous or wasteful. The movie's ending, although surprising, is quite realistic in the grand scheme of things.

Comments: the understated, strange and atmospheric WOMAN IN THE DUNES is basically a horror movie without bloodshed. It pits human against human and man against woman in a tragic and unusual way, staking freedom and survival as the ultimate prize. As Hiroshi Teshigahara and crew have shown in this striking picture, it is a terrible ordeal to see your whole life suddenly threatened with futility. 

 

MBiS 

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*With a nod to Stealers Wheel (Joe Egan and Gerry Rafferty, writers)