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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