Starring: Toshirō Mifune, Machiko Kyô, Masayuki Mori, Takashi Shimura, Minoru Chiaki, Kichijirô Ueda, Noriko Honma
Certificate: 12
Genre: Mystery
Awards: None
Arguably most important film in bringing Japanese cinema to the international forefront, Rashomon is still a fascinating and rather unique film today. The film shows multiple accounts of the murder of a samurai during the Heian period (11th century) of Japan. None of the stories correlate with each other and could even all be false.Using a short story by Ryunosuke Akutogawa, Kurosawa uses the Japanese cinema tradition of recounting a story rather than showing it in order to show that there is no such thing as an absolute truth. Everyone holds there own version of reality. The short story is expanded, however, to portray a Japan that needs to look for hope in a time of despair. Rashomon is perhaps one of Kurosawa's more hopeful films (compare the ending of this with Seven Samurai or Ran).
Kurosawa's triangular shots and mastery in action keeps the pace of the film flowing at an enjoyable rate whilst the performances always entertain. Mifune again shows how interesting an actor he is with his portrayal of the bandit. Yet most of the characters get to be played from multiple perspectives due to the story and thus performances become even more engaging. Kyô shows how a Japanese woman of the time would be seen by different classes and societies as she plays the part of the raped samurai wife, sometimes sympathetic and sometimes manipulative.
Rashomon would be worth a watch for the novelty of its storytelling alone but under the direction of a master-craftsman just coming into his element, the film shines incredibly bright. Although not as awe-inspiring as his later films, Kurosawa's breakout film is rightfully placed in his pantheon of great achievements.
****Good
