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Amazon.com Essential Video
This 1950 film by Akira Kurosawa is more than a classic: it's a cinematic archetype that has served as a template for many a film since. (Its most direct influence was on a Western remake, The Outrage, starring Paul Newman and directed by Martin Ritt.) In essence, the facts surrounding a rape and murder are told from four different and contradictory points of view, suggesting the nature of truth is something less than absolute. The cast, headed by Kurosawa's favorite actor, Toshiro Mifune, is superb. --Tom Keogh
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Brimming with action while incisively examining the nature of truth, Rashomon is perhaps the finest film ever to investigate the philosophy of justice. Through an ingenious use of camera and flashbacks, Kurosawa reveals the complexities of human nature as four people recount different versions of the story of a man's murder and the rape of his wife. Toshiro Mifune gives another commanding performance in the eloquent masterwork that revolutionized film language and introduced Japanese cinema to the world.
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Most helpful customer reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Classic stuff
Jun 23 2004
Format:DVD
A man travelling with his wife in feudal Japan is murdered by a bandit... or is he? As the main protagonists - the bandit, the wife, a passer-by and (I kid you not) the man himself - tell their versions of events, a series of contradictions emerge. Who, if anyone, is telling the truth?
Rashomon's Byzantine plot structure was unique at the time, and still feels fresh over half a century down the line. Presenting no easy answers (there is reason to doubt the motives, and thus the stories, of all of those involved), it leaves the audience to make up their own minds about who to trust. Fans of latterday head-spinning efforts such as The Usual Suspects and Memento will find plenty to get their teeth into here.
It all looks gorgeous, to boot (Kazuo Miyagawa's cinematography is done justice by an excellent DVD transfer here), and the performances - especially Toshiro Mifune, as the bandit Tajomaru, cackling hysterically and pausing mid-fight to swat mosquitoes on his neck - are superb. If I've got one gripe, it's the slightly pat "redemptive" ending, but that's a minor fault at best.
Otherwise, Rashomon is downright essential. It's too easy to get all rose-tinted when trying to assess a long-established "classic", but this is one that's more than stood the test of time.
Rashomon's Byzantine plot structure was unique at the time, and still feels fresh over half a century down the line. Presenting no easy answers (there is reason to doubt the motives, and thus the stories, of all of those involved), it leaves the audience to make up their own minds about who to trust. Fans of latterday head-spinning efforts such as The Usual Suspects and Memento will find plenty to get their teeth into here.
It all looks gorgeous, to boot (Kazuo Miyagawa's cinematography is done justice by an excellent DVD transfer here), and the performances - especially Toshiro Mifune, as the bandit Tajomaru, cackling hysterically and pausing mid-fight to swat mosquitoes on his neck - are superb. If I've got one gripe, it's the slightly pat "redemptive" ending, but that's a minor fault at best.
Otherwise, Rashomon is downright essential. It's too easy to get all rose-tinted when trying to assess a long-established "classic", but this is one that's more than stood the test of time.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
The Lies We Tell Ourselves
Jan 12 2010
Format:DVD
Rashomon, one of Kurosawa's masterpieces, is a deceptively clever and moving portrayal of human nature. You'll read many reviews and commentaries on how the film is about "the subjectivity of truth", but this couldn't be further from the truth! The film is about the human tendency to DENY the truth, which is both real and essential to the growth of the individual.
Kurosawa himself said of the film's message: "Human beings are unable to be honest with themselves about themselves. They cannot talk about themselves without embellishing. This script portrays such human beings'the kind who cannot survive without lies to make them feel they are better people than they really are."
The film makes no statement about the reality of truth, or even its attainability, but instead about our unwillingness to take an objective look at ourselves. The films characters embody the variety of responses and choices we take in life: selfish cynicism to moral despair, to true responsibility in the face of an unpleasant view of our true natures. The characters are similar in that they lie to themselves, to "save face", and to see themselves as better than they actually are. And yet they differ in their willingness to suffer the pain of a view of themselves.
It is in this willingness that the road to truth exists, and self-knowledge is the key in Kurosawa's vision. The final scene is hauntingly beautiful in its symbolism: the man who has taken the first step to self-knowledge bears the child - his own soul - into the world.
An absolute classic and highly recommended!
Kurosawa himself said of the film's message: "Human beings are unable to be honest with themselves about themselves. They cannot talk about themselves without embellishing. This script portrays such human beings'the kind who cannot survive without lies to make them feel they are better people than they really are."
The film makes no statement about the reality of truth, or even its attainability, but instead about our unwillingness to take an objective look at ourselves. The films characters embody the variety of responses and choices we take in life: selfish cynicism to moral despair, to true responsibility in the face of an unpleasant view of our true natures. The characters are similar in that they lie to themselves, to "save face", and to see themselves as better than they actually are. And yet they differ in their willingness to suffer the pain of a view of themselves.
It is in this willingness that the road to truth exists, and self-knowledge is the key in Kurosawa's vision. The final scene is hauntingly beautiful in its symbolism: the man who has taken the first step to self-knowledge bears the child - his own soul - into the world.
An absolute classic and highly recommended!
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
The one that set the standard
Jun 23 2004
Format:DVD
When Akira Kurasawa released this film in 1950, it was not expected to do well. When it won various awards around the world, including the Academy award for best foreign film, the reaction was one of some surprise. Now, over 50 years later, Rashomon stands as a benchmark in cinema, a film that has been copied and ripped off countless times, but never duplicated. The camera work, storytelling, script, and setting are flawless, giving us the proper mood right from the start.
The start is a torrential rainstorm, where several men sit around discussing a trial they have either witnessed, or taken part in. The trial concerns the murder of a samurai and the rape of his wife, apparantly at the hands of a famous bandit (played by Toshiro Mifune, a Kurasawa favorite). The story of what actually happened is told through the point of view of the bandit, the woman, the dead man (through a spriritual medium) and a woodcutter who was there and now is standing with these men at the beginning of the film.
The interesting thing is that we as the audience are left to assume what really happened, as the film gives no definitive solution. The subject is really the nature of man, and how point of view will change the perception of a scenario to favor or in some cases, cast a negative light on events that transpire.
This was the first film to shoot directly at the sun. In fact, the beginning shot of the woodcutter traveling into the woods to cut lumber is breathtaking, the camera weaves in and out, up and down, through branches and leaves, showing just how far out of the way these things will be happening. The excellent DVD has a feature on the camera work, which you will find interesting and will help you when you go back to the film for a second viewing.
Also included with the disc is a booklet with the two short stories Kurasawa used as the premise for the film (most notably "In the Grove")along with an excerpt from Kurasawa's book about the shooting of the film and the apprehension of the Japanese film companies about the fact that the story seemed to have no good ending. Kurasawa explained that the story was not about the solution of the murder as it was about the nature of man.
Film fans need to see this movie. So many movies made in the last few years (Snake Eyes, The Usual Suspects) owe themselves to Rashomon, movies which show us points of view that are not necessarily the truth. The fact is that four people can see a situation but report it four completely different ways. What's the truth? The truth is--that's just human nature.
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Most recent customer reviews
"If men don't trust each other, this earth might as well be hell"
I usually watch many kinds of different movies, but I wasn't a fan of old Asian movies, at least not until a friend lent me this beautiful classic, directed by Akira Kurosawa. Read more
Published on Jun 19 2007 by M. B. Alcat
A milestone in the story of cinema in any age
Rashomon is a masterpiece. This film shows us a hard statement that maybe disagree to many people; the truth doesn't exist. Read more
Published on May 25 2004 by Hiram Gomez Pardo
Please be careful in how you refer to the events in the film
I can't stand it any longer! Am I watching the same film as everyone else here posting a review? Invariably the words "murder" and "rape" are being used in... Read more
Published on May 7 2004 by Quinn Swanger
Pardon me, N8rst8rs...?
I am definitely one who endorses the belief of "to each his own" and your opinion is just that. But you obviously know nothing ABOUT film, you just know OF it. Read more
Published on April 27 2004 by J. COSBY
EXCELLENT
This is an excellent movie with lots of deep meaning. Intriguing and wonderful. The director is genius
Published on April 9 2004
What is Truth?
Kurosawa's study on the nature of truth, of reality, and human nature is perhaps one of the greatest films ever made. Read more
Published on Mar 5 2004 by "miikethkiller"
You've all been fooled!
I'm afraid I'll get a lot of heat from this, but if you liked this movie, you've lost your mind. I'm afraid all too often people are influenced by critics and intimidated by old... Read more
Published on Feb 3 2004 by N8rst8rs
My Favourite Kurosawa
In my top ten movies of all time. I would say that this is Kurosawa's masterwork. Obviously he has created many classic films, but this simply, for me, defines what he was all... Read more
Published on Jan 26 2004 by jordan
Impressive Concept
This was a difficult movie to rate because the concept was excellent and well-presented but I felt the movie lacked a little to maintain the interest of the viewer from start to... Read more
Published on Jan 25 2004 by Randy Keehn
Simply an excellent film
Rashomon is a fabulous film. When a nobleman is murdered and his wife raped while travelling through a wooded area, a bandit, played by Toshiro Mifune is accused of the crimes and... Read more
Published on Jan 21 2004 by K Scheffler
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