138 - Rashomon

[captainofbeef]

- New high-definition transfer, with restored image and sound
- Commentary by Japanese film historian Donald Richie
- Video introduction by Robert Altman
- Excerpts from The World of Kazuo Miyagawa, a documentary film about Rashomon’s cinematographer
- Reprints of the Rashomon source stories, Ryunosuke Akutagawa’s “In a Grove” and “Rashomon”
- Akira Kurosawa on Rashomon: a reprinted excerpt from his book Something Like an Autobiography
- Optional English-dubbed soundtrack
- Theatrical trailer
- New and improved English subtitle translation
- Optimal image quality: RSDL dual-layer edition

[captainofbeef]

4th favorite Kurosawa. Great film. I love how the stories tell the complete killing.

[criterionmaster]

Perfect film. Mifune is brilliant (like always) in his over the top performance.

***Spoilers***

I love that you never know which story was true. This film is told in the best way possible. One of the greatest ever...period. Second best Kurosawa!

[criterionmaster]

Rashômon
Review by: Dan Kinem



“No one tells a lie after he's said he's going to tell one.”

I have owned Rashomon since Christmas but never got around to it. I love Kurosawa, he is one of my favorites, if not my favorite but I just never felt like watching it. Well I finally did and I am so glad. It blew me away and is now my second favorite Kurosawa film.

The story is very simple, it’s a story of rape told from five different perspectives. The twist is that each person who testifies story is completely different, only one key element is in each and that is that a man ends up murdered. The story never becomes redundant which you’d thing would happen since they keep telling the same story over and over but Kurosawa always keeps the film interesting with new twists and turns. The great thing is that Kurosawa doesn’t even try to arrive at a single truth in the film. Maybe because it wasn’t about that. I think that the film is really about whether there is still hope in mankind.

The cinematography is just beautiful. Kurosawa has been called a visual director and you can see it here perfectly. Dialogue isn’t even needed to tell the story. Two images that stand out for me is the rain which keeps dripping down on the roof. It just looks and sounds beautiful. Really don’t know why it stands out so much but it does. Also how Kurosawa points the camera right into the sun showing the light shining through the trees.

The performances are wonderful. This may be Mifune’s best performance. His over the top laugh is a delight to watch. All the rest are great especially Takashi Shimura as the man who tells the story and redeems are faith back in mankind.

The term “rashomon” is now even used in the English language. That’s how much of an influence this film has had. It influenced MANY films, one that comes to mind is The Usual Suspects among many others.

This is a must see! One of the greatest films ever made. Truly a masterpiece of filmmaking and storytelling.



10/10

IMDB LINK