“I don’t care if it’s a lie as long as it’s entertaining.” —Commoner
Today’s quick review: Rashomon. Following the murder of a samurai (Masayuki Mori), four witnesses give testimony about the crime: the bandit Tajomaru (Toshiro Mifune), the samurai’s wife (Machiko Kyo), a medium (Noriko Honma) channeling the samurai’s spirit, and the woodcutter (Takashi Shimura) who found the body. However, every witness tells a different story, leaving the true events leading up to the murder in doubt.
Rashomon is a classic Japanese crime drama and mystery directed by Akira Kurosawa. On a rainy, oppressive day, a woodcutter, a priest (Minoru Chiaki), and a commoner (Kichijiro Ueda) try to make sense of a four seemingly irreconcilable accounts of the same brutal crime. Rashomon examines human cruelty and the nature of truth. Each version of the story shows a different kind of wickedness while further muddying the question of who is to blame.
Rashomon showcases the powerful direction Akira Kurosawa is known for. The film has no dead weight, only the framing device and a series of flashbacks depicting what happened when Tajomaru met the samurai and his wife in the woods. Subtle thematic touches support the ideas of the story and contribute to its atmosphere of uncertainty and despair. Yet the story remains very personal: a fateful altercation between three people and what it means.
All of this provides a foundation for what Rashomon truly excels at: asking questions. The film makes a few concrete statements about humanity, but it is largely open-ended. The meaning of each version of the story, what they say about the participants, and whether they point to failings in humanity as a whole are all questions that the audience has to anwer for itself. Viewers who enjoy this kind of analysis will find Rashomon deeply rewarding.
Rashomon takes a relatively simple premise and spins it into something complex and meaningful. How much you get of the film will depend on how much you are willing to put into it. Much of its value comes from interpreting it and testing its hypotheses. But even for a casual viewer, Rashomon is a finely crafted film with plenty to offer. Check it out.
For a martial arts action film that makes heavy use of unreliable narrators, try Hero. For a modern legal drama that cultivates ambiguity about the truth, try Primal Fear. For a cereberal crime thriller that explores similar themes, try Gone Baby Gone, Gone Girl, or The Interview.
[8.2 out of 10 on IMDB](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0042876/). I give it an 8.0 for skillful storytelling and layered themes.