Rashomon (1950)
Akira Kurosawa became known to western audiences with this breakthrough film. It won the Academy award for best foreign film in 1951, and took the Grand Prix at the Venice film festival. The screenplay is based on two stories - In a Glade and Rashomon - by Ry?nosuke Akutagawa.
The camera work is as significant to the story as the story itself. Rashomon is noted for the cinematography of Kazuo Miyagawa. Filmed in black and white, plays of darkness and light sensuously stimulate the viewer both in technique and symbolism. Kurosawa is cited as the first director to experiment with pointing the camera directly into the sun. Additionally, as much of the film is shot in a dense forest, mirrors were used to reflect sunlight directly on to the actors, the effect of which was better, according to Kurosawa, than the lighting in any of his other films.
Set in 12th century Japan, the film gives an account of a rape and murder from the differing perspectives of four characters. Ultimately, the true story is never disclosed. The lack of an official authority challenges the edifice of reality itself, confronting the characters with an unspeakable horror. The Rashomon effect is now the psychological term given to describe the phenomenon of multiple perceptions of the same event.
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Grading
- Story A+
- Acting A
- Visuals A
- Originality/Innovation A+
- Enjoyability A
- Overall A
- DVD Extras A-
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