Ok, you'll find I have very eclectic taste in movies as I have a taste for fine film, mainstream film and goofy movies. This movie is one of my favorites, and I like it more than Kurosawa's "Seven Samurai." This movie in particular, IMO, seems to be where Tarantino gets a lot of his influence. The separate versions of the same event told from differnent points of view was completely novel in 1950, and now almost a staple in some directors' bags of tricks. Even more intriguing than their different versions, however, is the thing they all claimed they did.
If you have not seen this movie, please add it to your list. It is an amazing piece of filmmaking. Don't shy off because it is old, foreign and subtitled. It is also fantastic. It also doesn't give you an answer either, allowing you to judge each version yourself as if you were a member of a jury. If you like your movies to finish with a nice little bow tied tightly, please don't expect it from this one. Not that it's confusing at all...just that it doesn't think for you.
Plot:
Plot Summary for
Rashômon (1950)
In 12th century Japan, a samurai and his wife are attacked by the notorious bandit Tajomaru, and the samurai ends up dead. Tajomaru is captured shortly afterward and is put on trial, but his story and the wife's are so completely different that a psychic is brought in to allow the murdered man to give his own testimony. He tells yet another completely different story. Finally, a woodcutter who found the body reveals that he saw the whole thing, and his version is again completely different from the others.
Some Trivia:
Often credited as the reason the Academy created the "Best Foreign Film" category.
During shooting, the cast approached Kurosawa en masse with the script and asked him, "What does it mean?" The answer Kurosawa gave at that time and also in his biography is that "Rashomon" is a reflection of life, and life does not always have clear meanings.
If you have not seen this movie, please add it to your list. It is an amazing piece of filmmaking. Don't shy off because it is old, foreign and subtitled. It is also fantastic. It also doesn't give you an answer either, allowing you to judge each version yourself as if you were a member of a jury. If you like your movies to finish with a nice little bow tied tightly, please don't expect it from this one. Not that it's confusing at all...just that it doesn't think for you.
Plot:
Plot Summary for
Rashômon (1950)
In 12th century Japan, a samurai and his wife are attacked by the notorious bandit Tajomaru, and the samurai ends up dead. Tajomaru is captured shortly afterward and is put on trial, but his story and the wife's are so completely different that a psychic is brought in to allow the murdered man to give his own testimony. He tells yet another completely different story. Finally, a woodcutter who found the body reveals that he saw the whole thing, and his version is again completely different from the others.
Some Trivia:
Often credited as the reason the Academy created the "Best Foreign Film" category.
During shooting, the cast approached Kurosawa en masse with the script and asked him, "What does it mean?" The answer Kurosawa gave at that time and also in his biography is that "Rashomon" is a reflection of life, and life does not always have clear meanings.
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