Rashomon (1950)
Kurosawa Akira
Japan
88 mins, black and white, Japanese (English subtitles)
As everyone knows, this film was not only Kurosawa's international breakthrough, but the production that put Japanese cinema on the world map. Without a doubt, RASHOMON is great, but for some reason I am not convinced it's the greatest. In terms of cinematography, it is superb, and although the careful composition foreshadows Kurosawa's later magnificent use of the widescreen, the full frame looks somewhat crowded from time to time. I am sure it's just because I keep imagining what the director would have done if he filmed it ten years later. So, it does not really qualify as a gripe. What spoiled it for me, was the sappy ending that blunted the point of the entire film.
The story is "simple" enough. A crazy highway bandit, Tajomaru (Toshiro Mifune), ambushes Takehiro (Masayuki Mori) and his wife Masago (Machiko Kyo) in the forest, ties the husband up, and rapes her. The husband ends up dead. That's what's known beyond doubt. The rest... we'll never know. Three people gather at the Rashomon gate in 12th century Kyoto to kill the time waiting for a rain to pass. They start discussing the recent murder mystery. First, the story is told through the eyes of the bandit, then it's the wife's version, followed by the dead husband's (through a medium, in one the best scenes in the entire film), and finally the woodcutter's (Takashi Shimura). Every story is a lie in the sense that whatever really happened is told in a way that protects the image of the narrator. The bandit is heroic, the wife is tragic, the husband is honorable, and the woodcutter is honest.
Predictably, the stories do not match. Although an interesting excursion into the nature of truth in storytelling, especially when it can serve the interest of the one who tells it, RASHOMON has several grave defects. For example, some of the stories could be easily dismissed. For example, one can readily tell a sword wound from a dagger wound, which would presumably distinguish between the wife/husband story and bandit/woodcutter version. One can find other similar clues, although this is not a real biggie. The worst offender is the ending: after boldly making his point, Kurosawa backtracks and offers the humanistic "faith in humanity" ending which is really annoying (but maybe not inconsistent with his other work).
Finally, the film seems not to have aged too well. The music is sparse, and the little there is, sounds more Arabic (??) than Japanese. There are also several slow scenes, like the woodcutter strolling through the forest, which, however, a lot of people seem to like, so I may be a minority here, or the very beginning, where he keeps repeating how awful the story was. The acting, on the other hand, is absolutely stunning. Mifune is at his usual best, but Kyo is stunning. She is riveting in every scene of every version of the story, believable as the distressed wife, the slut, and the strong woman. Quite a feat, plus her sobbing performance in front of the police to round up her excellent role.
This is a film that everyone should see, but I hesitate to recommend it as a Kurosawa's best (because it is not one), or even a great film in general (the aging thing). Still, it is a treat.
April 13, 2001. BLS