BFI Top 50: Rashomon, Released in 1950, Directed by Akira Kurosawa

What I know going in

As a burgeoning film buff, I know the basic outline of Rashomon. The film involves the story of a rape/murder that is relayed to the audience through different characters and each character manipulates the story in a new way. The only other Kurosawa film I have seen is Yojimbo, which I enjoyed, but haven’t seen in a while. I am looking forward to filling in this huge gap

Immediate Reaction

To be honest, I did not find Rashomon very gripping. I suppose my biggest problem was that I found some of the execution a bit poor, especially the fight scenes. The sword fights between The Bandit, played by Toshiro Mifune, and The Samurai, Masayuki Mori, were not convincing in the slightest. It looks like they are trying whap each other with plastic sword and, as a result, there really isn’t a sense of tension when they spar. The actors commit themselves physically during these scenes, Mifune in particular seems like he is rolling around in the dirt half the time, but the actual swordplay is so amateurish that it hurts the flow of the film.

I have also been wrestling with the film’s treatment of the only female character, The Wife, played by Machiko Kyo. She bounces from a shrill harpy, an encourager of murder, and a mocking presence throughout the course of the film. Having said that, I know that the film takes place in medieval Japan, so I shouldn’t expect women to behave the same way they do know. Furthermore, the main incident of the film is told from the perspective of four different characters. There is nothing to indicate if a character is telling the truth or altering the real events to suit their own needs. Likewise, at the end of the film, none of the retellings seems truer than the others. It is entirely possible that The Wife character came off poorly because the plot of the film is told with a bias. However, her portrayal was still off for me in a way that Ugetsu managed to avoid.

Now, I do not mind if a film does not viscerally engage me as long as I find an interesting theme to ponder. However, Rashomon evaporated from my mind almost immediately after watching it. I was worried that I would not be able to write anything about it. The main idea I took from Rashomon is that it is commenting on how everyone sees the world in a different way and even actual event can be open to interpretation. This even works as a sly comment about movie watching, because no one, due to their own personal experiences and biases, is going to get the same thing from a film or other work of art. I like that idea, but I had that thought before I even sat down to watch the film. I suppose Rashomon could be seen as a warning to the people of Japan against re-interpreting or forgetting the events of World War II. I imagine that Japanese actions during that conflict were distorted or forgotten in its immediate aftermath, and Rashomon was released in 1950, so its timing fits well with that idea.

Further thoughts

Rashomon may be a film that is hard to appreciate now due to how much other films have stolen from it. At this point, a nonlinear narrative is nothing special. Only about half the films I watch on a weekly basis have a strictly linear structure. In fact, a few of the films on this very list seem to crib directly from Kurosawa’s film. These include Mulholland Drive, Close-Up, and La Jetee. What is David Lynch’s masterpiece if not an examination of the subjective memories of its lead character? And what is Close-Up if not a maddening look at the intersection of reality and fiction. The same statements could be applied to Rashomon as well. Realizing this fact helps me appreciate the film a bit more than I initially did. If viewed through the lens of a film like Mulholland Drive or Close-Up, Rashomon can be seen as one of the first instances of a film investigating the line between memory, reality, and fiction. That is a very modern notion for a film made so long ago and an idea that I think about often and enjoy exploring through this specific medium.

Why is the film on this list?

Rashomon manages to question the nature of reality in a direct, economical manner. Its nonlinear narrative and intentional obfuscation of memory and truth make it a hugely influential film.