Souljahh

I just now saw Rashomon for the first time a few nights ago. I enjoyed the film but I feel like I can get more out of it. To satisfy this curiosity of mine, I'd like to have a discussion on it.

Superficially, I know it's about the subjectivity of truth. Apparently the film has been such an influential piece of art that the term "Rashomon effect" has entered the languages of legal and social sciences to describe the inaccuracy of eyewitness accounts and the relativism of truth.

I've listened to the commentary on the dvd and it proved insightful but I still want to know more.

Any comments? analysis? reviews which are insightful? What does this film say to you? Did you like it/hate it/not care for it?

CCGoldRush

Well, first I'd say watch it again.

This film has so many layers, and while it isn't my favorite Kurosawa film, it is still as perfect a film as you're likely to find.

The nature of truth is at the forefront of the film, and in the end you don't really know what the truth really is. But at that point, do you really want to know? I love how the film allows you to draw your own conclusions--the ultimate in interactivity!

Kurosawa was a genius, and this film really illustrates that--moreso than my fave film, Seven Samurai, and very similar to the great Ikiru.

jarofclay73

Like Citizen Kane, Rashomon has be looked at for its milestones.
Robert Altman believes that Rashomon probably had the film shot shooting directly at the sun. It's also interesting to analyze exactly WHAT each person omitted in their stories and you, as a viewer, has to even make judgements as to what events you thought were fabricated. It seemed that each story directly contradicted every other story. And I think the viewer has to make judgements based upon the social status of each character. I know Kurosawa has used social strata as topics in his other films like Hidden Fortress.

Souljahh

Yeah I read about the shooting directly into the sun thing.

I'm going to have to watch this film again soon it seems.

Keep the posts coming.

Pants

-Roshoman and Citizen Kane are probably the two most important and influential films as far as structure; the order that the events unfold.

-While not my favorite Kurosawa film, I think it is his most perfect

-Courage Under Fire is probably the best re-tread of Roshoman techniques.

Dimension X

The Outrage (1964 - Edward G. Robinson, Paul Newman, William Shatner) is a western remake of Roshoman that's worth a look just to watch Paul Newman play a Mexican bandit.

Groucho

Hmm...that's not the way I remember it.

Souljahh

The Nature Boy

Wonderfully put! You've articulated what I've searched for as a feeling about the film. To me, it's an island as far Kurosawa goes, based on the 12 or so Kurosawa's I've seen. There is a feeling, energy and rush to Kurosawa's films, be they contemporary or the classical era's and settings, that is absent here. But it is a kick ass movie. Any influnence that it has created is merely a parrot by me, but one that hasn't been pointed out is the trial to open the film. I believe that's one of the first time's we've seen a first person account or a trial photographed that way(for a modern pararell, think Clooney in Ocean's 11 before the parole board).

I respect the film immensely, but I don't love it so that I need to watch it more than once a year. And it's one of the few Kurosawa's that I've seen that I do not own.

HistoryProf

funny this came up today....my fiance came home from the library with the Criterion of this....going to check it out this weekend. I've actually never seen a Kurosawa movie - waiting for Seven Samurai to see that first. But i'm anxious to delve into his world....so many films....so little time......

Tyler_Durden

I saw the film a year ago and need to watch it again, but I remember that it also had a clear moral center. I seem to recall the people at the derelict temple discussing the folly of the human condition or something to that effect.

In any case, the film is a thing of beauty, if only because it is, essentially, a examination of the nature of the camera (i.e. the observer) and therefore of film itself.

"Cinema is truth 24 frames a second"
-Jean-Luc Godard

"Cinema is lies 24 frames a second"
-Sam Peckinpah