RASHOMON (1950)

RASHOMON (1950)

directed by Akira Kurosawa


It's a lean ninety minutes, and I still feel like there's a few moments that were just too long. A few stray moments of indulgence, not many, but enough that the proceedings are slowed down. The story is amazing though and there is this sense of anticipation with each reckoning that keeps you enthralled enough that the pregnant pauses that give birth to a social commentary on humanity's dark side still resonate. I can't say it didn't feel like I was fishing for the next great moment in the movie.

What's there to say about the story. A woman is raped, a man is murdered, the trial is inconclusive, and there are four stories where basically the same thing happens, but in each one a different person's perspective on the events reveals more about the person telling the story than it does about the proceedings themselves. No matter how many people tell you you can't really know what happens, I think the answer is pretty much there by the end of it all. It's not THAT ambiguous. The basic rule of thumb goes: the closer you are personally to an event, the more that event is shaped by your perspective of it. It's actually pretty amusing whose tale of the three obvious tales told is the closest to the truth and it's the differences in that first tale that serve as the key for what's different about the others. Had the film been 80 minutes instead of 87 minutes, I would've scored it higher. Those "artistic" pauses: Cinephiles may have room for them, but your average layperson certainly doesn't.

8.16