Rashomon Review

From the opening scene of flooded land and the never resting rain, Rashomon has a feel of something being off, and it keeps you hooked, wanting to know why the man keeps saying "it just doesn't make sense." In 1950, director Akira Kurosawa took his audience into the Japanese wilderness and shocked them with four stories, only one of which was true.

The movie begins in an old temple where a monk, a woodcutter, and a passerby discuss the recent events of a horrible crime. Through a series of flashbacks, the incident the main characters is played out. The only facts known about said incident are that a man had died, it happened in the forest, and that they all played a part in what happened. The colorful cast regales the judge and jury (interestingly set up as the viewer of the film by having the actors talk directly at the camera). All the stories, once told, have a handful of similarities, but have glaring differences.

It's a beautiful and imaginative way that Kurosawa paints this jumbled mess. By the end of the movie all you can focus in on are the opening phrases of, "it just doesn't make sense." But you feel the urge to watch it again. The way it brings you in with the first version of the story, then you're shocked when you hear a contradictory version, and then it happens thrice more?! No two people will watch it and feel the same way for the same reasons. And that's where it's beauty lays. You want to watch it again, so you can find similarities in each story, so you can see obvious lies, and yet the overall moral of the film is never missed. People lie, but my review doesn't.

Final Score: 9.5/10