Rashomon

Description

Waiting out pouring rain in the shelter of Kyoto’s Rashomon Gate, a woodcutter and a priest relate the story of a samurai’s murder in Akira Kurosawa’s classic drama. But as they swap anecdotes, it’s apparent that this is no straightforward chronicle. The woodcutter claims to have witnessed the crime and tells one version of events. But there are three other perspectives: that of the bandit charged with the killing, that of the samurai’s bride, and then there is the samurai’s ghost speaking through a medium. No two recollections lineup, leaving a mystery intact at the heart of the tale. Rashomon’s influence looms large over succeeding generations of filmmakers, the title itself entering the lexicon as shorthand that describes a certain type of film. Seventy-five years after winning Venice’s Golden Lion and jolting cinema, the film’s ravishing black-and-white images and arresting storytelling remain as powerful as ever.