Review of Rashomon (1950) by Jessi T — 03 Dec 2010

I have to admit that this is my first Kurosawa film. Hopefully I'll catch up later. I didn't knew what to expect but in the end I was sutisfied.

The film is mainly based on gimick. It progresess as we get to hear different takes on murder from every witness. It is not a smart script and as far as I understand Kurosawa is a narrative director because of that the script is informative. Every story gives lots of niggles and questoins so the viewer is kept immersed all the time.

The cast was spectacular too. It is easy to fall in love with most characters. All of them are well portayed. I especially liked Woodcutter. The actor Takashi Shimura really made me believe that there wasn't an actor but are real woodcutter brought from somewhere. Later I found out that the same guy played Kambe in Seven Samurai. I can't say the same about other actors but not everytime you get to see such believable acting. Overall the cast was superb.

Kurosawa did an amazing job with cinematography. Every scene is beautifully shot. I liked fight scene in final story. It was very realistic made without any dramatization. Nowadays you don't get to see such scenes. Also the woods was captured the way I haven't seen before. A work of film master.

Rashomon is outstanding achievement which gives a lot of important questions. Although I find it's script a little too tight and straightforward.