Day 123: Rashomon (1950)

Movie #79 – Rashomon (1950) - 88 min, cert 12.

This is essentially the story of a crime – the murder of a samurai and rape of his wife – as told in three separate ways by the three people involved. There’s a notorious bandit who has been accused of the crime, there’s the samurai’s wife, and then there’s the samurai himself who gives his version through a medium.

When I got to the end of this film I thought ‘What the hell was all that about?’ The film never actually shows you what happened, just three different versions of what happened, and leaves it up to you to decide for yourself what actually transpired. This all just seemed very unsatisfactory to me. I mean, I understand what Kursawa is trying to do. He’s making a point about how the same event can appear very different when seen from a different point of view. He’s saying it doesn’t matter what actually happened. What’s important is that, even though none of these witnesses are lying, their accounts are hugely different because their memories are tainted with the way they like to think of themselves and others, and that this is an interesting subject for a movie.

Except it isn’t. At least, not to me anyway. Maybe I missed something. But even if I did, I fell no urge to go back and watch it again to find out. I’d rather move on to the next.

Score – 2/10. Far too deep for me.

Next up is The Green Mile, a movie with a lot in common with the film at the top of the list, Shawshank Redemption. Same director, same author, same environment and set in the same period.