In the movie Rashomon, it shows how different the “truth” can be from person to person. There is one single event, death of the samurai, but there are four different stories that results such event. These stories are differentiated by bandit, samurai’s wife, samurai through shaman, and woodcutter. The movie doesn’t show the audience what really happened. Rather, it wants the audience to think what the real truth is. This idea can be noticed when four characters tell their own stories to the authorities, the actual official who listens to them is not shown in the camera. The characters talk straight to the camera as if the audience is the official himself to judge which is true. Until the end, the movie only shows four different explanation of the incident. It focuses on the difference of the stories to the details such as laughter of bandit, touch of wife’s hand, and how samurai looks at raped wife. As the movie progresses, I was more uncertain of the real truth. Maybe, this is the point of this film. It seems like this movie is to show horror of self-justification because none of the stories can assure audience what really happened.
The film has four strong characters that deliver each individual idea about the dead samurai. Except for the characters, the movie itself is rather too simple. It was probably unavoidable because it had to repeat similar yet different stories four times. Also, music played a great role in this film. Each soundtrack put in for scenes with various emotions are well put by consideration of matching the context. The dialogue between the monk, woodcutter, and traveler under Rashomon is shown as bridge between the stories of four main characters. These dialogues between the three bring the idea of weak human and self-justification in depth. During these dialogues, one of the line states that humans lie because they are weak. I believe this is true. That’s why we admire who has integrity. Because humans are weak, no one can tell what the real truth is in this film. We, the audience, who are given choices to choose which is true can’t tell which the real incident is in fact. I believe this movie is to show the bitterness of human nature and how it can be horrifying time to time.
Portrayal of Tajomaru in Rashomon In Akira Kurosawa’s Rashomon a few of the characters (the wife, the samurai and the bandit) seem to have a rather unbalanced personality. However while one only realizes the dishonest true nature of the wife and the samurai in course of the film, it seems to be clear from the beginning that Tajomaru the bandit is offbeat. Already the first shot of him implies his disturbed personality; In contrast to the other three people in the picture he is sitting extremely plump and seems to be indifferent to the situation. The only thing he does in the first scene is gaze intensely at the sky. Possibly because he blames the wind for the crime he committed and the crime noticeably affected him.
The first shot of him however isn’t the only moment underlining his personality. Throughout the whole film he repeatedly appears to be scratching himself or swatting flies off his body. For example the scene where Tajomaru sees the wife for the first time, all he does is open his eyes, scratch his knee and close his eyes again. Moreover as the drama progresses he also starts to sweat more and more in comparison the other more groomed looking characters. Not only do these characterizations of the bandit imply an unsanitary foul body but also a despicable, dishonest personality.
The movie is over 60 years old but caught my attention just like newest movies with awesome graphics and cool actions. The reason would be the movie’s story line which makes audiences to constantly think which character is telling the truth. However, unlike other mystery movies it ends without any hint or whatsoever about who is telling the truth. As the result it leads audience to think for themselves what would be the truth. My respond to the question is that there is no absolute truth. To me the bandit, samurai’s wife, shaman, and woodcutter did not seem to be lying because what they said had nothing to benefit them. I believe they were just telling there truth. Since people remember and interpret differently on the same events, truth varies people to people.
One thing I found really interesting in the film Rashomon was how the authority figure who was listening to all four accounts of the murder never appeared or was heard on screen. Each of the four witnesses, the woodcutter, the bandit, the woman, and the samurai, all spoke directly at the camera, and thus at the viewers of the film, when telling their stories. Because of this cinematic technique, we the audience became a part of the film: as each new account of the murder was explained, we struggled to figure out who was telling the truth.
The random appearance of the crying baby near the end of the film kinda confused me a bit at first (I mean how could they not notice the baby before!?). As the priest cares for the baby, the woodcutter and the commoner chastise each other about their own selfish motives and that in the end men only care about themselves. The priest starts to believe that hope in humanity is lost as does the audience after fumbling through the lie-packed accounts of the murder. However, the film ends with the woodcutter taking the baby as one of his own alongside his six other children. As the woodcutter and his new child leave Rashomon, the rain stops and the sun starts to shine, a small glimmer of hope that is still left in mankind.
Sorry if I am actually in the other group, this is just to make sure.
In the movie, Rashomon, the main narrative is told through the use of unreliable narrators which helps cement a theme throughout most of the movie that evil and pride are inherent qualities present within mankind. The four unreliable narrators all recount stories about the rape of a woman and the death of her husband, but they all contradict each other so that none are representative of the truth. The motive behind the different retellings is that the characters can try and save face for their actions. Even the woodcutter’s story cannot be known as the whole truth because it comes to light later that he hid details about stealing the pearl inlayed dagger. The scene that ties this interpretation together is when the cynical man inquiring about what occurred says; “Man just wants to forget the bad stuff, and believe in the made-up good stuff. It's easier that way (Rashomon).” This is shown through the retellings which put the speaker in a better light. For example, Tajomaru paints himself as competent and honorable fighter, while the woodcutter’s story shows the fighters as cowardly and that he actually wins by sheer luck. Another revealing part of the movie is the location which is set at a ruined gateway with a large downpour of rain throughout. This forms a hellish landscape and seems reflective of the movie’s negative view of humanity. Though this is contrasted at the very end when the woodcutter takes in the abandoned baby and then the rain stops at least for a little while. The coupling of the weather and the actions of the woodcutter come together to show that there is still a little hope left for humanity and that evil, selfishness, and pride are not inherent qualities in mankind.
This movie, Rashomon was filmed in 1950s when the Japan's economic and inner political was in terrible situation. Through watching movie, I was able to feel people's selfishness and complex criminal relationship through each other. I think director of this movie wants to teach audience important lessons. Since long time ago, politeness and women's chastity were seemed as most valuable thing that people shouln't forget in Japan. However, as movie is demonstrating people's selfishness, situation of lying to each other and cruelty, director wants to show true figure of current situation on that time. Even ghost was lying. Producer wants people to realize the problem through movie. So at the end, this movie was ended with lyer enlightening his crime and guiltiness. Lyer confessing his crime and striving for new innocent life which are director's desire, was shown in the movie. Actually, I am not kind of person who likes to enjoy watching movie, but this movie,Rashomon was really interesting. Even though the quality of video itself was not in good condition, story of the movie was great. Also, I think background music was really attracting my curiousity and tension of the situation in movie.
In review of Rashomon, I found the subject matters handled within the plot very dense, despite the almost comical reenactment scenes. The primary subject handled here is "truth" and how through a truthful virtue, a restoration in humanity is achieved. Throughout the movie, the audience is led through 4 different scenarios of a single event that involves the woodcutter, the bandit, the samurai, and the samurai's wife at which his/her point of view; rather, their eyewitness recollections of the "truth". The staggering differences in each of the four scenarios is still a problem in our judiciary system. There's just too many versions of the truth. In a media where perspective is key, it is downright ironic that Rashomon deals with perspectives of the characters pertaining to the murder. I think the greater message that Kurosawa is trying to convey through this film is that the the moral battle between good and evil starts in ourselves and no matter how many versions of truth/all the lies influence us, we must continue to believe in the good of the humanity.
I couldn’t really read most of the subtitles while watching the movie therefore I could only get a gist of what the movie Rashomon was about. Although I watched the film with little understanding what was being said, I understood that Rashomon underlined the idea of truth and how it differentiated among individuals. The whole movie Rashomon circled around one event; the death of a samurai. And through the four accounts from the bandit, samurai’s wife, priest, and woodcutter, the audience could see how one single event could be interpreted in so many ways that disrupted what is actually true or false. Upon every story account, it is noticeable that the characters personalities change from story to story because the narrator tries to illustrate what’s best for him to avoid more accusations or to justify their actions. For example, the wife painted herself helpless and that when she woke up from her faint, her husband was already dead to gain empathy from others; while the in the woodcutter’s perspective, she actually made the bandit and husband fight (not actually sure, I couldn’t read the sub for the scene when the two men fought cowardly). The woodcutter probably portrayed it that way to avoid the later fact that he stole the pearl from the wife’s dagger. Because of this incident, I agree that Rashomon also lighted upon how human morals influence the way truth is being given and received. Each story has the same setting but all the narrators have different interpretations and they're very contradictory to one another, hence it’s difficult to account for the whole truth. I guess this probably why the movie is titled Rashomon because of the Rashomon Effect, contradicting interpretations of the same events by different people.
After watching the movie Rashomon, I could remind the power of actor again because the acting was the main part that completed this movie into masterpiece. As the camera does not move frequently like action movies of nowadays do, the actors needed to act much better and they did it well. For example, during the bandit's testimony, exaggerated movement and gestures of bandit revealed his irresponsible and dissipated characteristics. However, during the woodman's testimony, bandit's actions indicated his cowardliness as if it is another person.
Other thing that caught my attention was the back ground music. Even though the back ground of movie is Japan in old time, instruments for the back ground music was not Japanese musics. Rather, back ground music was western classical musics performed by western instruments. However, the back ground music and the movie really harmonized well without any sign of inharmonious. It was really astounding that the 'Bolero' was used as a background music for the important scene and it really well edited to be fit into the movie.
As the movie, Rashomon, begins, it creates an atmosphere what the movie will be about. In most of East Asian movies, when it rains, there must be something, and it presents, perhaps, characters’ situations, thoughts, and emotions. The movie starts with a woodcutter, keep saying, “I don’t understand”. It was constantly repeated over and over, and at the end of Rashomon, the audiences figure out why he said the sentence so many times. This movie leads the audience not only to think and seek the truth, but also to find enlightenment among our real world.
The Movie, Rashomon, shows that how people could talk about a murder case in three different perspectives which can protect their own, naturally. While the audiences face the three witnesses, the audience starts lose confidence, and dramatically that is when the truth reveals by the woodcutter. On the one hand, he is the last hope in this murder case and finally tells the truth which audiences could actually believe, but he is too coward to involve in. On the other hand, the audience cannot fully trust him because he insists that a sword is a murder weapon, but he is the one who stole the dagger. It seems like the murder case resolved but nothing is revealed at all. The society among us has no difference. Most people want to know the truth but when it comes to their problem, instead of being honest, they tend to be indifferent to others and just be selfish.
P.S: I am actually not sure which group i belong. I read through syllabus and couldn't find it. Sorry
On a surface level, “Rashomon” poses a question about the nature of truth and the validity of individual perspectives. However, that question is framed by a question of broader significance. The film does not only ask, “How and why did the murder occur?” but also, “Is the murder of one individual important?” This question can be extended to a general exploration of individual significance as well as the significance of objective truth. (Not, “is there an objective reality,” but rather “does it matter whether or not there is an objective reality?”) In the opening scene of the film, one of the characters (I’ve forgotten which) is informed of the murder and responds by saying, “Just one? So what?” While another character counters him by arguing that this murder is significant, the question of whether or not the individual is important has already been subtly, but clearly, planted in our minds. This theme is important to the film because it completely changes the way we view and analyze the movie as a whole: if the individual is considered to be insignificant, it is needless to say that the murder of that individual (and by extension the details surrounding the murder) are equally insignificant. The question is addressed again at the very end of the film when the baby is discovered. While on one hand the baby represents innocence and an opportunity for moral redemption, on the other hand the man does not take the baby out of compassion but rather because he “already has six children” and “one more won’t make a difference.” Because this statement is made during the last scene of the movie and runs so parallel to the “Just one? So what?” statement made in the opening scene, it seems like an intentionally constructed “frame,” that offers us an alternative method of thinking about and understanding the movie.
Placing that thought aside, I also couldn’t help interpreting the film from a feminist perspective. While there is only one woman in the movie, in many ways I think she can be perceived as the central focus of the film. While she doesn’t directly participate in all of the violence, she is almost always the direct catalyst. In some instances, she is literally urging the men to violence, while in others she is simply provoking violence as an object of temptation. Therefore, I think the film reinforces the tired message that women are to blame for violence and social unrest, either directly or indirectly. She is depicted as tempting, self-seeking, and manipulative. It feels almost as if the woman is tricking both her husband and the bandit: her loyalty constantly wavers. While before the violence, she is of central importance, afterward she is cast aside and becomes very peripheral. After she is raped, she becomes no more than a “common whore” and is regarded as “just like any other woman.” While the film certainly makes a statement about the power women were able to exert over men in some circumstances, that power is shown to be limited and temporary. In a way, by the end of the film the blame for the murder is placed not on the murderer but rather on the wife; this point is silently reinforced by the interrogation scene during which two men stare accusingly from the background as the wife, ashamed, throws her body into the sand. (I interpreted heat as a symbol for social repercussions throughout the film; scenes in which the woman is experiencing social consequences feature extreme close-ups of the wife’s face dripping with sweat).
PS. I think I may have responded in the wrong group too... but I already wrote it so I figured it was better to post.
Rashomon is credited to the use of natural light and how that gives the movie more ambiguity. The light might not be enough to shine through the entire forest so it was hard to realize whether it was during the day or night that the scene was being shot. Kurosawa's use of mirrors was brilliant because it allowed the audience to see the characters in natural light while also highlighting their expression.
However, there were also some parts of the film that were blurry or hazy. Maybe it was just the quality of film because it's definitely an old film. Some parts of the recollections seem blurry and so it added to the ambiguity of the film and the truthfulness. Another way of seeing the blurriness is to know that these recollections are from memory so the fuzzy images can be used to identify reality to memory.
The movie “Rashomon” got me thinking that humans are designed to remember what they want to remember. I think that the accounts from the bandit, the wife, the dead Samurai, and the woodcutter are showing humans’ selfishness and human’s nature to distort memories for self-pride. The weird thing was that they don’t really defend themselves in a court and rather distort truth as if they brag. The testimony scene of the woodcutter reveals how desperate those people were to hide their weaknesses and cowardly behaviors.
The movie seemed old and comical but the content still deserved to be a fine piece. It deals with a profound human nature. What the director, Kurosawa, try to convey in the movie still applies to the present. The most impressive part was the scene of the bandit and the samurai fighting. It showed realistic and pathetic side of humans when facing fear of death. I could not fully understand the details in the movie because I could barely see the subtitles, but I think the movie depicted human nature very well.
In creating films, directors strive to imply meaningful consequence in every detail of a shot. As an audience who has no understanding of the plot or story of Rashomon, the frame narrative, a plot device which director Kurosawa decided to employ in the film, can be unexpected; however, looking closely at the introductory scenes of the film, one can foresee the director’s intention. Among the beginning scenes of the film, there is a shot of the priest and woodcutter, dumbfound, murmuring “I don’t understand… I just don’t understand” The following shot is a long two shot of the priest and woodcutter sitting silently beneath Rashomon gate. This brief shot can be easily overlooked, but unlike other shots in this long shot the two men are captured in a square frame created by the city gate. The shot of the two men and the cloudy sky captured within the frame formed by the wooden gate can be seen as another shot within the physical shot of the film; in other words, “shot within a shot”. Wittily shooting a unique composition, the director attempted to hint the audience a possibility of a story within a story (or frame narrative). While the director included such a shot in the opening scene to suggest the beginning of the frame narrative, he used a similar composition to conclude the narrative of the accounts towards the end of the film. Immediately after the end of woodcutter’s story of the incident is the long three shot of the priest, woodcutter, and commoner. In this shot, they are captured in a trapezoid-shaped frame created by the borderlines of the screen and a piece of wood. Similar to the previous shot, this shot can be seen as another “shot within a shot” which calls an end to the frame narrative. Kurowasa’s clever, expressive use of composition can be noted in other shots throughout the film. After the priest, woodcutter and commoner share their accounts, the three characters react differently to the stories. While the priest and woodcutter are terrified by the horrific stories yet still wish to believe in men, the commoner tempts them to renounce their belief. In shooting this scene, Kurowasa took a pan shot of the three characters; the priest on the left, woodcutter on the right and a pillar in the middle. The camera follows the commoner as he slowly moves from left to right and cunningly instigates the others. Having the pillar in the middle, he divides the pan shot into two to emphasize the temptation of the commoner (who resembles evil in this scene) and the conflicting ideas of the three characters. In this single shot, Kurowasa successfully expresses the film’s theme of human corruption and hope.
The first distinct point I noted was that Rashomon is a black-and-white film. It immediately sets the tone that the movie is based on olden Japan. The first scene also tells us what to expect – the Rashomon gate is in ruins, death is common, and the people, such as the commoner, the woodcutter and the priest, were all dressed in rags. The heavy rain almost seems to be hinting that it is hard to anticipate change anytime soon. Patriarchy was dominant in olden Japan, and women were seen as powerless. The film has a single female character, whose face the audience does not see until quite a few scenes later. Her face was covered with a veil, and the focus of the film was on the men – especially the bandit’s masculinity and the samurai’s glory. The importance of the female character comes when the conflict revolves around the ambiguity of the death of the samurai. All the accounts accuse the female character of wanting one of the men dead. During the woodcutter’s account, she was able to manipulate the men into fighting each other, but her powerless nature is portrayed with her exaggerated fear when the men were about to cross swords. On the other hand, the question of masculinity arises when both men seem to fear the fight, as they ran to opposite ends and took very long to advance towards each other again. Hence the film left me with an impression that it was shot during a time of unrest in olden Japan.
Another memorable point for me was the way the court scene was constructed, as confessions were made before the audience, instead of the character of a judge. The director’s intention was for the audience to take their own stands, while directly coming into contact with the different accounts of the murder. The accounts were all very subjective, as the audience would learn with the progression of the plot. The bandit himself tried to convince everyone that he had no intention of murdering anyone. It was in fact the breeze which exposed the woman’s face and motivated his intentions of wanting her. However, his intention was to “take her without killing him”. The wife on the other hand asserts that she did not know how her husband died because she fainted. She also stressed on how devastated she was but failed in all her suicide attempts. The samurai’s account was the most interesting because it depicted a suicide and the mystery of how the dagger was pulled out from him. The accounts from those present at the scene were all distinctly different and self-motivated. However, the truth was never revealed, not even through the woodcutter’s account. The director then cleverly brings in the question of humanity and truth, prompting the audience to ponder over the subjectivity of the things we see and hear.
Akira Kurosawa’s Roshoman portrays four different perspectives all recounting the same story but showing different outlooks based on the various characters. While all the stories differ in one way or another, they all have a common portrayal of human flaws. It is clear throughout the film that each character tries to bend there perspectives on what actually happened in an effort to hide their shame which ultimately leads to showing the audience there actual weakness. These flaws become apparent to me after I saw the woodcutter’s perspective which he claims true. In addition, just the way the character’s perspectives focus on some points in there story also gave me a sense of there imperfections. For example, the bandit’s story shows an attempt to tell the court of a story that focuses on his “male superiority” by putting spotlight on his swordsman skills and his success in seducing the samurai’s wife. However, as the audience sees the valid perspective of the woodcutter, I only saw the bandit’s insecurity and a problem of self-esteem. A common problem for all men. Similar to the bandit’s story, the samurai’s wife’s outlook gave me a similar effect in which she gave me yet another egocentric vibe. Throughout the woman’s story, her repetetive crave for sympathy struck me that this woman is just another girl asking for attention. From beginning to end, the samurai’s wife was over dramatic which ultimately gave me a sense of insecurity. Examples include the sumarai’s “piercing stare” that she claims was so violating that she rather choose death then feel her guilt of being with another man. Another example includes that one brief scene where the women was lying down on her side in somewhat seducing manner in front of the court. That short five second scene gave me yet another sense that shes asking for pity for the pure and only fact that she is a girl. In addition, the whole time the woman seemed like she was possesed by a demon struck me as another attempt to crave sympathy and pity. There were times that I thought the women actually feeling a genuine feeling of heartbreak from being with another man but after a closer analysis, she really seemed to me another girl asking for attention. I am saying this because in the end she says that she tried to kill herself in many ways but failed to suceed. Honestly, if she actually felt the pain that caused her to turn like the girl from the exorcist, she would have just stabbed herself with the two swords or the one dagger. In my opinion, Kurosawa excells in portraying these human flaws by the accounts of what the characters actually thought happened and there attempt . I believe that Kurosawa excells in displaying these human flaws through his camera focus on the character’s over dramatic facial expressions and the use of light. In addition, I feel that the 1950s movie quality further compliments Kurosawa’s effort to display his main goals and purpose. The lack of color and the black and white feel sets a unique atmosphere where I feel is nearly impossible to portray in modern films. Next, unlike most films where the idea of darkness portrays a sense of evil, I felt that there were some parts where light portrayed sin. For example, the scene where the bandit succesfully seduces the woman shows a breif one to two second scene he focuses on the sun. During this scene, to me the sun almost seems like a omnipotent third person that is indirectly controlling the women into being seduced by the bandit. In summary, Akira Kurosawa is a great director.
Several things about Rashomon that I noticed is the amount of symbolism. Many examples of symbolism include showing the gloominess of the environment and the state of mind being held by the people there. The film opens up with a shot containing a ruined gate, and a very rainy and dreary look to it. The destroyed gate and the mangled environment sort of explains that not only the country, but also humanity is in ruin. The rain resembles as if all sort of hope and signs of morality, or human goodness is being washed away, and that there is little to no hope for any of the human beings in this film. However, in the end, a glimmer of hope beacons due to the actions of the priest and woodcutter, and the first sign of human goodness is finally presented. This is all shown with the rain finally coming to an end, and the sun finally showing itself through the clouds.
Funny enough, I knew very well about this film's structure although it was my first time watching Rashomon. After Rashomon was on screen, it created an effect after its name, Rashomon effect. This effect refers to a phenomenon where people share different perspectives on the same event customized to their interest. This effect has been widely used in novels and films, and Rashomon reminded me of the first movie I ever watched that used this effect as a motif, 'The hole.' This movie, compared to Rashomon, however, revealed the fact in the end. What this tells me is that in Rashomon, the fact is not important. While watching Rashomon, I followed every testimonials to find the fact, but did the fact really matter? In 'The hole,' the fact was all that matters, and eventually it disclosed the fact through the culprit's own mouth to only one person. On the other hand, in Rashomon, what is the fact? In my opinion, every testimonials are the facts, at least to the people who told the stories. There could be some personal reasons to tell the lies for everyone, and I thought woodcutter had nothing to get out from lying, so that woodcutter's story must be true. But he was still unavailable to explain about the dagger, which means that woodcutter's story is not perfectly reliable either. The movie never shows what the fact really is. At the end of every testimonials, the background shifts to the Rashomon, where the court has been disjourned. Without the transition from the testimony to the Rashomon, there would be no time for me to sum up, and every time the scene switched to Rashomon, it functioned as a close-up of one perspective. There are many techniques to swith from one scene to the other. But Rashomon used the place, Rashomon as a way to transit from the event(past) to the present where the stories are all that exist. The woodcutter was as confused as I am, as he was looking for the fact. At the end, he was close to giving up on humanity or perhaps, the reality, and suddenly the crying of a baby, like an alarm, woke the woodcutter up. I personally think that the baby refers to the future, which creates a confrontation structure with the past where the event was taken, and the present where the stories are shared. At the same time, there is a contrast between the forest, the court and rashomon, and finally, outside of rashomon. The forest is a lawless place, a nature itself, and where it is not intended for people to inhabit. The court is a place of justice, and thus it is a man-made place for people. Alike the court, the rashomon, in chinese character, it means a gate where people's lives are filled with. Finally, at the end, where the woodcutter is headed to, nobody knows where he will go, and that leaves a space for us to think about. I think Rashomon took a very clever structure to send out a message that says what happened in the past is not important, that it only works as a piece of our lives that makes what human we are like. It can be translated to a various ways, it depends on the person at the present stage. The future is what we choose to be, like when the woodcutter chose not to give up. The other two people in Rashomon functions as people who chose the other way from the woodcutter and thus, they are left behind in the Rashomon. So here is a repetitive question, does the fact actually matter? or is it the person's perception and choice that really matters?
I'm sorry, I think there needs a little edition on my reply. (I wasn't really able to watch the movie thoroughly because I had to stand up on the desk, and these are editions after I searched some information about Rashomon) The woodcutter was the one that stole the dagger and that creates a guiltiness in the woodcutter leading him to adopt the baby. Of course, because of this, he would have told lies. And the priest says that he can count on humans again, showing hope in accordance to the weahter when the rain stops. So the other two in Rashomon might not be deemed as giving up on humanity. But the big picture of the movie, and the confrontation structure is still the same.
While watching the movie “Rashomon,” I thought the movie emphasizes how perspectives or point of view can vary among different people. The movie basically shows four different stories telling by four different characters even though there is only one truth. It represents people’s self-evident that it explains how truth can be easily distorted with different perspectives because people start to insert little different details in their own stories to make it more favorable to themselves. I thought it heavily emphasizes how people can sin so easily and selfishly when they are in danger. It was interesting that even at the end of the movie, it does not give a clear answer to audiences which of the stories is a real truth. Some people may think the woodcutter’s story is real while others may believe the samurai’s story is the truth. I felt that the movie provides opportunities to audiences to make their own decisions in their own point of view in understanding the ending of the movie. It is like applying the movie’s main point in our real world right after watching it. However, we get an impression at the end that the woodcutter’s story may be the truth after recognizing his goodness. If we do not see his goodness, we wouldn’t be able to make any decisions. This shows how the goodness is easily hidden by sins and other failing of people’s characteristics in the society, but it is always the right one to keep for the truth. Also, I thought the court scenes were very interesting. In the courthouse, the characters are all looking at someone and seem like having conversations with that unknown person, who can be considered as a judge. Since the characters are all looking toward the audiences, I felt we are considered as the judge of the movie. The camera never captures judge’s face and the audiences cannot hear his voice or opinions about the situation. I thought this not only represents the difficulties of making decisions with distorted truth, but also represents exclusion of objectivity in the movie. It simply allows the audiences to make decisions that it was interesting to look close at the four different stories to make decisions on my own.
Rashomon leads to emphasize about the nature of truth an reality. The film provides four viewpoints of the incident by four witnesses; the wood cutter, the bandit, the lady, and the samurai himself. Each incidents reveals a little more detail. People have differnt points of view and remember different things of how the siutation of murder occured. Therefore, the audience can sa that there are multipe truths suggesting that truth is subjective. Expectation is influence how people see things in which people might experience not only from visual illusions, but also from illusions with each of other sense. This can explain why there is no absolute truth and everyone has different beliefs. Each witness has a very diferent background and different memory. For example, the bandit expects that he kills the samuarai due to his criminal background, while the lady says tht she hold the knife, which she expects that she is the one who kills her husband since her dagger was in him. Therefore, people might misinterpret what they perceive because of the differete experience they have created the expectation.
The movie Rashomon showed that how a single story could be told variously in different point of views. The story of the event was told in samurai’s wife, woodcutter, Tajomaru and samurai’s point of view and they all had distinct stories. As we listen to each person’s story, we could realize that the story is targeted towards people but themselves. This made us to think how people can be biased with just listening to one story and the importance of listening to various point of views.
Since they told their stories by having their eyes to the camera, it made us, the audience to feel that we became part of the film. When Tajomaru, samurai and samurai’s wife told their stories at the court, it made audience to feel that we are one of the judge and this led us to think about the truth. As we listen to their stories, it was difficult to determine who is telling the truth because the film just showed four different stories in different point of views and there was no sign of who were right or wrong in the film. I think it depends on the audience’s thought to decide who is right.
After watching a movie called Rashomon, I thought that this movie was telling us how human’s egocentric mind changes the truth so easily. Four different stories are showed from the point of view of tajomaru, woman, samurai, and woodcutter for the same situation. The priest was afraid of listening those stories because of losing faith on humans. Perhaps there was no truth because the movie did not give any hint. I didn’t care which story is true. The important thing was four different personalities led me to think about how afraid losing faith among people is. I also thought the weather of this movie is strongly related to lie, broken confidence, and hope of humanity. The first scene was in the strong rainfall, which is related to lie and broken confidence. On the other hand, the last scene (When woodcutter hold baby and left Rashomon) was in the sunshine, which is related to hope that humans can feel compunction of their sin. Even this movie is made in 1950, I felt almost no difference compare to these days movie. The story involves humor, lesson, and mystery of ending. The sound effect and the various poses of camera angles helped to watch the movie more intensively.
'Rashomon' by Akira Kurosawa shows the complexity of the human mind and belief within one another. Furthermore, introducing the Japanese film and culture to the wide exposure of Western civilization in that period of time. The general plot summary within this movie goes as follows: five individuals - a samurai, his wife, a bandit, a woodcutter and a priest are called to present to the jury. Before hand in flashbacks, viewers learn about the death of a samurai, following after, his wife and bandit are captured by authorities. The overall court hearing (and events pre-tainting to it) are all showcased by flashbacks to a commoner at the ruined gate of Kyoto. Kurosawa illustrates the different views of the same story coming from each individual involved. This creates conflict and confusion between the court jury in which the five individuals present different stories from each other. The types of truth are all separated into categories in which political truth, verbal truth and cognitive truth go up against ultimately cinematic truth. The cinematic truth is undeniable in comparison to others due to the other point of views being compromised within this conflict.
Kurosawa's type of movie plot and genre was never intentionally executed to provide to a global scale. Thus making it difficult to understand why although it did not receive absolute commercial success within its nation, it has received global recognition and praise, as well as create inspiration to many film makers all over the world. 'Rashomon' has been the receiver of many awards in its period of time, specifically with five internationally credited awards. With so much recognition, how could one not be able to appreciate a film within its own native country? With the use of new techniques for film production, it introduced western audiences and directors alike, to the distinct Japanese film industry. With examples such as sun exposure and presence to the camera, viewers and actors show analogous features in Kurosawa's particular genre. Following almost fourteen years later, (dating back to its original release date in Japan, August 25th 1950) as a Western genre movie adaptation, American director Martin Ritt remade this movie, which Kurosawa acknowledged (for his screen play). The success of 'Rashomon' resulted in many film makers and directors using the 'Rashomon Effect' as an underlying base idea for their various pieces of work. Many films and television shows today indeed arouse from the idea of Kurosawa and the 'Rashomon Effect', they are shown everywhere an individual has watched a movie or turned on a television.
Humanity and the ideas each individual present all have some sort of value, within this it's a superiors job in his power to judge the credibility of the ones partaking in the present issue. Whether it be their social status or their validity, man itself has deceived another at one point, or even inspire many others like Kurosawa. One may lie to gain, move forward, defend, protect, and maybe arouse others.There are so many views on the value of a mans word, and sometimes people just dont know what the real truth is, that is the never changing perception of lying. "But it’s ’s because men are so weak. That’s why they lie. That’s why they must deceive themselves." (Priest, Section 215).
Akira Kurosawa's 'Rashomon' is a very masterful film of how people distort the truth to suit their own needs. The many different camera shots are used to show certain aspects of each character's story, such as the panning forest shot of the woodcutter traveling and the close-ups of the dead samurai's medium emphasize the different situations the character lays out his or her story. For instance, during the lady's story the camera is purposefully close to the lady's and samurai's faces as her face shows the horror of seeing the dead look her husband's face displays. The close-ups of the priest show how he has lost his faith in humanity, and how much despair he seems to display.
When the camera pans across the gate and the downpour at the beginning of the movie, it shows that something negative happens, and at the end of the movie the rain seems to come down harder as the stories become bleaker, and the shot heavily emphasizes this rain. Cleverly, the camera shows the rain stopping when as the woodcutter tries to right his wrongs by taking care of the baby, signaling a positive thing, very unlike the beginning.
The different shots of 'Rashomon' are used to heavily emphasize moments and revelations, and Kurosawa uses them to maximum effect.
Akira Kurosawa utilizes a blend of magnificent cinematography and diverse settings in thoroughly explaining the unique plot surrounding the troubled characters in this 1950’s Japanese film, Rashomon. What I found fascinating with Rashomon is the deep themes connected within the plot line. The symbolism within the climax has encapsulated the entire emotions of this cinematic masterpiece, where the message reveals about how men being only interested about their own self interest. There is a specific scene where the priest is deeply concerned about the psyche of humanity, considering all the betrayal and lies surrounding the civilization. The priest uncovered that the woodcutter has stolen a dagger from a crime scene for his own purposes, but later found hope for humanity when the woodcutter decided to care for an orphaned baby. Once the film has reached conclusion, a sunny forecast appeared compared to the rainy weather at the beginning. This visual symbolism explains the foreboding tragic at the beginning of the film while the glimmer of hope at the climax is well represented by the weather. The visual symbols are at great comparison with the genre and settings, where Kurosawa introduces a genre composed of a silent film persona with a modern touch. Although the settings are at a minimal level, the simple backgrounds introduce an excellent plot combined with an effective technical display.
The characters are a crucial piece to the film, yet the cinematic touch is focused within the cinematography that explains the character’s importance. Throughout several closed up shots, the camera is focused on a single character, particularly on the bandit, the husband, and the wife. The centered shots show the triangular relationship between the characters. Also noticeable is the lighting, where the forest has a glimmer of sunlight, thoroughly performing as an important set piece. The impact Rashomon had on world cinema was highly influential. Initially criticized by Japanese critics and igniting a poor showing at homeland theaters, Western critics were at awe by the simple plot that was so exquisitely complemented by the settings, camera work, and the lighting. Since then, the numerous accolades and the everlasting legacy of Rashomon introduced a wave of Kurosawa films that brought Japanese films into the international landscape.
Akira Kurosawa created the story of “Rashomon” by showing the different stories of the same event from 4 different people. The bandit, the samurai’s wife, the samurai and the woodcutter told their own version of the events that unraveled the death of the samurai. Each story had a different plot making it hard for the truth to be unveiled. Out of all the stories the samurai’s wife displayed the true darkness of humanity. After the bandit sexually assaulted her, she felt an overwhelming feeling of shame and regret. The disappointment in her husband’s eyes drove her to insanity and without realizing she murdered her husband. This story of the samurai’s death illustrates the sinister characteristics of human nature. The camera skill of the director was demonstrated through out “Rashomon”. In the beginning of the scene, the camera shows the deteriorating gate in the pouring rain. This imagery sets the movie environment to a country that is in turmoil and chaos. This environment also complements the horror events that are yet to happen. Towards the ending of the movie, the woodcutter takes in the abandon baby and hope he can make compensation for the wrong he did. The rain starts to lighten while the story ends on the idea of hope. Kurosawa demonstrates his camera skill by showing extensive footage of nature and the sun. The filming of the sun is common in “Rashomon”. The sun represents the purity of cleansing out the darkness or sin. Kurosawa uses this cinematography during the scene when Tajomaru violates the samurai’s wife. As the wife is giving into Tajomaru, she looks straight at the sun. The camera captures the sunlight depicting the sun as an imagery of purity. Another feature that Kurosawa uses is the close up of the actor’s faces. This close up helps the audience sense the true emotion that the actor is feeling. For example, when the wife was screaming in terror of her husband’s still face, Kurosawa zoomed in the camera on her face. The audience is able to sense the wife slowly loosing her sanity as she looks at her husband’s still face.
Akira Kurosawa has combined set of impressing and complex storyline with ingenious camerawork in his film Rashomon. His unconventional film could’ve been a dangerous attempt for the past film industry but gained huge recognition for his masterpiece. Interesting thing about Rashomon is that there are four different stories that are told by four individuals. However, it is fascinating for the audience to know that three of four stories are false and only one is the truth. A lot of symbolisms are displayed throughout the film. These false stories are one of them. The fact that human cannot be honest with them when they have disadvantage to themselves. This symbolism is shown by the priest, who mentions about how he is concerned about the humanity with the all the lies and dishonest through human beings. The setting of the movie was significant. Audience would notice how the movie starts in heavy rainy weather. It is seem to be a symbolism that foreshadows the tragic part of the movie. But at the end, when all problems are solved, sun comes back up again. These visual symbolisms are frequently shown during the film.
Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s film, The Cure, was one of the most unpredictable movies that I have ever seen. Kurosawa tried to show dramatic emotional changes and personalities of main character, Takabe. As a detective, and as a husband of a woman who has severe psychologic problem, Takabe had to go through too much hardness throughout the movie. For the effective convincing, Kurusawa pictures in various angles, and numerous sound details. I still do not understand the climax of this movie when hypnosis psycho dies at the old and huge building, but I can sense that the curse of Mamiya finally ends by that. Also for the very end, Takabe at the restaurant was something that says toward us about his gradual change. Unlike his first scene at that restaurant when he did not eat much, and looked like very week, the ending showed how much he becomes energetic and positive person. This dramatic change ends this movie by telling us he is cured who had go though deep darkness even murdered few people. Overall, the movie was very dark and tragic even by just watching was hard, but it was very interesting because it actually portrays human being's actual life.
"Rashomon" is the movie that makes Japanese cinema strong to be able to rival with Italy,Russia and USA. The film "Rashomon" simply illustrates the questiton that what is true? and about hope. The summary of "Rashomon" is a murder case happens at forest, and there are 4 witness of this event. However, each of them are crossed by different statement. The setting of this film is forest and it represents wildness and lack of law. At this point, audience start to have confusion about whose statement is true. The four main characters are bandit, samurai, woodcutter and samurai's wife. There is common point from this four different stories, which is each of them pursuits their own view at specific situation. Akira Kurosawa uses a specific camera angle to make an audience feels like to be in a movie. Because of this skill, in the court, bandit stare camera lens and camera does not show court at this scene. "Rashomon" tries not to say doubt about agnosticism, but about interests of human nature and recovery of humanity. "Rashomon" includes a lot of social customs at 1950 era. For instance, Japanese have been suffering from the war and it creates human fallibility and corruption. The scene that when bandit tries to rape wife of samurai, the wife keep resisting to him, but she fails it. Bandit start to kiss her and she puts her hand on bandit's back. At this time, camera shot shows the sunshine. Before, bandit kisses to wife, the background is shadow all the time. Moral ambivalence and light and dark are illustrated by this scene. At the last scene, priest find out wood cutter steal dagger from samurai. Priest loses his faith and humanity, however suddenly he hears baby crying. I guess Akria Kurosawa tries to set baby here to cure people's humanity. After wood cutter brings baby with him, rain start to stop and sun rises up. Thus, sun represents hope at this scene and rain express the darkness. Finally, the movie "Rashomon" makes an impact a lot on the society as well as world. It creates Rashomon's real effect and puts japanese cinema on the world map.
Plot summary of the movie “Rashomon” is simple. A samurai has died, and each of four characters; wife of samurai, bandit, woodcutter, and shaman, are giving different testimonies about samurai’s death at the court. However, in spite of the simple storyline, Kurosawa, the director of this movie, filmed it somewhat in interesting way and made this movie to be on the world map. He put several important themes in the movie, such as human’s evilness, and gender conflict. I was able to find human’s evilness when each of the characters interpreted the situation as they want; as a result, I was unable to figure out what the truth is. However, I thought it was interesting to guess who the real offender was. Gender conflict was shown by samurai’s wife and bandit when they were giving testimonies. While bandit was telling the story, he mentioned that women’s are weak by nature; on the other hand, while samurai’s wife was giving testimony, she described male as coward which made me to think she was underestimating the power of the gender. Not only themes but also camera shot technique made this movie to be different from contemporary movies. Kurosawa usually used non-verbal visual story-telling technique. This technique was shown significantly in the scene that witnesses giving testimony.
After watching the movie, “Rashonmon”, I was left with a question, and had to rethink about the story of the movie. The movie mainly shows how individual’s perspective is different, and how much it can impact on people’s memory and thinking. In the movie, there are four people who saw the murder, and each of them gives testimony. Even though they witnessed the same scene and insist that they are telling the truth, each people reconstructed the story in his or her own way, and the stories were all different. This shows how people lie and act to protect themselves from being in trouble by remembering the past with subjective vision. Moreover, from what bandit said, I could figure out that there is a gender contest in the movie. By defining women as a weak people in nature, patriarchal power, popular idea at that time, was drawn. There were only black white colors in the movie, and it made a great contrast which highlights people’s moral ambivalence. Dappled shadow was represented the most in the forest, and it seems like that it was director’s intention to stress the tragic mood. As sun rises up and woodcutter decides to adapt a baby, the audience can find a hope at the end. Since the movie reflects the culture of Japan at that period and people’s internal side, it was interesting to watch the movie.
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ReplyDeleteIn the movie Rashomon, it shows how different the “truth” can be from person to person. There is one single event, death of the samurai, but there are four different stories that results such event. These stories are differentiated by bandit, samurai’s wife, samurai through shaman, and woodcutter. The movie doesn’t show the audience what really happened. Rather, it wants the audience to think what the real truth is. This idea can be noticed when four characters tell their own stories to the authorities, the actual official who listens to them is not shown in the camera. The characters talk straight to the camera as if the audience is the official himself to judge which is true. Until the end, the movie only shows four different explanation of the incident. It focuses on the difference of the stories to the details such as laughter of bandit, touch of wife’s hand, and how samurai looks at raped wife. As the movie progresses, I was more uncertain of the real truth. Maybe, this is the point of this film. It seems like this movie is to show horror of self-justification because none of the stories can assure audience what really happened.
ReplyDeleteThe film has four strong characters that deliver each individual idea about the dead samurai. Except for the characters, the movie itself is rather too simple. It was probably unavoidable because it had to repeat similar yet different stories four times. Also, music played a great role in this film. Each soundtrack put in for scenes with various emotions are well put by consideration of matching the context. The dialogue between the monk, woodcutter, and traveler under Rashomon is shown as bridge between the stories of four main characters. These dialogues between the three bring the idea of weak human and self-justification in depth. During these dialogues, one of the line states that humans lie because they are weak. I believe this is true. That’s why we admire who has integrity. Because humans are weak, no one can tell what the real truth is in this film. We, the audience, who are given choices to choose which is true can’t tell which the real incident is in fact. I believe this movie is to show the bitterness of human nature and how it can be horrifying time to time.
Portrayal of Tajomaru in Rashomon
ReplyDeleteIn Akira Kurosawa’s Rashomon a few of the characters (the wife, the samurai and the bandit) seem to have a rather unbalanced personality. However while one only realizes the dishonest true nature of the wife and the samurai in course of the film, it seems to be clear from the beginning that Tajomaru the bandit is offbeat. Already the first shot of him implies his disturbed personality; In contrast to the other three people in the picture he is sitting extremely plump and seems to be indifferent to the situation. The only thing he does in the first scene is gaze intensely at the sky. Possibly because he blames the wind for the crime he committed and the crime noticeably affected him.
The first shot of him however isn’t the only moment underlining his personality. Throughout the whole film he repeatedly appears to be scratching himself or swatting flies off his body. For example the scene where Tajomaru sees the wife for the first time, all he does is open his eyes, scratch his knee and close his eyes again. Moreover as the drama progresses he also starts to sweat more and more in comparison the other more groomed looking characters. Not only do these characterizations of the bandit imply an unsanitary foul body but also a despicable, dishonest personality.
The movie is over 60 years old but caught my attention just like newest movies with awesome graphics and cool actions. The reason would be the movie’s story line which makes audiences to constantly think which character is telling the truth. However, unlike other mystery movies it ends without any hint or whatsoever about who is telling the truth. As the result it leads audience to think for themselves what would be the truth. My respond to the question is that there is no absolute truth. To me the bandit, samurai’s wife, shaman, and woodcutter did not seem to be lying because what they said had nothing to benefit them. I believe they were just telling there truth. Since people remember and interpret differently on the same events, truth varies people to people.
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ReplyDeleteOne thing I found really interesting in the film Rashomon was how the authority figure who was listening to all four accounts of the murder never appeared or was heard on screen. Each of the four witnesses, the woodcutter, the bandit, the woman, and the samurai, all spoke directly at the camera, and thus at the viewers of the film, when telling their stories. Because of this cinematic technique, we the audience became a part of the film: as each new account of the murder was explained, we struggled to figure out who was telling the truth.
ReplyDeleteThe random appearance of the crying baby near the end of the film kinda confused me a bit at first (I mean how could they not notice the baby before!?). As the priest cares for the baby, the woodcutter and the commoner chastise each other about their own selfish motives and that in the end men only care about themselves. The priest starts to believe that hope in humanity is lost as does the audience after fumbling through the lie-packed accounts of the murder. However, the film ends with the woodcutter taking the baby as one of his own alongside his six other children. As the woodcutter and his new child leave Rashomon, the rain stops and the sun starts to shine, a small glimmer of hope that is still left in mankind.
Sorry if I am actually in the other group, this is just to make sure.
ReplyDeleteIn the movie, Rashomon, the main narrative is told through the use of unreliable narrators which helps cement a theme throughout most of the movie that evil and pride are inherent qualities present within mankind. The four unreliable narrators all recount stories about the rape of a woman and the death of her husband, but they all contradict each other so that none are representative of the truth. The motive behind the different retellings is that the characters can try and save face for their actions. Even the woodcutter’s story cannot be known as the whole truth because it comes to light later that he hid details about stealing the pearl inlayed dagger. The scene that ties this interpretation together is when the cynical man inquiring about what occurred says; “Man just wants to forget the bad stuff, and believe in the made-up good stuff. It's easier that way (Rashomon).” This is shown through the retellings which put the speaker in a better light. For example, Tajomaru paints himself as competent and honorable fighter, while the woodcutter’s story shows the fighters as cowardly and that he actually wins by sheer luck.
Another revealing part of the movie is the location which is set at a ruined gateway with a large downpour of rain throughout. This forms a hellish landscape and seems reflective of the movie’s negative view of humanity. Though this is contrasted at the very end when the woodcutter takes in the abandoned baby and then the rain stops at least for a little while. The coupling of the weather and the actions of the woodcutter come together to show that there is still a little hope left for humanity and that evil, selfishness, and pride are not inherent qualities in mankind.
This movie, Rashomon was filmed in 1950s when the Japan's economic and inner political was in terrible situation. Through watching movie, I was able to feel people's selfishness and complex criminal relationship through each other. I think director of this movie wants to teach audience important lessons. Since long time ago, politeness and women's chastity were seemed as most valuable thing that people shouln't forget in Japan. However, as movie is demonstrating people's selfishness, situation of lying to each other and cruelty, director wants to show true figure of current situation on that time. Even ghost was lying. Producer wants people to realize the problem through movie. So at the end, this movie was ended with lyer enlightening his crime and guiltiness. Lyer confessing his crime and striving for new innocent life which are director's desire, was shown in the movie.
ReplyDeleteActually, I am not kind of person who likes to enjoy watching movie, but this movie,Rashomon was really interesting. Even though the quality of video itself was not in good condition, story of the movie was great. Also, I think background music was really attracting my curiousity and tension of the situation in movie.
In review of Rashomon, I found the subject matters handled within the plot very dense, despite the almost comical reenactment scenes. The primary subject handled here is "truth" and how through a truthful virtue, a restoration in humanity is achieved. Throughout the movie, the audience is led through 4 different scenarios of a single event that involves the woodcutter, the bandit, the samurai, and the samurai's wife at which his/her point of view; rather, their eyewitness recollections of the "truth". The staggering differences in each of the four scenarios is still a problem in our judiciary system. There's just too many versions of the truth.
ReplyDeleteIn a media where perspective is key, it is downright ironic that Rashomon deals with perspectives of the characters pertaining to the murder. I think the greater message that Kurosawa is trying to convey through this film is that the the moral battle between good and evil starts in ourselves and no matter how many versions of truth/all the lies influence us, we must continue to believe in the good of the humanity.
I couldn’t really read most of the subtitles while watching the movie therefore I could only get a gist of what the movie Rashomon was about. Although I watched the film with little understanding what was being said, I understood that Rashomon underlined the idea of truth and how it differentiated among individuals. The whole movie Rashomon circled around one event; the death of a samurai. And through the four accounts from the bandit, samurai’s wife, priest, and woodcutter, the audience could see how one single event could be interpreted in so many ways that disrupted what is actually true or false. Upon every story account, it is noticeable that the characters personalities change from story to story because the narrator tries to illustrate what’s best for him to avoid more accusations or to justify their actions. For example, the wife painted herself helpless and that when she woke up from her faint, her husband was already dead to gain empathy from others; while the in the woodcutter’s perspective, she actually made the bandit and husband fight (not actually sure, I couldn’t read the sub for the scene when the two men fought cowardly). The woodcutter probably portrayed it that way to avoid the later fact that he stole the pearl from the wife’s dagger. Because of this incident, I agree that Rashomon also lighted upon how human morals influence the way truth is being given and received. Each story has the same setting but all the narrators have different interpretations and they're very contradictory to one another, hence it’s difficult to account for the whole truth. I guess this probably why the movie is titled Rashomon because of the Rashomon Effect, contradicting interpretations of the same events by different people.
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Akira Kurosawa’s Rashomon
ReplyDeleteAfter watching the movie Rashomon, I could remind the power of actor again because the acting was the main part that completed this movie into masterpiece. As the camera does not move frequently like action movies of nowadays do, the actors needed to act much better and they did it well. For example, during the bandit's testimony, exaggerated movement and gestures of bandit revealed his irresponsible and dissipated characteristics. However, during the woodman's testimony, bandit's actions indicated his cowardliness as if it is another person.
Other thing that caught my attention was the back ground music. Even though the back ground of movie is Japan in old time, instruments for the back ground music was not Japanese musics. Rather, back ground music was western classical musics performed by western instruments. However, the back ground music and the movie really harmonized well without any sign of inharmonious. It was really astounding that the 'Bolero' was used as a background music for the important scene and it really well edited to be fit into the movie.
As the movie, Rashomon, begins, it creates an atmosphere what the movie will be about. In most of East Asian movies, when it rains, there must be something, and it presents, perhaps, characters’ situations, thoughts, and emotions. The movie starts with a woodcutter, keep saying, “I don’t understand”. It was constantly repeated over and over, and at the end of Rashomon, the audiences figure out why he said the sentence so many times. This movie leads the audience not only to think and seek the truth, but also to find enlightenment among our real world.
ReplyDeleteThe Movie, Rashomon, shows that how people could talk about a murder case in three different perspectives which can protect their own, naturally. While the audiences face the three witnesses, the audience starts lose confidence, and dramatically that is when the truth reveals by the woodcutter. On the one hand, he is the last hope in this murder case and finally tells the truth which audiences could actually believe, but he is too coward to involve in. On the other hand, the audience cannot fully trust him because he insists that a sword is a murder weapon, but he is the one who stole the dagger. It seems like the murder case resolved but nothing is revealed at all. The society among us has no difference. Most people want to know the truth but when it comes to their problem, instead of being honest, they tend to be indifferent to others and just be selfish.
P.S: I am actually not sure which group i belong. I read through syllabus and couldn't find it. Sorry
On a surface level, “Rashomon” poses a question about the nature of truth and the validity of individual perspectives. However, that question is framed by a question of broader significance. The film does not only ask, “How and why did the murder occur?” but also, “Is the murder of one individual important?” This question can be extended to a general exploration of individual significance as well as the significance of objective truth. (Not, “is there an objective reality,” but rather “does it matter whether or not there is an objective reality?”) In the opening scene of the film, one of the characters (I’ve forgotten which) is informed of the murder and responds by saying, “Just one? So what?” While another character counters him by arguing that this murder is significant, the question of whether or not the individual is important has already been subtly, but clearly, planted in our minds. This theme is important to the film because it completely changes the way we view and analyze the movie as a whole: if the individual is considered to be insignificant, it is needless to say that the murder of that individual (and by extension the details surrounding the murder) are equally insignificant. The question is addressed again at the very end of the film when the baby is discovered. While on one hand the baby represents innocence and an opportunity for moral redemption, on the other hand the man does not take the baby out of compassion but rather because he “already has six children” and “one more won’t make a difference.” Because this statement is made during the last scene of the movie and runs so parallel to the “Just one? So what?” statement made in the opening scene, it seems like an intentionally constructed “frame,” that offers us an alternative method of thinking about and understanding the movie.
ReplyDeletePlacing that thought aside, I also couldn’t help interpreting the film from a feminist perspective. While there is only one woman in the movie, in many ways I think she can be perceived as the central focus of the film. While she doesn’t directly participate in all of the violence, she is almost always the direct catalyst. In some instances, she is literally urging the men to violence, while in others she is simply provoking violence as an object of temptation. Therefore, I think the film reinforces the tired message that women are to blame for violence and social unrest, either directly or indirectly. She is depicted as tempting, self-seeking, and manipulative. It feels almost as if the woman is tricking both her husband and the bandit: her loyalty constantly wavers. While before the violence, she is of central importance, afterward she is cast aside and becomes very peripheral. After she is raped, she becomes no more than a “common whore” and is regarded as “just like any other woman.” While the film certainly makes a statement about the power women were able to exert over men in some circumstances, that power is shown to be limited and temporary. In a way, by the end of the film the blame for the murder is placed not on the murderer but rather on the wife; this point is silently reinforced by the interrogation scene during which two men stare accusingly from the background as the wife, ashamed, throws her body into the sand. (I interpreted heat as a symbol for social repercussions throughout the film; scenes in which the woman is experiencing social consequences feature extreme close-ups of the wife’s face dripping with sweat).
PS. I think I may have responded in the wrong group too... but I already wrote it so I figured it was better to post.
Rashomon is credited to the use of natural light and how that gives the movie more ambiguity. The light might not be enough to shine through the entire forest so it was hard to realize whether it was during the day or night that the scene was being shot. Kurosawa's use of mirrors was brilliant because it allowed the audience to see the characters in natural light while also highlighting their expression.
ReplyDeleteHowever, there were also some parts of the film that were blurry or hazy. Maybe it was just the quality of film because it's definitely an old film. Some parts of the recollections seem blurry and so it added to the ambiguity of the film and the truthfulness. Another way of seeing the blurriness is to know that these recollections are from memory so the fuzzy images can be used to identify reality to memory.
The movie “Rashomon” got me thinking that humans are designed to remember what they want to remember. I think that the accounts from the bandit, the wife, the dead Samurai, and the woodcutter are showing humans’ selfishness and human’s nature to distort memories for self-pride. The weird thing was that they don’t really defend themselves in a court and rather distort truth as if they brag. The testimony scene of the woodcutter reveals how desperate those people were to hide their weaknesses and cowardly behaviors.
ReplyDeleteThe movie seemed old and comical but the content still deserved to be a fine piece. It deals with a profound human nature. What the director, Kurosawa, try to convey in the movie still applies to the present. The most impressive part was the scene of the bandit and the samurai fighting. It showed realistic and pathetic side of humans when facing fear of death. I could not fully understand the details in the movie because I could barely see the subtitles, but I think the movie depicted human nature very well.
In creating films, directors strive to imply meaningful consequence in every detail of a shot. As an audience who has no understanding of the plot or story of Rashomon, the frame narrative, a plot device which director Kurosawa decided to employ in the film, can be unexpected; however, looking closely at the introductory scenes of the film, one can foresee the director’s intention.
ReplyDeleteAmong the beginning scenes of the film, there is a shot of the priest and woodcutter, dumbfound, murmuring “I don’t understand… I just don’t understand” The following shot is a long two shot of the priest and woodcutter sitting silently beneath Rashomon gate. This brief shot can be easily overlooked, but unlike other shots in this long shot the two men are captured in a square frame created by the city gate. The shot of the two men and the cloudy sky captured within the frame formed by the wooden gate can be seen as another shot within the physical shot of the film; in other words, “shot within a shot”. Wittily shooting a unique composition, the director attempted to hint the audience a possibility of a story within a story (or frame narrative). While the director included such a shot in the opening scene to suggest the beginning of the frame narrative, he used a similar composition to conclude the narrative of the accounts towards the end of the film. Immediately after the end of woodcutter’s story of the incident is the long three shot of the priest, woodcutter, and commoner. In this shot, they are captured in a trapezoid-shaped frame created by the borderlines of the screen and a piece of wood. Similar to the previous shot, this shot can be seen as another “shot within a shot” which calls an end to the frame narrative.
Kurowasa’s clever, expressive use of composition can be noted in other shots throughout the film. After the priest, woodcutter and commoner share their accounts, the three characters react differently to the stories. While the priest and woodcutter are terrified by the horrific stories yet still wish to believe in men, the commoner tempts them to renounce their belief. In shooting this scene, Kurowasa took a pan shot of the three characters; the priest on the left, woodcutter on the right and a pillar in the middle. The camera follows the commoner as he slowly moves from left to right and cunningly instigates the others. Having the pillar in the middle, he divides the pan shot into two to emphasize the temptation of the commoner (who resembles evil in this scene) and the conflicting ideas of the three characters. In this single shot, Kurowasa successfully expresses the film’s theme of human corruption and hope.
The first distinct point I noted was that Rashomon is a black-and-white film. It immediately sets the tone that the movie is based on olden Japan. The first scene also tells us what to expect – the Rashomon gate is in ruins, death is common, and the people, such as the commoner, the woodcutter and the priest, were all dressed in rags. The heavy rain almost seems to be hinting that it is hard to anticipate change anytime soon. Patriarchy was dominant in olden Japan, and women were seen as powerless. The film has a single female character, whose face the audience does not see until quite a few scenes later. Her face was covered with a veil, and the focus of the film was on the men – especially the bandit’s masculinity and the samurai’s glory. The importance of the female character comes when the conflict revolves around the ambiguity of the death of the samurai. All the accounts accuse the female character of wanting one of the men dead. During the woodcutter’s account, she was able to manipulate the men into fighting each other, but her powerless nature is portrayed with her exaggerated fear when the men were about to cross swords. On the other hand, the question of masculinity arises when both men seem to fear the fight, as they ran to opposite ends and took very long to advance towards each other again. Hence the film left me with an impression that it was shot during a time of unrest in olden Japan.
ReplyDeleteAnother memorable point for me was the way the court scene was constructed, as confessions were made before the audience, instead of the character of a judge. The director’s intention was for the audience to take their own stands, while directly coming into contact with the different accounts of the murder. The accounts were all very subjective, as the audience would learn with the progression of the plot. The bandit himself tried to convince everyone that he had no intention of murdering anyone. It was in fact the breeze which exposed the woman’s face and motivated his intentions of wanting her. However, his intention was to “take her without killing him”. The wife on the other hand asserts that she did not know how her husband died because she fainted. She also stressed on how devastated she was but failed in all her suicide attempts. The samurai’s account was the most interesting because it depicted a suicide and the mystery of how the dagger was pulled out from him. The accounts from those present at the scene were all distinctly different and self-motivated. However, the truth was never revealed, not even through the woodcutter’s account. The director then cleverly brings in the question of humanity and truth, prompting the audience to ponder over the subjectivity of the things we see and hear.
Human Flaws
ReplyDeleteHyunjoon Choi (Bryan Choi)
Akira Kurosawa’s Roshoman portrays four different perspectives all recounting the same story but showing different outlooks based on the various characters. While all the stories differ in one way or another, they all have a common portrayal of human flaws. It is clear throughout the film that each character tries to bend there perspectives on what actually happened in an effort to hide their shame which ultimately leads to showing the audience there actual weakness. These flaws become apparent to me after I saw the woodcutter’s perspective which he claims true. In addition, just the way the character’s perspectives focus on some points in there story also gave me a sense of there imperfections. For example, the bandit’s story shows an attempt to tell the court of a story that focuses on his “male superiority” by putting spotlight on his swordsman skills and his success in seducing the samurai’s wife. However, as the audience sees the valid perspective of the woodcutter, I only saw the bandit’s insecurity and a problem of self-esteem. A common problem for all men. Similar to the bandit’s story, the samurai’s wife’s outlook gave me a similar effect in which she gave me yet another egocentric vibe. Throughout the woman’s story, her repetetive crave for sympathy struck me that this woman is just another girl asking for attention. From beginning to end, the samurai’s wife was over dramatic which ultimately gave me a sense of insecurity. Examples include the sumarai’s “piercing stare” that she claims was so violating that she rather choose death then feel her guilt of being with another man. Another example includes that one brief scene where the women was lying down on her side in somewhat seducing manner in front of the court. That short five second scene gave me yet another sense that shes asking for pity for the pure and only fact that she is a girl. In addition, the whole time the woman seemed like she was possesed by a demon struck me as another attempt to crave sympathy and pity. There were times that I thought the women actually feeling a genuine feeling of heartbreak from being with another man but after a closer analysis, she really seemed to me another girl asking for attention. I am saying this because in the end she says that she tried to kill herself in many ways but failed to suceed. Honestly, if she actually felt the pain that caused her to turn like the girl from the exorcist, she would have just stabbed herself with the two swords or the one dagger. In my opinion, Kurosawa excells in portraying these human flaws by the accounts of what the characters actually thought happened and there attempt .
I believe that Kurosawa excells in displaying these human flaws through his camera focus on the character’s over dramatic facial expressions and the use of light. In addition, I feel that the 1950s movie quality further compliments Kurosawa’s effort to display his main goals and purpose. The lack of color and the black and white feel sets a unique atmosphere where I feel is nearly impossible to portray in modern films. Next, unlike most films where the idea of darkness portrays a sense of evil, I felt that there were some parts where light portrayed sin. For example, the scene where the bandit succesfully seduces the woman shows a breif one to two second scene he focuses on the sun. During this scene, to me the sun almost seems like a omnipotent third person that is indirectly controlling the women into being seduced by the bandit. In summary, Akira Kurosawa is a great director.
Several things about Rashomon that I noticed is the amount of symbolism. Many examples of symbolism include showing the gloominess of the environment and the state of mind being held by the people there. The film opens up with a shot containing a ruined gate, and a very rainy and dreary look to it.
ReplyDeleteThe destroyed gate and the mangled environment sort of explains that not only the country, but also humanity is in ruin. The rain resembles as if all sort of hope and signs of morality, or human goodness is being washed away, and that there is little to no hope for any of the human beings in this film.
However, in the end, a glimmer of hope beacons due to the actions of the priest and woodcutter, and the first sign of human goodness is finally presented. This is all shown with the rain finally coming to an end, and the sun finally showing itself through the clouds.
Steven (Seung Tae) Kim.
DeleteReply on Rashomon
ReplyDeleteFunny enough, I knew very well about this film's structure although it was my first time watching Rashomon. After Rashomon was on screen, it created an effect after its name, Rashomon effect. This effect refers to a phenomenon where people share different perspectives on the same event customized to their interest. This effect has been widely used in novels and films, and Rashomon reminded me of the first movie I ever watched that used this effect as a motif, 'The hole.' This movie, compared to Rashomon, however, revealed the fact in the end. What this tells me is that in Rashomon, the fact is not important. While watching Rashomon, I followed every testimonials to find the fact, but did the fact really matter? In 'The hole,' the fact was all that matters, and eventually it disclosed the fact through the culprit's own mouth to only one person. On the other hand, in Rashomon, what is the fact? In my opinion, every testimonials are the facts, at least to the people who told the stories. There could be some personal reasons to tell the lies for everyone, and I thought woodcutter had nothing to get out from lying, so that woodcutter's story must be true. But he was still unavailable to explain about the dagger, which means that woodcutter's story is not perfectly reliable either. The movie never shows what the fact really is.
At the end of every testimonials, the background shifts to the Rashomon, where the court has been disjourned. Without the transition from the testimony to the Rashomon, there would be no time for me to sum up, and every time the scene switched to Rashomon, it functioned as a close-up of one perspective. There are many techniques to swith from one scene to the other. But Rashomon used the place, Rashomon as a way to transit from the event(past) to the present where the stories are all that exist. The woodcutter was as confused as I am, as he was looking for the fact. At the end, he was close to giving up on humanity or perhaps, the reality, and suddenly the crying of a baby, like an alarm, woke the woodcutter up. I personally think that the baby refers to the future, which creates a confrontation structure with the past where the event was taken, and the present where the stories are shared. At the same time, there is a contrast between the forest, the court and rashomon, and finally, outside of rashomon. The forest is a lawless place, a nature itself, and where it is not intended for people to inhabit. The court is a place of justice, and thus it is a man-made place for people. Alike the court, the rashomon, in chinese character, it means a gate where people's lives are filled with. Finally, at the end, where the woodcutter is headed to, nobody knows where he will go, and that leaves a space for us to think about. I think Rashomon took a very clever structure to send out a message that says what happened in the past is not important, that it only works as a piece of our lives that makes what human we are like. It can be translated to a various ways, it depends on the person at the present stage. The future is what we choose to be, like when the woodcutter chose not to give up. The other two people in Rashomon functions as people who chose the other way from the woodcutter and thus, they are left behind in the Rashomon. So here is a repetitive question, does the fact actually matter? or is it the person's perception and choice that really matters?
I'm sorry, I think there needs a little edition on my reply. (I wasn't really able to watch the movie thoroughly because I had to stand up on the desk, and these are editions after I searched some information about Rashomon)
DeleteThe woodcutter was the one that stole the dagger and that creates a guiltiness in the woodcutter leading him to adopt the baby. Of course, because of this, he would have told lies. And the priest says that he can count on humans again, showing hope in accordance to the weahter when the rain stops. So the other two in Rashomon might not be deemed as giving up on humanity. But the big picture of the movie, and the confrontation structure is still the same.
While watching the movie “Rashomon,” I thought the movie emphasizes how perspectives or point of view can vary among different people. The movie basically shows four different stories telling by four different characters even though there is only one truth. It represents people’s self-evident that it explains how truth can be easily distorted with different perspectives because people start to insert little different details in their own stories to make it more favorable to themselves. I thought it heavily emphasizes how people can sin so easily and selfishly when they are in danger. It was interesting that even at the end of the movie, it does not give a clear answer to audiences which of the stories is a real truth. Some people may think the woodcutter’s story is real while others may believe the samurai’s story is the truth. I felt that the movie provides opportunities to audiences to make their own decisions in their own point of view in understanding the ending of the movie. It is like applying the movie’s main point in our real world right after watching it. However, we get an impression at the end that the woodcutter’s story may be the truth after recognizing his goodness. If we do not see his goodness, we wouldn’t be able to make any decisions. This shows how the goodness is easily hidden by sins and other failing of people’s characteristics in the society, but it is always the right one to keep for the truth.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I thought the court scenes were very interesting. In the courthouse, the characters are all looking at someone and seem like having conversations with that unknown person, who can be considered as a judge. Since the characters are all looking toward the audiences, I felt we are considered as the judge of the movie. The camera never captures judge’s face and the audiences cannot hear his voice or opinions about the situation. I thought this not only represents the difficulties of making decisions with distorted truth, but also represents exclusion of objectivity in the movie. It simply allows the audiences to make decisions that it was interesting to look close at the four different stories to make decisions on my own.
Rashomon leads to emphasize about the nature of truth an reality. The film provides four viewpoints of the incident by four witnesses; the wood cutter, the bandit, the lady, and the samurai himself. Each incidents reveals a little more detail. People have differnt points of view and remember different things of how the siutation of murder occured. Therefore, the audience can sa that there are multipe truths suggesting that truth is subjective. Expectation is influence how people see things in which people might experience not only from visual illusions, but also from illusions with each of other sense. This can explain why there is no absolute truth and everyone has different beliefs. Each witness has a very diferent background and different memory. For example, the bandit expects that he kills the samuarai due to his criminal background, while the lady says tht she hold the knife, which she expects that she is the one who kills her husband since her dagger was in him. Therefore, people might misinterpret what they perceive because of the differete experience they have created the expectation.
ReplyDeleteThe movie Rashomon showed that how a single story could be told variously in different point of views. The story of the event was told in samurai’s wife, woodcutter, Tajomaru and samurai’s point of view and they all had distinct stories. As we listen to each person’s story, we could realize that the story is targeted towards people but themselves. This made us to think how people can be biased with just listening to one story and the importance of listening to various point of views.
ReplyDeleteSince they told their stories by having their eyes to the camera, it made us, the audience to feel that we became part of the film. When Tajomaru, samurai and samurai’s wife told their stories at the court, it made audience to feel that we are one of the judge and this led us to think about the truth. As we listen to their stories, it was difficult to determine who is telling the truth because the film just showed four different stories in different point of views and there was no sign of who were right or wrong in the film. I think it depends on the audience’s thought to decide who is right.
After watching a movie called Rashomon, I thought that this movie was telling us how human’s egocentric mind changes the truth so easily. Four different stories are showed from the point of view of tajomaru, woman, samurai, and woodcutter for the same situation. The priest was afraid of listening those stories because of losing faith on humans. Perhaps there was no truth because the movie did not give any hint. I didn’t care which story is true. The important thing was four different personalities led me to think about how afraid losing faith among people is.
ReplyDeleteI also thought the weather of this movie is strongly related to lie, broken confidence, and hope of humanity. The first scene was in the strong rainfall, which is related to lie and broken confidence. On the other hand, the last scene (When woodcutter hold baby and left Rashomon) was in the sunshine, which is related to hope that humans can feel compunction of their sin.
Even this movie is made in 1950, I felt almost no difference compare to these days movie. The story involves humor, lesson, and mystery of ending. The sound effect and the various poses of camera angles helped to watch the movie more intensively.
'Rashomon' by Akira Kurosawa shows the complexity of the human mind and belief within one another. Furthermore, introducing the Japanese film and culture to the wide exposure of Western civilization in that period of time. The general plot summary within this movie goes as follows: five individuals - a samurai, his wife, a bandit, a woodcutter and a priest are called to present to the jury. Before hand in flashbacks, viewers learn about the death of a samurai, following after, his wife and bandit are captured by authorities. The overall court hearing (and events pre-tainting to it) are all showcased by flashbacks to a commoner at the ruined gate of Kyoto. Kurosawa illustrates the different views of the same story coming from each individual involved. This creates conflict and confusion between the court jury in which the five individuals present different stories from each other. The types of truth are all separated into categories in which political truth, verbal truth and cognitive truth go up against ultimately cinematic truth. The cinematic truth is undeniable in comparison to others due to the other point of views being compromised within this conflict.
ReplyDeleteKurosawa's type of movie plot and genre was never intentionally executed to provide to a global scale. Thus making it difficult to understand why although it did not receive absolute commercial success within its nation, it has received global recognition and praise, as well as create inspiration to many film makers all over the world. 'Rashomon' has been the receiver of many awards in its period of time, specifically with five internationally credited awards. With so much recognition, how could one not be able to appreciate a film within its own native country? With the use of new techniques for film production, it introduced western audiences and directors alike, to the distinct Japanese film industry. With examples such as sun exposure and presence to the camera, viewers and actors show analogous features in Kurosawa's particular genre. Following almost fourteen years later, (dating back to its original release date in Japan, August 25th 1950) as a Western genre movie adaptation, American director Martin Ritt remade this movie, which Kurosawa acknowledged (for his screen play). The success of 'Rashomon' resulted in many film makers and directors using the 'Rashomon Effect' as an underlying base idea for their various pieces of work. Many films and television shows today indeed arouse from the idea of Kurosawa and the 'Rashomon Effect', they are shown everywhere an individual has watched a movie or turned on a television.
Humanity and the ideas each individual present all have some sort of value, within this it's a superiors job in his power to judge the credibility of the ones partaking in the present issue. Whether it be their social status or their validity, man itself has deceived another at one point, or even inspire many others like Kurosawa. One may lie to gain, move forward, defend, protect, and maybe arouse others.There are so many views on the value of a mans word, and sometimes people just dont know what the real truth is, that is the never changing perception of lying. "But it’s ’s because men are so weak. That’s why they lie. That’s why they must deceive themselves." (Priest, Section 215).
Akira Kurosawa's 'Rashomon' is a very masterful film of how people distort the truth to suit their own needs. The many different camera shots are used to show certain aspects of each character's story, such as the panning forest shot of the woodcutter traveling and the close-ups of the dead samurai's medium emphasize the different situations the character lays out his or her story. For instance, during the lady's story the camera is purposefully close to the lady's and samurai's faces as her face shows the horror of seeing the dead look her husband's face displays. The close-ups of the priest show how he has lost his faith in humanity, and how much despair he seems to display.
ReplyDeleteWhen the camera pans across the gate and the downpour at the beginning of the movie, it shows that something negative happens, and at the end of the movie the rain seems to come down harder as the stories become bleaker, and the shot heavily emphasizes this rain. Cleverly, the camera shows the rain stopping when as the woodcutter tries to right his wrongs by taking care of the baby, signaling a positive thing, very unlike the beginning.
The different shots of 'Rashomon' are used to heavily emphasize moments and revelations, and Kurosawa uses them to maximum effect.
Akira Kurosawa utilizes a blend of magnificent cinematography and diverse settings in thoroughly explaining the unique plot surrounding the troubled characters in this 1950’s Japanese film, Rashomon. What I found fascinating with Rashomon is the deep themes connected within the plot line. The symbolism within the climax has encapsulated the entire emotions of this cinematic masterpiece, where the message reveals about how men being only interested about their own self interest. There is a specific scene where the priest is deeply concerned about the psyche of humanity, considering all the betrayal and lies surrounding the civilization. The priest uncovered that the woodcutter has stolen a dagger from a crime scene for his own purposes, but later found hope for humanity when the woodcutter decided to care for an orphaned baby. Once the film has reached conclusion, a sunny forecast appeared compared to the rainy weather at the beginning. This visual symbolism explains the foreboding tragic at the beginning of the film while the glimmer of hope at the climax is well represented by the weather. The visual symbols are at great comparison with the genre and settings, where Kurosawa introduces a genre composed of a silent film persona with a modern touch. Although the settings are at a minimal level, the simple backgrounds introduce an excellent plot combined with an effective technical display.
ReplyDeleteThe characters are a crucial piece to the film, yet the cinematic touch is focused within the cinematography that explains the character’s importance. Throughout several closed up shots, the camera is focused on a single character, particularly on the bandit, the husband, and the wife. The centered shots show the triangular relationship between the characters. Also noticeable is the lighting, where the forest has a glimmer of sunlight, thoroughly performing as an important set piece. The impact Rashomon had on world cinema was highly influential. Initially criticized by Japanese critics and igniting a poor showing at homeland theaters, Western critics were at awe by the simple plot that was so exquisitely complemented by the settings, camera work, and the lighting. Since then, the numerous accolades and the everlasting legacy of Rashomon introduced a wave of Kurosawa films that brought Japanese films into the international landscape.
Akira Kurosawa created the story of “Rashomon” by showing the different stories of the same event from 4 different people. The bandit, the samurai’s wife, the samurai and the woodcutter told their own version of the events that unraveled the death of the samurai. Each story had a different plot making it hard for the truth to be unveiled. Out of all the stories the samurai’s wife displayed the true darkness of humanity. After the bandit sexually assaulted her, she felt an overwhelming feeling of shame and regret. The disappointment in her husband’s eyes drove her to insanity and without realizing she murdered her husband. This story of the samurai’s death illustrates the sinister characteristics of human nature.
ReplyDeleteThe camera skill of the director was demonstrated through out “Rashomon”. In the beginning of the scene, the camera shows the deteriorating gate in the pouring rain. This imagery sets the movie environment to a country that is in turmoil and chaos. This environment also complements the horror events that are yet to happen. Towards the ending of the movie, the woodcutter takes in the abandon baby and hope he can make compensation for the wrong he did. The rain starts to lighten while the story ends on the idea of hope. Kurosawa demonstrates his camera skill by showing extensive footage of nature and the sun. The filming of the sun is common in “Rashomon”. The sun represents the purity of cleansing out the darkness or sin. Kurosawa uses this cinematography during the scene when Tajomaru violates the samurai’s wife. As the wife is giving into Tajomaru, she looks straight at the sun. The camera captures the sunlight depicting the sun as an imagery of purity. Another feature that Kurosawa uses is the close up of the actor’s faces. This close up helps the audience sense the true emotion that the actor is feeling. For example, when the wife was screaming in terror of her husband’s still face, Kurosawa zoomed in the camera on her face. The audience is able to sense the wife slowly loosing her sanity as she looks at her husband’s still face.
Akira Kurosawa has combined set of impressing and complex storyline with ingenious camerawork in his film Rashomon. His unconventional film could’ve been a dangerous attempt for the past film industry but gained huge recognition for his masterpiece. Interesting thing about Rashomon is that there are four different stories that are told by four individuals. However, it is fascinating for the audience to know that three of four stories are false and only one is the truth. A lot of symbolisms are displayed throughout the film. These false stories are one of them. The fact that human cannot be honest with them when they have disadvantage to themselves. This symbolism is shown by the priest, who mentions about how he is concerned about the humanity with the all the lies and dishonest through human beings.
ReplyDeleteThe setting of the movie was significant. Audience would notice how the movie starts in heavy rainy weather. It is seem to be a symbolism that foreshadows the tragic part of the movie. But at the end, when all problems are solved, sun comes back up again. These visual symbolisms are frequently shown during the film.
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ReplyDeleteKiyoshi Kurosawa’s film, The Cure, was one of the most unpredictable movies that I have ever seen. Kurosawa tried to show dramatic emotional changes and personalities of main character, Takabe. As a detective, and as a husband of a woman who has severe psychologic problem, Takabe had to go through too much hardness throughout the movie. For the effective convincing, Kurusawa pictures in various angles, and numerous sound details.
ReplyDeleteI still do not understand the climax of this movie when hypnosis psycho dies at the old and huge building, but I can sense that the curse of Mamiya finally ends by that. Also for the very end, Takabe at the restaurant was something that says toward us about his gradual change. Unlike his first scene at that restaurant when he did not eat much, and looked like very week, the ending showed how much he becomes energetic and positive person. This dramatic change ends this movie by telling us he is cured who had go though deep darkness even murdered few people.
Overall, the movie was very dark and tragic even by just watching was hard, but it was very interesting because it actually portrays human being's actual life.
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ReplyDelete"Rashomon" is the movie that makes Japanese cinema strong to be able to rival with Italy,Russia and USA. The film "Rashomon" simply illustrates the questiton that what is true? and about hope. The summary of "Rashomon" is a murder case happens at forest, and there are 4 witness of this event. However, each of them are crossed by different statement. The setting of this film is forest and it represents wildness and lack of law. At this point, audience start to have confusion about whose statement is true. The four main characters are bandit, samurai, woodcutter and samurai's wife. There is common point from this four different stories, which is each of them pursuits their own view at specific situation. Akira Kurosawa uses a specific camera angle to make an audience feels like to be in a movie. Because of this skill, in the court, bandit stare camera lens and camera does not show court at this scene. "Rashomon" tries not to say doubt about agnosticism, but about interests of human nature and recovery of humanity.
ReplyDelete"Rashomon" includes a lot of social customs at 1950 era. For instance, Japanese have been suffering from the war and it creates human fallibility and corruption. The scene that when bandit tries to rape wife of samurai, the wife keep resisting to him, but she fails it. Bandit start to kiss her and she puts her hand on bandit's back. At this time, camera shot shows the sunshine. Before, bandit kisses to wife, the background is shadow all the time. Moral ambivalence and light and dark are illustrated by this scene. At the last scene, priest find out wood cutter steal dagger from samurai. Priest loses his faith and humanity, however suddenly he hears baby crying. I guess Akria Kurosawa tries to set baby here to cure people's humanity. After wood cutter brings baby with him, rain start to stop and sun rises up. Thus, sun represents hope at this scene and rain express the darkness.
Finally, the movie "Rashomon" makes an impact a lot on the society as well as world. It creates Rashomon's real effect and puts japanese cinema on the world map.
Plot summary of the movie “Rashomon” is simple. A samurai has died, and each of four characters; wife of samurai, bandit, woodcutter, and shaman, are giving different testimonies about samurai’s death at the court. However, in spite of the simple storyline, Kurosawa, the director of this movie, filmed it somewhat in interesting way and made this movie to be on the world map. He put several important themes in the movie, such as human’s evilness, and gender conflict. I was able to find human’s evilness when each of the characters interpreted the situation as they want; as a result, I was unable to figure out what the truth is. However, I thought it was interesting to guess who the real offender was. Gender conflict was shown by samurai’s wife and bandit when they were giving testimonies. While bandit was telling the story, he mentioned that women’s are weak by nature; on the other hand, while samurai’s wife was giving testimony, she described male as coward which made me to think she was underestimating the power of the gender. Not only themes but also camera shot technique made this movie to be different from contemporary movies. Kurosawa usually used non-verbal visual story-telling technique. This technique was shown significantly in the scene that witnesses giving testimony.
ReplyDeleteIn a broad sense, “Rashomon” poses a question about the nature of what is truth and credences of individual perspectives (in this case, three characters). So the film asks two questions, one broad and one abstract. A broad one asks, How and why did the murder occur and who witnessed it? The other abstract one is, Who is right? The two questions can be interpreted as an explanation of subjectivity and objectivity. Whoever saw the incident tells on the basis of what he/she interpreted. During the movie, the three characters are put in the court (of Japanese ancient atmosphere), and the testimonies are presented. Who is in the charge of deciding which witness’s testimony is accurate; the director wants us to be in charge of it. As the movie goes along, I came to put myself in a judge’s perspective and stayed very neutral. One character argues, one counter-argues, or the other proposes another view. Continuous gives and takes made the movie interesting and finally reached to a point where I could recognize what the director wanted to display to me. I realized that the theme as a complete change of the way we view and analyze the movie; regardless of how the individual is considered, whether significant or not, the decision is made based on the perspectives of the judge. Significance depends on beliefs, and thoughts of individuals.
ReplyDeleteTalking about the theme, it is important to emphasize the historical time of Japan. Connecting the theme to the historical aspect, when this movie was made in the time of Post War era, where structures, peoples’ financial and economic situations were unstable and corrupted, this movie represented the corrupted society of Japan as of the time. Then seemingly never-ending wonders of three perspectives met a rhetorical end with the advent of baby. Although it seemed a little awkward when baby had no existence until the end; it seemed a bit funny when I thought “What was baby doing?”. I believe the baby in the movie represents innocence and an opportunity for moral redemption. So I could resonate that the reason why baby was not shown in any part of movie until the end is that the innocent and tendency to be healed and divinely washed had been always inside of hearts but not noticed until when there actually is a corruption to promote that consideration
Placing that thought aside, I would like to see the role of woman in the movie as to Japanese society at that time. I found a clear interpretation of feminist perspective in the movie. Since there is only one woman in the movie, in many ways I think she can be perceived as the central focus of the film. Just as expected she was not directly involved in committing such violence but a cause and a reason for it. I found that the tradition of woman’s role in Asian movie correlates to Rashomon’s female character. Therefore, I was able to come to a conclusion that the film, again, shows a cliché that women are to blame for violence and unjustified society, either directly or indirectly. She seemed attractive, narcissistic, and manipulative. From the middle of the movie I felt that her loyalty is corrupted as if her life depends on stronger man out of two, not herself. Her eagerness to keep herself secured, pure, genuine rather made her to become “common whore” and is regarded as “just like any other woman” in turn. While the film certainly makes a statement about the power women were able to exert over men in some circumstances, that power is shown to be limited and temporary. In a way, by the end of the film the blame for the murder is placed not on the murderer but rather on the wife; this point is silently reinforced by the interrogation scene during which two men stare accusingly from the background as the wife, ashamed, throws her body into the sand.
After watching the movie, “Rashonmon”, I was left with a question, and had to rethink about the story of the movie. The movie mainly shows how individual’s perspective is different, and how much it can impact on people’s memory and thinking. In the movie, there are four people who saw the murder, and each of them gives testimony. Even though they witnessed the same scene and insist that they are telling the truth, each people reconstructed the story in his or her own way, and the stories were all different. This shows how people lie and act to protect themselves from being in trouble by remembering the past with subjective vision. Moreover, from what bandit said, I could figure out that there is a gender contest in the movie. By defining women as a weak people in nature, patriarchal power, popular idea at that time, was drawn. There were only black white colors in the movie, and it made a great contrast which highlights people’s moral ambivalence. Dappled shadow was represented the most in the forest, and it seems like that it was director’s intention to stress the tragic mood. As sun rises up and woodcutter decides to adapt a baby, the audience can find a hope at the end. Since the movie reflects the culture of Japan at that period and people’s internal side, it was interesting to watch the movie.
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