Quote of the Week Review: Rashomon (1950)

By Thomas Broome-Jones

"No one tells a lie after he's said he's going to tell one" 

Rashomon isn't exactly a film that has aged brilliantly, I think that would be fair to say. Many of its characters and plot devices are considered overdone by today's standards. But liberties must be taken for a film that is 63 years old going on 64, we must bear in mind that many of the techniques in 'Rashomon' were radical for the time and helped to set in motion new styles and approaches to filmmaking in the West.
This was one of the first films to make us of, well 'The Rashomon Effect', the cinematic device of re-telling the same story from multiple perspectives. Whilst it is impossible to determine which film was definitively the first to use this practice, 'Rashomon' is certainly regarded as such, hence the name of said practice. 

"Look! America are trying to remake us!"

The plot concerns 3 men, each describing a trial for the murder of a samurai, within each of their recollections are the testimonies given at the trial, so a story within a story, yes, just like 'Inception'. The re-telling of these events was very engaging to watch unfold and allowed me to analyze the narrative deeply. The film definitely requires multiple watches as it's hard to decide who is telling the truth. What really happened, we may never know, but the fun part is theorizing over why each individual account may or may not be true.
The camera work was awesome and innovative of its time, the Japanese aesthetic of filmmaking was unknown to Western audiences and its introduction allowed so many stylistically bold films to be made. The acting was excellent, many may call it hammy but Asian cinema is typically more grandiose as it is very closely related with folklore, which is traditionally told in a very visual and loud way, so the acting can't be criticized for that.

Now, there were elements that took away from my enjoyment of the film, like I said, it's old but I just feel like these issues flawed the storytelling. My main issue was characters constantly falling over, and I don't exaggerate, it happens A LOT. I understand that when in a heated situation that would be realistic, but it makes the scenes disjointed and totally throws the pacing off kilter. For a mere 84 minutes this certainly felt a lot longer just because of the pacing issues. Some scenes also lasted for far too long, I felt like the story could have been told much more effectively with as much as 10 minutes shaved off it.

The film seems to be making a comment on humanity as well as rebirth but I don't see it as a thematic marvel. It certainly isn't 2001: A Space Odyssey in that respect. I see it as an important film in use of cinematography and non-linear storytelling, which isn't a bad thing. Classic American films such as The Usual Suspects, Pulp Fiction (or most of Tarantino's work, for that matter) or Fight Club arguably wouldn't exist without this film, so it does deserve your attention.

A recommended watch, most definitely for historical benefit, this is the kind of film that a cinema fan needs to see to understand where so many hailed conventions in the medium first started. It is flawed, but Rahomon's influence alone is enough to earn the acclaim of anyone, at least in my eyes. 

Thomas Broome-Jones is on Twitter, you can follow him @TBroomey.