Kurosawa and his magic Rashomon
The moment I waited for months and months, the moment I recently lost total hope in, the moment that is my first achievement, and the moment that is probably the best moment of my life till now, the moment of being an author on the PFC. After watching many films like The Fountain, The Apartment, Curious Case, and ofcourse Slumdog Millionaire, after reading many screenplays like Blue Velvet, No Country For Old Men, Eternal Sunshine and dad’s Kalash, I bumped into Rashomon, something I hadnt heard before, and it was certainly one of the most unique cinematic experiences I had ever been through,
We generally talk about the new wave of cinema, we sometimes also talk about the films that aren’t meant to set the box office afire, but still light a small fire in our hearts, it makes us think, they can be surrealist, they can be neorealist, they can be realist to the core, or they can be commercial potboilers. Not everybody out here gets a chance to make a film, not everybody out here has millions to splurge on outdoor locations, so why is it that when we do get such opportunities, we let them go with the stream and strictly follow the herd. We sit here and talk about changing cinema, we sit here and decide to be the change for our cinema, to bring in the new wave, and then again when we get these chances, we let them loose.
I dedicate this to the filmmaker who dared to make a change, be the change. To start off with, I would like to talk about the legendary Akira Kurosawa. Kurosawa started working as an assistant with movie companies and debuted with Sanshiro Sugata, and after that, a few of his films were made under the censorship of the Japanese Government, and obviously it hindered what he wanted to portray. Kurosawa had an unique way of handling cinematography, which came to power by the 50’s era, and this gave a distinctive look on the camera. He liked using telephoto lenses for the way they flattened the frame and also because he believed that placing cameras on a distance from his actors produced more competent performances. He also liked using multiple cameras, which allowed him to shoot an action scene from different angles.
While watching his movie Rashomon, you can see Kurosawa’s love for silent films and modern art, with the minimal sets, as apparently Kurosawa felt that with sound, the complexity of cinema multiplies. According to Kurosawa, one of the best techniques of modern art is simplification, and thus wanted to restore the beauty of silent films, Also that the film was shot directly under the sun, Kurosawa wanted to use natural light, but it became too weak, so they used a mirror to reflect natural light. Kurosawa wanted the sunlight to look as if it traveled through the branches, hitting the actors, even the rain in the film had to be tinted, because cameras at those times couldn’t take water on it. Also during the movie, he dyed the rain water black with calligraphy ink in order to achieve the effect of heavy rain, and ended up using up the entire local water supply of the location area in creating the rainstorm, his perfectionism was known to one and all. His perfectionist attitude didn’t obviously end with this, Kurosawa never believed to give his actors fresh costumes, and gave them their costumes weeks before, so that they could wear them and bond with them, and jump into their skin, he felt this gave it a much better effect. He also did not like the concept of furnished music pieces, he always had them trimmed into pieces, with a few of the instruments playing, and towards the end could you see it getting finished and furnished.
Focusing on the main story of a bandit who defiles a passing woman, and the subsequent death of her husband, Kurosawa opts to show us these fairly simple events four times over, each time through the eyes of a different player in the drama. The film relies primarily upon the use of flashbacks to tell the story, placing the audience’s perspective completely under the control of each of the characters, and allowing us no sense of omniscience. By doing this, Kurosawa places the audience in an instinctively suspicious position, a position that becomes increasingly more guarded as the film progresses.
As we move through the different perspectives, it becomes obvious that there are distinct differences in each of the character’s accounts. Any viewer who goes in with a mind to piece the stories together to form one true explanation, however, will find failure in the evident contrasts. In the movie, Kurosawa honestly portrays the versions of the protagonists. A man while traveling through the woods with his wife but they met a bandit who rapes wife and killed husband. The statements of the four witnesses – the woman, the bandit, a woodcutter and the spirit of the slain husband are interestingly very different since all have been economical with truth for their own reasons. Apart from the four versions, there is a listener and a narrator who is describing the story and courtyard where the trial is going on is also being shown.
In one sequence, there is a series of single close-ups of the bandit, then the wife, and then the husband, which then repeats to emphasize the triangular relationship between them. The cinematography is outstanding and evocative. Kudos to Kazuo Miyagawa. The performances were striking and beautifully commendable, Toshiro Mifune is amazingly brilliant, equally good is Masayuki Mori as the doomed noble. Rashomon focuses more on its symbolism and its thought provoking nature. Usually people tend to watch Rashomon by piecing it together, trying to put the film in order, and watch it, Rashomon isn’t about determining a chronology of what happened in the woods. The thought provoking part of this outstanding piece is that it focuses on the inability of the man to know the truth, no matter how clearly he looks at things. Apparently perspective disillusions reality and makes the truth absolutely unknown.
Kurosawa was a master of the film medium. He could easily mix the Western concepts with the very Japanese values. The film is presented almost as visual poetry, paying a great deal of attention to sights and images while sound and dialogue have lesser importance. And the best part about Kurosawa and his Rashomon is, that still after so many years, both haven’t lost their magic.
To quote the legend
“Cinematic sound is never merely accompaniment, never merely what the sound machine caught while you took the scene. Real sound does not merely add to the images, it multiplies it.”
As I go back to sitting and studying, I shall only be back to write after Friday the 13th, till then I shall secretly watch many more such films, knowing that no movie can beat the sheer beauty and brilliance of Rashomon and its genius Kurosawa, and as someone anonymous to me said that there is no more rewarding way to spend your ninety minutes.So True.
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rashomon is a must watch for any serious movie fan. One more of kurosowa i totally love is “seven samurai”. It is magical. BTW, there have been a million movies based on these 2 movies ( kamal’s virumaandi, magnificient 5/7/9, dirty dozen, sholay etc ).
I somehow didn’t like Rashomon as much. It felt a little dated and weighty with intention. However, I loved seven samurai. Its quirky, has a sense of humour and at the same time is beautiful. Another one of his movies I loved was Ikiru.Its a little unhurried but totally worth the patience!!
Nice Article, Jehan!
My personal Kurosawa favorite is Yojimbo.Toshiro Mifune shines as the lone ranger. Akela hero – two warring village factions – loads of fun!
Oh wonderful article jehan…Rashamon is on of the greatest movies of all time..no doubt…Thnx for writing this article about one of the gems of world cinema…
Thank You Guys
I havnt seen any of his other films, but champa,not sure why would you call Rashomon outdated?..I think its still hasnt lost its magic
Kurosawa is the best and considering he did most of his work in 60’s, it is right to call him “Father of Cinema”. He made a “commercial” film “Yojimbo” for Toho Film Company because they supported experimental film like “Roshomon”. Yojimbo is as good as any Kurosawa film and was commercial success. It shows how Akira has appealed both classes and masses. If you like roshomon, i will highly suggest “Ikiru” and you can see how different Kurosawa and Sushant Shah treat an idea. Though Dasvidaniya could be an adaptation. Anyway there is another underrated Kurosawa film called “Three Villains of Hidden fortress”. Star wars first film had similar storyline. Lucas could not resist so does Sushant Shah. Anyway Great article Man.
found on net
“Sergio Leone was sued by Japanese director Akira Kurosawa for remaking his Yojimbo (1961) as “A Fistful of Dollars” (Per un pugno di dollari (1964)) shot-for-shot without crediting him, and copyright infringement. The production of Per un pugno di dollari (1964) apologized, compensated Kurosawa with $100,000, and 15% of box office revenues.”
@ 7-Njudo
Hmm, Raj Sippy is a real lucky bastard then. He had lifted Kurosawa’s High and Low, totally for Inkaar.
@ 6 Njudo
Regarding Star Wars vs Hidden Fortress, that movie was one of the influences on George Lucas. The characters of C3PO and R2D2 were influenced by 2 characters Tahei and Matashichi who have escaped from a battle.
I didn’t knew about “Inkaar” (haven’t heard name even) But i knew about R2D2 and C3PO. i love both films but personally i prefer Tahei and Matashichi. Btw “High and Low” is another underrated Kurosawa Film only becuase he made other films which were better.
donno, jehan. But I thot it was a little over-dramatic. Particularly beacuse it hinged so much on the idea of multiple narrations of the incident (and not multiple “perspectives” of the incident), an idea that maybe has lost its freshness because of the multitude of inspired movies. Not to say that he is not an immense director. This probably, I feel, is not the finest example of his work.
Out of his entire oeuvre, Rashomon is Kurosawa’s most fascinating and influential film. It’s probably the first cinematic usage of the literary concept of the unreliable narrator which has become a staple for filmmakers around the world. The beauty of the Rashomon technique of storytelling is that it’s the easiest thing in the world to fuck up and is majestic when pulled off properly. Even the film’s utilization of craft is a sight to behold especially with the cinematography and the kabuki inspired performances.
Rich in visual power and symbolism, Rashomon is indeed one of Kurosawa’s most powerful films. Love the ‘unreliable narrator’ concept as Mitch mentions- it’s a superb modern device that works magnificently when done properly, like in Nolan’s Memento.
Nice post Jehan, though you could have cut down on the wikipedia jargon
@champa
“it was a little over-dramatic”
actually it is very culture specific thing. Even Indians prefer little over dramatization.As far as acting goes ,Actors in Kurosawa Films did over acting in today’s term. But Today everybody talks about subtle/natural acting but that should not be derived from because actors in the west are subtle. It should be person you are relating your character with. Many times i come across “David dhawan” types characters especially whenever i visit small cities.(but even those characters are exaggerated in Hindi films)
Haha @ Jahan- Dude I didnt pick up..just the points..like all the stuff he did and why he did..Ratnakar told me to start off with taking help off wiki :D So Yeaah Haha..Nice one tho :p