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Rashomon (DVD, 2002, Criterion Collection) 
Rashomon (DVD, 2002, Criterion Collection)

 
Rashomon (DVD, 2002, Criterion Collection)

Leading Role: Toshiro Mifune
Director: Akira Kurosawa
Rating: Not Rated
Release Date: Mar 2002
Format: DVD
Additional Info: Criterion Collection
UPC: 037429161821
Product ID: EPID3377377
Description: Akira Kurosawa's highly acclaimed film, set in feudal Japan, presents an intriguing tale of violent crime in the woods, told from the perspective of four different characters--a bandit (Toshirô Mifune), a woman (Machiko Kyô), her husband...
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Movie Description
Akira Kurosawa's highly acclaimed film, set in feudal Japan, presents an intriguing tale of violent crime in the woods, told from the perspective of four different characters--a bandit (Toshirô Mifune), a woman (Machiko Kyô), her husband (Masayuki Mori), and a woodcutter (Takashi Shimura). Only two things about the incident seem to be clear--the woman was raped and her husband is now dead. However, the other elements radically differ as the four participants and/or witnesses relate their own stories (with the dead man, eerily enough, speaking through a medium). As each account is revealed, what seemed black and white turns to various hues of gray, leading to surprising--and confounding--relevations.


A landmark of international cinema, RASHOMON won the prestigious Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival in 1951, bringing both Kurosawa--and Japanese film in general--to the attention of Western audiences. From the rain-soaked opening sequence to its moving conclusion, the film is a stunning examination of truth and human nature. The entire cast is pitch-perfect, with regular Kurosawa lead actors Mifune and Shimura giving typically outstanding performances. While critics and cinephiles debate over exactly how many masterpieces Kurosawa directed, RASHOMON stands as one of the revered filmmaker's indisputably brilliant motion pictures. In fact, the film's influence is so pervasive that it has inspired everything from a high profile Hollywood remake (THE OUTRAGE starring Paul Newman) to numerous tributes in movies such as COURAGE UNDER FIRE and THE USUAL SUSPECTS.

Credits
Cast:Machiko Kyô, Minoru Chiaki

Details
Edition:Criterion Collection

Notes
DVD Features:

Region 1
Keep Case
Full Frame - 1.33
Single Side - Dual Layer
Audio:
   Mono - Japanese
Additional Release Material:
   Audio Commentary - 1. Donald Richie - Japanese Film Historian
   Introduction - Robert Altman
   Excerpts from Featurette - 1. THE WORLD OF KAZUO MIYAGAWA
Text/Galleries:
   Excerpts from SOMETHING LIKE AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY by Akira Kurosawa, The laserdisc version of "Rashomon" has a Japanese soundtrack (with English subtitles) on one track, and an English soundtrack on the other.

Additional cast members: Kichijiro Ueda (The Commoner); Fumiko Homma (The Medium)

Winner of the Grand Prize at the Venice Film Festival and an Honorary Academy Award -- it was voted by the Board of Governors as the most outstanding foreign language film released in the United States during 1951 (statuette). "Rashomon" also received two National Board of Review Awards in 1951: Best Director and Five Best Foreign Films of the Year.

Voted One of the Top Ten Films of All Time in the 1992 SIGHT AND SOUND International Film Directors' Poll.

"Rashomon" is the film that established Kurosawa on the international art house circuit. It was remade as "The Outrage," a 1964 American western directed by Martin Ritt and starring Paul Newman.

The print used for the Home Vision Cinema VHS version is from the Janus collection.

Editorial Reviews
"...What really gives the film its impact is less the multi-layered narrative than the dynamic direction and powerhouse performance from Toshiro Mifune..."
Sight and Sound - Geoffrey Macnab (01/01/2002)

"A look at RASHOMON's exquisite visuals makes it apparent that Sergio Leone's westerns were inspired by more than just Akira Kurosawa's plots."
Premiere - Premiere Staff (12/01/2003)

5 stars out of 5 -- "[A] taut study of the subjectivity of truth....RASHOMON's intricate moves have been borrowed by a legion of Hollywood imitators, from THE USUAL SUSPECTS to VANTAGE POINT."
Empire - Ian Nathan (10/01/2008)

4 stars out of 5 -- "Audiences were captivated by the lyrical beauty of Kurosawa's direction and the dynamic power of his editing, zipping the narrative along with hard-edged horizontal wipes."
Total Film - Philip Kemp (11/01/2008)

"The wonder of RASHOMON is that while the shadowplay of truth and memory is going on, we are absorbed by what we trust is an unfolding story."
Chicago Sun-Times - Roger Ebert (05/26/2002)

"Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa's 1950 RASHOMON has had such a profound cultural influence that there is even a psychosociological phenomenon named after it."
Washington Post (11/13/2009)

Awards
1951Academy AwardsBest Foreign Language Film

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    Top Reviews
      Truth & Illusion
    Review created: 11/07/07
    by:
    gghobbycom ( 7009)
    See all reviews by gghobbycom
    6 of 6 people found this review helpful.

    If you have never seen this film, you will come to it and find it very familiar. That's because Rashomon has become part of the world's consciousness & lexicon. It's story of an action involving several participants, each with their own differing version of the truth, has been elaborated and riffed-on by many others since it appeared on the world's stage in the 50's.

    So, it is an old movie, often imitated. And yet, I found it fresh and involving and well worth a look. As Robert Altman says on the DVD extras, many of the camera techniques, particularly shooting directly at the sun and allowing lens flare, were taboo-breaking and radically new when this film appeared. Now, that is put in as a joke in Shrek.

    So you come to Rashomon not to be overwhelmed with its "newness" and the refreshing change of first encountering Japanese cinema and acting styles. No, you come to Rashomon as to an old master, to appreciate its lasting impression of the universality of human foibles and passions and the illusory nature of truth.

    A rape and murder have occured in a woods. We hear and see different versions of the same encounter. Who is telling the truth? Is there an absolute objective truth, or does every teller of the tale inherently only tell the truth as he sees it? And if everyone is a "liar" and there is no absolute truth, what is the point of anything?

    Don't let the heavy questions mislead you. Rashomon moves quickly, fluidly and gracefully, telling its story with economy and, to me, humor. Much is made of the dark philosophy underneath the theme, but I find great sardonic humor in the film. One example, the fight between the thief & the man as related by the woodcutter...it is messy and unheroic, sweaty, breathless and awkward and the antithesis of the stylized balletic sword fights found in, even Kurosawa's, samurai movies.

    In the end, as familiar and much copied as Rashomon has been, it is still like no other film. It is unique, and the result of a master filmaker's vision, unified and beautiful and unforgettable.


    Review ID: 10000000004641295
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