Around The World in 24 Frames 07.17.09: Rashomon
Posted by Len Archibald on 07.17.2009
Part Two of a retrospective look at the films of Akira Kurosawa explores how truth can be interpreted as subjective and not literal...
Namaste! I am your worldwide party host and Father of Funky Foreign Films! Let's get the party started.
The Rant
I just read your article on Pan's Labyrinth. I loved it as I've seen the film as well. I noticed though that your doing films with Subtitles. I have 2 films that you could use for you article in the future.
1 would be the original Japanese Godzilla, or Gojira if you will, released in 1954. People just dismiss Godzilla films as mindless men in monster suits fighting and B-Movie...and in some cases they have been right. But the original one was a very dark and serious film. It had a very strong anti-nuclear weapon message, mind you during the Cold War, and was made to show the horrors of Nuclear Weapons, something Japan knows well.
2 would be another Japanese film, Battle Royale. You might have trouble getting this one, as there's no real American Distribution involved. The film is about Japan in an alternate time line where after the economy collapsed, the youth of the country went crazy, hence the formed the Battle Royale act where they take a random class at 9th grade level and put them in a game where it's kill or be killed. It shows true humans in a situation where they're not ready and how the react according to their relationships. Some couples kill themselves as they love each other and won't play, a few form groups to survive but events take a turn for the worse, some try to fulfill there lustful desires despite being turned down. A few even play the game to some enjoyment, as they feel it's a long time coming.
Just 2 to consider as they would work for you article, if you need more films.
Thanks,
Drew
-Email from Drew sent to me a couple of weeks ago.
Hey, Drew - thanks for stopping by 411mania and thanks for coming in to read my article! I apologize for not getting to you since I did not have any email access for a while.
I have seen Gojira and do have plans to get into it, but I wanted to touch on some of what is considered "cornerstone" foreign films. We have also gone into the Gojira films in great detail in the Movies section of 411mania (See Joseph Lee's Godzilla Retrospective.) As for Battle Royal, I have to admit that I have not seen it. It sounds like The Running Man or Rollerball mixed with a little film called Blindness that starred Julianne Moore and Danny Glover. I will see if I can find it (I've realized I have been able to find almost any film ever made if I put the effort into it!) Thanks again for the input!
* So, I realized this week that I have turned into the guy I make fun of, and I place the blame squarely on the backs of TiVo. See, because of this new fangled invention, my wife can record every episode of Days of Our Lives while she's at work. Now, when we're home together and I'm hammering out this for 411Mania, she's watching. God, I hate the person I've become - you know him...The one who pretends he doesn't pay attention to his wife's soap operas, then interrupt her every five minutes when she's watching to ask, "did they get back together?"; "Isn't he dead?"; "He's a son of a bitch, isn't he?". Dammit.
* I said I wasn't too sure about watching The Hangover . Man, was I ever wrong. Funniest film of the year so far by a good mile, too. I can't believe half of the stuff they got away with.
* Smackdown is so much better than Raw these days, it's not even funny. That's all I have to say about that, Bubba.
* I may be a few years late, but I have just discovered Kings of Leon. Damn, that's a good group!
* Kids, don't debate politics over the internet. People can't read facial expressions, detect sarcasm, and most don't even read a full statement - only picking and choosing certain words and phrases so they can turn it back around on you in their own interpretation, complete with the political "buzzwords" and "talking points" of the day - even if at the end of it all you agree with them! I wish we weren't such political sheep. It's definitely time to get rid of this liberal/conservative/Republican/Democrat crap. We aren't labels - We're Americans. It's time to treat each other as such and allow different viewpoints to be expressed without being bullied and ridiculed. Most of us (I would hope) left the concept of schoolyard name-calling years ago - act like it. [/end rant]
********************
I love movies. They represent escapism, art, intellect and spirituality. Some are nothing more than popcorn flicks, designed to ease the burden of "real-life" for a couple of hours. Some bring important issues to the forefront that challenges how we perceive our surroundings. The most important thing for me if one is a serious film goer is to constantly expand and discover new movies. This includes experiencing stories told outside of North America.
Yes, I know: "I don't like to read while I watch movies". Well, neither do I, but I won't use that to prevent me from finding a great story within the screen. It is important, as human beings to discover other cultures and expand our perceptions of those different from us and how they see the world. There are reasons that Bergman, Kurosawa, Fellini, Ozu and Truffaut are important in the movie world They are just great at what they do.
I intend to highlight a new film every week that is considered "foreign-language"; now that definition is simple, yet broad and complex. For example, if you need subtitles to understand the events of the plot, I will discuss it. If it is a film from a primarily English-speaking nation, but is *NOT* in English (i.e. Leolo or Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner from Canada), I will discuss. If it is a film from outside the U.S. and it *is* in English, I will not discuss (sorry, Brits & Aussies) for now. My goal is to shed light on some of these gems, and help quell the insatiable appetites for those who can't live without seeing a new movie. Enjoy!
羅生門: Rashomon (1950)
Japan
Dir; Akira Kurosawa
Runtime: 88 Min
I remember watching 1993's Courage Under Fire starring Denzel Washington, Meg Ryan, Lou Diamond Phillips, Keifer Sutherland and Kevin Bacon (man, he really has been in every movie since 1980!) and thinking to myself, "Why does this seem familiar to me?" It was a serviceable film; nothing to rant and rave about (this is the same year Schindler's List came out, so my mind was more focused on the horrors of the Holocaust than Operation: Desert Storm), but I couldn't put my finger quite on the button
Now, I'm not going give you the punchline that the film reminded me of Akira Kurosawa's 1950 film Rashomon as a young boy - to make it look as if at age 16 I had a firm grasp of the film. What I am attempting to convey is that Kurosawa's first major breakthrough to Western audiences is one of those little bits of popular culture that is pretty much known by osmosis much like "Rosebud", "Here's lookin' at you, kid", "No, I am your father!" and the Yellow Brick Road. We may not know the context of these little pieces and images burned into our subconsciousness, but we know they exist. I was aware of stories where people tell different accounts of the same situation I just wasn't aware of where they came from. By the time 1995's The Usual Suspects rolled around, I was completely in tune with the inspiration for such tales.
Rashomon tells the simplest story: A bandit is accused of murdering a samurai and raping his wife. The complexity lies with how the story is told four viewpoints, each different in their own way. The film begins at the Rashomon gate in Kyoto, where a priest (Minoru Chiaki) and a woodcutter (Ikiru and The Seven Samurai star, Takashi Shimura) try to keep dry under a downpour; the torrential rain will prove to be a great visual aid to set apart past from present. A commoner (Kichijiro Ueda) joins them and notices their long faces. They begin to explain to him the strange events that had just transpired, events that allow the woodcutter to utter, "I just don't understand."
The Rashomon Gate: Shelter from the storm of perception.
From there, the story is told through four flashbacks of the characters: The Bandit (Toshiro Mifune), the Samurai's Wife (Machiko Kyo), the Woodcutter and the dead samurai himself (Masayuki Mori), as told through a medium. The Bandit admits the murder, but refutes the rape charge, claiming the sexual encounter between he and the Samurai's Wife was consensual. The Wife claims the Bandit attacked her, but she takes blame for the samurai's murder. The Samurai himself debunks both claims. The Woodcutter takes little pieces of each story, but it is his story that may be the least believable.
Kurosawa took a bold approach with his narrative technique. He, along with co-screenwriter Shinobu Hashimoto, wanted to convey the point that there is no such thing as objective truth that we all fall prey to perspective, prejudice and ego when describing events. Four people that witnessed an accident can tell four completely different accounts of it, depending on various factors. Kurosawa took this idea, ran with it and scored a cinematic touchdown. When we sit and watch a film, we subconsciously believe what we see on screen is undisputed fact. Kurosawa debated that we should question even what we see in the film. It is a trick (or cheat, depending on your perspective) that made The Usual Suspects story so successful. "Who is Keyzer Soze?" He is everyone and no one all at once, as told to us by a fabulous liar.
The beauty and complexity of Rashomon is in the way the four stories are crafted. Since there are four perspectives, each of the major players (The Bandit, The Samurai, The Samurai's Wife) must play four different roles, according to who is telling the story. This presents the viewer with contrasting, conflicting and contradictory characterizations. We are led to believe that one of the stories will present the truth, or perhaps, the film itself will sift out the truth in an ending sequence. But that is not what the film is about. The Samurai is dead but three of the involved parties admit to his murder. It isn't about who killed him, but how his death can create a vortex in which point of view can differ from person to person.
The Woodcutter (Takashi Shimura) stumbles upon the truth?
In my earlier review of Ikiru, I suggested that it may be the best realized character study caught on film because it was able to beautifully flesh out its main character, not only through his perspective, but from the accounts of others because we are not just who we believe we are, but also the impressions that others have of us. Even though Ikiru may have perfected this theory, Rashomon was the seed that planted it. I may receive some suggestions that Citizen Kane follows this theory as well except for one glaring omission There is no account of Charles Foster Kane's life from Kane himself! (which is, in my opinion the mastery of Orson Welles' opus.)
In order to pull of this story, Kurosawa made sure he received the best out of his acting troupe: Toshiro Mifune's wild and crazed bandit (to which he played as a wild lion from watching a documentary on Africa with Kurosawa) is a joy to watch but observe how glances and nuances change slightly with each re-telling of the attack and rape. This was his fifth of many collaborations with Kurosawa. Takashi Shimura shines once again playing a character unlike any he had played in the two films I have reviewed. Here, he plays a woodcutter that is meek, but not without resolve or selfishness. I truly believe he is one of film's greatest on screen talents. Kichijiro Ueda plays a commoner with such crass and vulgarity it borders on self-parody but it just toes the line, so it works. Minoru Chiaki's depiction of a priest who is slowly losing his faith in humanity is done with heartbreaking melancholy.
Toshiro Mifune and Machiko Kyo: Victims of consent, or consenting vipers?
This film is held together though, by the Samurai and the Samurai's Wife. Masayuki Mori's portrayal of the Samurai and Machiko Kyo's characterization of his wife are the lifeblood of the story; it is their characters that undergo the most dramatic changes with each different story, going from noble and virtuous, to cold and lustful, to helpless and ashamed, to pathetic and crazed. It is hard for any actor to play two different roles on any front but to play four completely different characterizations of the same person, each with a different heightened sense of emotion is remarkable.
Kurosawa also scored points in regards to his vision with the breadth of images he created. Rashomon is one of the few sound films created that has the capability of playing like a silent film; He allows the action, shadows and light, minimalist set construction, angles, movement and the faces of his actors not words, to tell the story. He, along with cinematographer Kazuo Miyagawa took great pains to compose every shot perfectly by experimenting with light and distance. Rashomon was the first film to shoot into the sun - which was frowned upon in the West, as the harsh light would flare the lens, giving the picture a washed-out, overexposed look. Kurosawa and Miyagawa took advantage of this knowledge, shooting through the trees (thereby using it as a diffuser) and allowing streaks of light to pass through. Filmmaker Robert Altman believed this was an allegory of the light of truth being obstructed by the wills of human nature. Parallel shots and sequences were used: the same amount of time and shots are used for when the bandit is crazed in one story and when the wife is hysterical in another. Mirrors were used as reflectors on the characters' faces, hardening them. The rain was tinted with black ink because the camera lens technology at the time could not capture the force of a natural rainstorm.
Rashomon created a storm of its own when released to wide audiences in 1951; It won both the Italian Critics Award and the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival despite the Japanese government's disagreement that Kurosawa's work was wholly representative of Japan's film culture (they preferred Yasujiro Ozu, which would not have been a bad choice, either.) It was essentially the first Japanese film to gain international fame and notoriety and thrust Kurosawa's name into the higher echelon of filmmakers. It won the Oscar for best Foreign-Language Film. It was for a time, the highest-grossing subtitled film in the world. "Rashomon" the word itself, became part of the English language as it expresses something in which no other word fits. It was the first film to use flashbacks that disagreed about the action they were flashing back to.
Masayuki Mori and Toshiro Mifune fight: Over vengeance or shame?
In 1964, The Outrage, a western starring Paul Newman, and Edward G. Robinson, was produced - a remake of Rashomon. It would not be the last of Kurosawa's works that would be remade to be more accessible to Western audiences. Rashomon's concept has influenced many films; Hero, Vantage Point, One Night at McCool's and Hoodwinked! are just a few examples. It has also been parodied and used as a plot device in every television show from Fraiser, My Name is Earl, The X-Files and the The Simpsons to The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, Alvin and the Chipmunks and All in the Family. Kurosawa would make many more films some considered among the greatest ever constructed until his final film, Madadayo in 1993 when he was 83 years old. He has influenced in some way consciously or subconsciously - basically every filmmaker that had access to a movie theater since 1949.
When filming was to begin for Rashomon, Kurosawa's three assistant directors approached him, with no understanding of the story. He explained that if they "read [the script] diligently" they would understand it "because it was written with the intention of being comprehensible". They were still confused. Kurosawa explained it to them. Two of the three were satisfied with the explanation but the third was still confused. Film language is considered literal: what we see on screen and what we read in a script should present the truth because it is presented under the pretense of "Truth" (capital "T"). Kurosawa through the philosophies and events presented in Rashomon - argued that "Truth" is not literal because of one simple flaw: it is presented by us. Since we are not perfect beings, our interpretation of "Truth" cannot be perfect.
It was this theory that would help him create the perfect film.
Rashomon Trailer:
{Film Passport Stamped}
Coming Attractions: Part Three of "Around the World's" examination of Akira Kurosawa's films A Western made in the East that inspired Westerns in the West.
Questions or comments? Email me at aa24frames@aol.com!!!
