Great Restorations

Rashomon

Credits

Country :
Japon
Year :
1950
Director :
Akira Kurosawa
Version :
vostEN
Duration :
88 minutes
Format :
digital | New Digital Restoration
Actors :
Toshiro Mifune, Machiko Kyo, Masayuki Mori, Takashi Shimura
Awards :
Golden Lion, Venice Film Festival 1951; Honorary Award (Best Foreign Film), Oscars 1952
🗣️ 18:15 : Introduction to the film (in English) | 18:30 : start of the film

synopsis

In 11th-century Japan, a samurai is found dead. Four conflicting accounts are given by a woodcutter, a bandit, the samurai’s wife, and the samurai’s spirit, summoned by a medium. Each tells a different version of the crime – but is anyone telling the truth?

"Rashomon" is widely considered one of the greatest films ever made. Four people give different accounts of a man’s murder, which director Akira Kurosawa presents with striking imagery and an ingenious use of flashbacks. This eloquent masterwork and international sensation revolutionized film language and introduced Japanese cinema – and a commanding new star by the name of Toshiro Mifune – to the Western world.

Criterion Collection

Rashomon

"Rashomon" changed how we perceive film as well as human behavior. For us subjective creatures, the truth is constantly elusive.

Alan Rudolph

Every element in the film, from the dense thicket of forest branches to master cinematographer Kazuo Miyagawa’s deceptive framing and lighting design, is precisely calibrated to make the facts more difficult to discern.

The A.V. Club

Rashomon

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