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VHS : Rashomon

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starring: Toshirô Mifune, Machiko Kyô, Masayuki Mori, Takashi Shimura, Minoru Chiaki
directed by: Akira Kurosawa

 : Rashomon

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Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Binding: VHS Tape
EAN: 9786303073101
Format: Black & White, Subtitled, NTSC
ISBN: 6303073107
Label: Homevision
Manufacturer: Homevision
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Homevision
Release Date: August 14, 2001
Running Time: 88 minutes
Studio: Homevision
Theatrical Release Date: December 26, 1951
Sales Rank: 8335




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Editorial Review:

Description:
A cinema classic, Rashomon introduced the Western world to the greatness of Akira Kurosawa and paved the way for fellow masters of the Japanese film industry. Using an innovative narrative style, this eloquent director reveals how the truth in any situation depends on your point of view. Four different narrators describe the same brutal act--a woman's rape and her husband's consequent death--yet the facts elude us because each interprets the story to make himself appear in the best light. Machiko Kyo and Toshiro Mifune turn in magnificent performances as the lady and her savage attacker.

Amazon.com essential video:
This 1950 film by Akira Kurosawa is more than a classic: it's a cinematic archetype that has served as a template for many a film since. (Its most direct influence was on a Western remake, The Outrage, starring Paul Newman and directed by Martin Ritt.) In essence, the facts surrounding a rape and murder are told from four different and contradictory points of view, suggesting the nature of truth is something less than absolute. The cast, headed by Kurosawa's favorite actor, Toshiro Mifune, is superb. --Tom Keogh



Customer Reviews
Average Rating:  out of 5 stars

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars - Great, but end bombs
Akira Kurosawa had been a filmmaker for almost a decade, since his 1943 debut film Sugata Sanshiro, and had some renown in his native Japan, when, in 1950, his film Rashomon rocketed him to international acclaim, including the Academy Award For Best Foreign Film, after winning the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival brought the film and its director, and Japanese cinema, a Western audience. He deserved every plaudit he received for it, as well as every ticket sold, because it is an excellent ... Read More



Rating: 4 out of 5 stars - Kurosawa's synoptic story
Everytime I watch "Rashomon," I'm reminded of the problem of the synoptic gospels. How can three accounts of the same person differ so much in detail? And do the differences between them render them false?

It seems to me that Kurosawa invites viewers to reflect on memory, narrative, and accuracy in this gripping synoptic account of the murder of a husband and the rape of his wife. That the two crimes took place is indisputable. But the four witnesses to them--a woodcutter, the wife, ... Read More



Rating: 3 out of 5 stars - I wouldn't call it a masterpiece
Let me start off by saying I love Kurosawa and have seen many of his films, but this one was a little slow and felt too simple and shallow. I got the point of what he was trying to say almost immediately (truth is relative and depends on the person and that everyone's version of a story is told to make him or her look best), and didn't need to go through every character's perspective to get that point. It felt like he painfully belabored the point and not much else was added to make the plot interesting. ... Read More



Rating: 2 out of 5 stars - Grossly over rated...
A Japanese film from the 50's and winner of many awards including the Best Foreign Language Film at the 25th Academy awards. The film shares the different accounts of 4 witnesses of a rape of a woman and suspected murder of her husband - the 4 witnesses being a notorious bandit, a samurai and his wife, a woodchopper who tripped into the scene and a Priest who crossed paths with the samurai. The 4 separate accounts have many commonalities yet conclude quite differently - and are shared by the Woodcutter and ... Read More



Rating: 5 out of 5 stars - A Watershed Moment in the History of Cinema
Rashomon was the first Japanese movie widely distributed in the West. Fair to say, it was probably the first Asian movie almost all of it's Western audience had ever seen. This masterpiece introduced the filmgoing world to one of the greatest writer/director/editors ever (Kurosawa), one of the greatest actors ever (Mifune), a great actor (Takashi Shimura) one of the greatest cinematographers ever (Miyagawa) and the greatest director/actor team ever. If it had no historical import, it would still be a masterpiece ... Read More

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