Kurosawa’s Rashomon

The 1950 Japanese film, Rashomon, centers on the meaning of truth within a testimony where three diverse and conflicting stories are given surrounding a murder and a rape. The stories come from a woodcutter, a bandit, a priest, a wife and the dead husband, through a medium. The film was directed and partially written by Akira Kurosawa, who is also known for his films such as Ran, Hidden Fortress andStray Dog. Rashomonis comprised of many interesting stylistic elements including varied use of storytelling, fascinating cinematography and exciting action sequences. While there are many associations that can be made between Rashomonand other Kurosawa films, connections can also be made with other Japanese films during this post-war period.

The detailed cinematic elements of Rashomonare some of the reasons why the film is so remarkable and interesting to watch. Kurosawa’s intentional use of camera movement to drive the story creates life into the action around it. The first instance of creative camera movement in the film comes during the first flashback when the woodcutter is retelling the story during the storm. The woodcutter is walking in the woods and there is a sequence of different camera movements and camera placements that make the scene so significant. Many of the shots include pans and tilts and a few look as though they are on a dolly or a track. The sequence itself isn’t too interesting in the content its showing, which is just a man walking in the forest, yet the way the shots are orchestrated it builds anticipation until the dead body is found by the man. Another usage of camera movement in the film comes in the form of a dolly pull-in during the medium’s confession. The camera moves into the medium’s face as she tells details of the husband’s murder. The movement of camera in this part really adds intensity to the moment along with the harsh wind blowing on the medium’s face.

Another stylistic component in the film is the difference in the ways the story is told on screen. Rashomonis told in a non-linear format where the audience is being taken to the past and the present through the use of intercutting. This technique was certainly not one that many filmmakers at the time were instilling into their films, yet Kurosawa is able to pull it off beautifully as to not confuse the audience. Stephen Prince of The Criterion Collectionagrees that the non-linear storytelling in Rashomonwas important for its time. “The film’s nonlinear narrative marked it as a decisively modernist work, and as a part of the burgeoning world art cinema that was transforming the medium in the 1950s” (Prince). The stylistic storytelling had to be one of the main reasons that the film won the top prize at the Venice Film Festival in 1951.

An added artistic element in the film is the thrilling and well-edited action sequences. Surely, it created a real challenge for Kurosawa to replay such similar action sequences within each of the three stories and still give the audience the feeling of excitement and unknowingness of what will happen next. A very interesting choice in the music during the two fight sequences was that music score was only used in the first fight and not the second. This was done seemingly strategically in order to differentiate the two stories being told. The first fight is being told through the mind of the bandit, Tajomaru, and so the musical score plays to make the fight feel larger-than-life. When the second fight happens, there is no musical score being played, which gives the fight a more natural feel and shows that the two fighting are genuinely scared in the face of death. A different way in which sound or the lack of sound was used intriguingly was the court confessions. During the confessions, the characters seem to be responding to a judge or official. Yet, throughout the film, we do not hear the judge or any of the questions he or she asks. This could be done purposefully in order to show that justice has no identity.

Kurosawa’s style is very apparent throughout the numerous amounts of films he’s made in his filmmaking career. Modern filmmakers have appropriated many of his filmmaking techniques today due to his pioneering stylistic elements. There are several similarities that can be found not only in theme but cinematic style within his other films. His most famous stylistic features include camera movement, use of weather and notable character development. In Rashomon, there are countless creative camera movements that are used in order to bring the film alive and to create excitement within the shots. These types of camera movements are also seen within Kurosawa’s other films such as Stray Dog. In Stray Dog, when the homicide detective is searching for Yusa at the station, there is camera movement within almost every shot. There is a pan of the people sitting inside the station followed by a dolly in on the detective as he thinks and then to a pan of the shoes of the people at the station as he tries to find the ones with mud on them. There is similar camera movements found in Rashomonwhen the medium is explaining the dead man’s story to the judge. The camera is stationary until the medium jumps into the frame and begins to move backwards. Upon the movement backwards, the camera dollies into the medium as she tells the frightening story. Ingenious camera movements like these are found throughout Kurosawa’s work and were one of the main reasons that people were intrigued to watch his films.

Another one of Kurosawa’s trademarks in his films is the use of extreme weather. In Rashomon, when the story is being told in the present day, it happens to be during a powerful storm outside of a torn apart temple. The tremendous rain is the catalyst in why the story needs to be retold to the man, because he is seeking shelter from the storm and wants to be entertained. Weather is used in almost all of Kurosawa’s productions in order to add an element to the characters within the story. In Stray Dog, there is a severe heat wave during the film that adds depth to the story because it gives the audience a sense of how he is drained of energy from his search of his stolen pistol. Jasper Sharp of BFI writes, “In combination with the use of the light and shadow of film noir, Kurosawa uses heat and humidity to evoke the claustrophobic desperation of the chase” (Sharp). The weather in a Kurosawa film can change how a character reacts in a scene, changing the whole dynamic of the plot. For example, in Stray Dog when the detective is questioning the woman who sold him a firearm, he is unable to stay with her for very long, due to the extreme heat inside the police station. Another example in Stray Dog isduring a storm that takes place right when the two detectives are closing in on Yusa. Kurosawa uses this weather element as a plot point in how the detective is able to identify the suspect because of his muddy shoes. Weather is not only used predominantly in Kurosawa’s films, but can be seen in other Japanese films as well. The final scene in the Kenji Mizoguchi directed film, Osaka Elegy, has the main character, Ayako, standing alone in the rain. She is uncaring of the weather at the time because she is at her lowest point as she asks the doctor how she can cure her delinquency.

Kurosawa’s characters contain many comparable traits throughout his many films. A central theme that is noticed in his characters is the conception of shame and guilt. In Rashomon, shame is the stimulus for why each testifying character tells a different story to the judge. The husband does not want the shame of being defeated by the bandit, the wife does not want the shame of being a victim of the bandit and the bandit does not want the shame that he could not receive affection from the wife. The theme of shame and guilt is also present in Stray Dog. The detective feels shameful for losing his pistol and later feels guilty for the actions caused by his stolen firearm. Shame seems to be a very common theme in Japanese cinema as well as Japanese culture during this time period. In Ozu Yasujiro’s 1936 film, The Only Son, shame is a very powerful theme used and is represented by success and wealth in society.

Rashomonis one of director Kurosawa’s most notable films, and it isn’t difficult to see why. The film is so interesting and creative due to Kurosawa’s unique and modern cinematic style. Many of these stylistic elements are seen in his previous films and even more in his later films. From the camera movements to the usage of weather as an added character element, a Kurosawa film is easily noticeable when his style is known.

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Works Cited

Sharp, Jasper. “How Akira Kurosawa Films Command the Weather.” British Film Institute, www.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/news-bfi/features/how-akira-kurosawa-films-weather.

Marine, Joe. “How Legendary Director Akira Kurosawa Used Movement to Tell His Stories Visually.” No Film School, 22 Mar. 2015, nofilmschool.com/2015/03/director-akira-kurosawa-used-movement-tell-stories-visually.

Prince, Stephen. “The Rashomon Effect.” The Criterion Collection, www.criterion.com/current/posts/195-the-rashomon-effect