6pm, Saturday 4 February, Opera House
Year: 1950 Running Time: 87 mins
Director: Akira Kurosawa
Starring: Toshiro Mifune, Machiko Kyo, Takashi Shimura
Language: Japanese with English subtitles
Cert: 12
Awards
- Golden Lion, Venice Film Festival 1951
- Best Foreign Language Film, Academy Awards 1953
Rashomon is a Japanese classic widely considered one of the greatest films ever made. Based on two short stories by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa, it centres on a terrible crime which is recounted through four conflicting accounts. This gripping psychological thriller looks into the meaning of justice and raises questions about the nature of truth.
Set in feudal Japan, the film depicts the murder of a samurai and the rape of his wife from four different – and contradictory – points of view. Which account is true? Who can be believed – if anyone?
Akira Kurosawa brings us striking imagery and an ingenious use of flashbacks; and this new digital restoration makes Kazuo Miyagawa’s lush cinematography as vivid as if it were made today.
Rashomon is considered a masterpiece of cinema and one of the most influential films of all time introducing Japanese cinema to the wider world.
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