Akira Kurosawa's renowned film Rashomon was initially released in Japan in the fall of 1950. It was only about a year later that it began to be shown in several countries around the world. around the world at film festivals and made its box office debut in the United States in the winter of 1951. Rashomon received recognition from many critics of the time and ended up winning awards at the BAFTA, Blue Ribbon and even received an award nomination 'Oscar. The story of the film was actually not originally written as a film, in fact, the main story of Rashomon was adapted from the Japanese short story titled "In a grove" which was written and published by author Ryūnosuke Akutugawa about 30 years earlier in 1922. to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Rashomon was released during what is considered by most to be the golden age of Japanese cinema and is often cited as one of the best films to come out of this era. The Golden Age of Japanese cinema is generally believed to have taken place between 1945 and 1965 (Ragone 14), but most Golden Age films were released in the 1950s. The decade of the 1950s brought forth many of Japan's most famous and critically acclaimed films, such as Toho's classic monster films like Godzilla and Rodan, as well as Hiroshi Inigaki's Samurai film series. Rashomon was a revolutionary film when it came out and is still talked about. today, and his style is used in cinema around the world. Rashomon created the Rashomon effect which occurs when an event occurs with contradictory interpretations by multiple people, this effect can be seen in TV and movies. Rashomon uses mixes many types of genres such as Crime, Drama, Mystery, Jidaigeki and what looks like Noir with its use of light and shadow. They also break some of these genre conventions throughout the film. The film itself also has connections to post-war Japan, events, places and people reflect Japan's military defeat and American occupation. Rashomon uses many types of genre conventions throughout the film, especially its use of drama. Rashomon, told in a "traditional" style, attempts to both break and rethink its own conventions, using the audience's understanding of Jidaigeki to create, and after that break, previously established inclinations about how characters should act and about how it should act. it should be filmed. Rashomon could be a costume drama by following the conventions of a standard drama and then breaking away from everything in the film, such as its characters, setting, and key scenes. Kurisawa expertly uses camerawork and theme to make this film unique in its storytelling abilities. For the first half of the film, Rashomon acts like a normal Jidaigeki with each character telling their story to the court to prove they are innocent, which shows how each character is true to their archetype. Kurisawa even described the script in a way that shows how humans are incapable of being honest with themselves. Another example of characters not following their archetype is the fight scene. In Jidaigeki, fight scenes are usually bloodless deaths with exaggerated movements. But in Rashomon there are many fight scenes and each of them is different, but the fistfight starts like any normal “heroic or honorable” fight. Then it slowly gets sloppier and degrades into a pathetic and ridiculous dual where the samurai and Tajomaru run around, fall, trip over themselves and barely manage to collidewith swords. But in the end the samurai dies anyway. Jidaigeki also has a clear moral of good and evil with the characters, but Kurosawa blurs the line between good and evil by making the audience guess who is truly good or evil. The hero of Jidaigeki is usually a clean, perfect and moral man while the villains are opposite to this. The samurai is portrayed as the hero at first, but is then destroyed during the woodcutter's story when you see how cruel and abusive he is to his wife. Then there is Tajomaru who we think is a dirty bandit but is later seen to be noble and honorable in every story. Then there is the samurai's wife, who begins to look and act like a goddess. But his hair and clothes become increasingly messy and dirtier, just like his personality and morals. There is also the camerawork and technique that Jidaigeki uses and which Kurisawa breaks down throughout the film. The act of looking at the sun has many symbolic purposes, it breaks the conventions of Jidaigeki and was one of the taboos of cinematography, as Kurisawa said. Rashomon uses his camera and narration to maximum effect to tell the story. “The main feature evident in the Rashomon time series is the transition to a slower cutting pace after the bandit's testimony ends.” This shows how the pace changes with each testimony and also shows how the editing slows down throughout the film. Then there is the acting of the actors and the camera. “But when the actors of Rashomon look directly at the camera and tell contradictory narratives – and worse still when the camera's apparently objective view records different events – it imposes on the viewer, narratively and thematically, a self-conscious awareness of their own interpretive activity. .” Little things like these add to the mystery of death, because the audience is unable to understand the truth. Rashomon fits easily into the golden age of Japanese cinema, as well as post-war Japanese cinema. Akira Kurosawa is one of the best-known directors of post-war Japanese cinema. The effects of the Second World War, in particular the terrible bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. These bombings had a great effect on the artistic community in Japan, and these influences can still be seen today in Japanese films and media. Akira Kurosawa noted that one of his biggest inspirations during the production of Rashomon were films from the silent era. In the interview with Richie, Kurosawa said: “I like silent images and always have. They are often much more beautiful than sound images. Maybe they have to be. In any case, I wanted to restore some of this beauty. I thought, I remember, like this: one of the techniques of modern painting is simplification, so I have to simplify this film." Rashomon is one of the most historically significant films in the history of Japanese cinema, its experimental cinematography and timeless story still studied to this day. Cinematically, framing is one of the key features of Kurosawa's films and is used in Rashomon to establish the primitiveness of the film. its characters. Kurosawa is a painter with his shots, he tries to control every aspect of the shot as if it were a painting obtaining powerful and well-developed images. This is used effectively in many Kurosawa films and Rashomon is no different. One of the film's central themes is that there is a thin line between humanity and animals. Tajomaru is used throughout the film to show this fine line as a man who embarks on madness and moves with the touch of an animal. During his first testimony, a scene shows Tajomaru chasing the two victims through the forest. One shot showsTajomaru watching them from above through the forest cover. It is framed perfectly by the leaves and branches, while its high position gives it the appearance of a hunter stalking his prey. This is a powerful scene from Kurosawa and one of the first to establish the primitive side of civilized man. Although Kurosawa was the creator of the narrative, his work with the camera is the most integral part of the telling of his stories. His use of photograph-like scenes is a powerful source of narrative as well as a key factor in all of Kurosawa's films. The story told in Rashomon is another key feature of everything Kurosawa represents. Rashomon is a look at the human mind and the terrible things civilized people can do. Kurosawa has long been intrigued by these types of actions after living through a tumultuous period in Japanese history. As writer and director, Kurosawa had full control over creating and shooting the exact film he wanted. Rashomon brings audiences a story centered around this idea of ​​human deception and the objectivity of truth. Kurosawa uses his films and techniques to bring these ideas to life in a way that is unique to most authors. In all of Kurosawa's films, including Rashomon, the use of movement in his shots is powerful. Use the movement of nature to create shots with great movement and thus attract maximum attention from the audience. In Rashomon, the movement of the powerful rain around the men re-enacting the stories helps establish the emotion contained in this encounter. They are suffering from a loss of faith in humanity, just as Kurosawa himself struggled, and the time and movement around them reflects this. All these aspects show Kurosawa's internal struggle with human nature. The most significant part of the story, however, is the ending. In a story full of conflicting accounts of a single incident, Rashomon leaves the audience without revealing what the real story was. Just like Kurosawa he will never understand the depths of humanity. Rashomon is a great example of all the things that make Akira Kurosawa a great director. His unique shooting techniques help make scenes come to life with movement, and the story he wrote captures the raw emotion of the line between man and animal. Overall, this film would not have been as successful as it was with Kurosawa and cannot be separated from his touches. When a film is perceived differently than expected, the viewer often misses much of the story and major plot points. It is never a good thing for a film's meaning, story, plot or ideas not to strike an audience, but in many cases, especially those where the film is primarily foreign (if not completely foreign), this is due to the miscommunication about how the location of a film's creation or the location of the characters affects how the film is viewed. Some of these films are made without the intention of providing the audience with the background of film culture. This is a fairly common way of watching films and is called the national cinema approach. In Kurosawas Rashomon, we would have to know a handful of things about Japanese culture to fully understand the monumental weight of some of the actions that happen. Rashomon is a heartbreaking tale that speaks directly to the nature of humankind. By exploring one of the most heinous acts a human can commit and setting the film in the devastated village of Rashomon, plagued by war, natural disasters and almost every pain you can think of, we can discover the true nature of humanity. . When humans find themselves in extreme distress, will their morality hold up? Kurosawauses this backdrop to create a skeptical view of humanity that has few redeeming moments except the film's last scene. The film attacks the idea of ​​human sanctity by addressing the concept of truth, a value that humans hold in high regard. The story of Rashomon would have us believe that humans only tell the truth when it serves them best and will lie if the truth reveals something compromising to their character that they don't want others or themselves to believe. Kurosawa conveys this skeptical view of morality by setting the film in a time when crass human behavior has become the norm, revolving the plot around the immoral actions of his characters, and exploring the truthfulness of these characters. As previously stated, the film is set in the titular village of Rashomon. In the years preceding the story the village went through a period of great misfortune, suffering countless natural disasters, wars, famines and diseases. The village itself is in ruins and there are few people around. These circumstances have changed the people of the village, who have hardened to the reality they face. The film also portrays our willingness to abandon our previous notion of morality through the actions of its characters. The most obvious example is that of the bandit Tajomaru. He is known throughout the country for the actions he has taken and is a character with no morals and little consideration for his actions. Tajomaru seems to take joy in harming others. In the story he kills a man (according to his story and according to the loggers) and rapes a woman. In his account of the story he seems almost proud of his actions, gloating about how he managed to capture and kill the man and succeed with the woman, he also lied to the court. Tajomaru seems to be the embodiment of immorality and the times they live in (Boyd). Much of the Japanese background is the history of samurai culture. One specific thing that the culture had emphasized was the honorable way to live life, even until inevitable death. There is a practice in samurai culture called Seppuku according to which a samurai voluntarily dies with honor rather than fall into the hands of an enemy. It was common for a warrior to perform Seppuku, which was very honorable in this era, rather than be killed by the person he was fighting. Rashomon is set in 11th century Japan, which Kurosawa uses to show some extremities of human behavior. One of the ends the audience gets to witness is in one story when the Samurai falls to the Bandit, and instead of having a dishonorable death the Samurai decides to get up and perform Seppuku in the background. This scene is one of those that may be confusing if the audience does not know the history and background of samurai culture before watching this film. Rashomon was made by the studio known as Daiei. The studio was initially very reluctant to finance the project because it seemed "too unconventional" and "they feared it would be too difficult for audiences to understand." When Rashomon participated in an international film festival called the 1951 Venice Film Festival, it was greeted with a very positive reaction. Surprisingly, Daiei, the studio, initially did not want to allow the film to be submitted to competition. Kurosawa's visionary approach with this film led to enormous cinematic and cultural influence. A key point of Kurosawa's impact is that he used the concept of flashback before anyone else in the world of cinema. As much as this film influenced the world of cinema, there is an even more unique connection between Rashomon and current Japanese culture. His name has become a sort of.