RASHOMON - DVD review

The great Japanese director Akira Kurosawa first made an international name for himself with 1950's "Rashomon." The film played at the Venice Film Festival, and it won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Over the years, the film has become a sort of adjective, as in "That movie was Rashomon-esque."

What is Rashomon-esque? Well, if you've seen "Courage Under Fire," the Denzel Washington-Meg Ryan flick about a search for the truth, then you've seen Rashomon-esque. Basically, "Rashomon" involves the use of varying perspectives where different people have different views on what exactly happened in a pivotal event. Every character was present at the situation in question, but everyone offers a different take on the truth because of personal motives. It is up to a third party to find out what really is the "truth."

"Rashomon" begins with a shot of the ruins of the Rashomon gate. Since it's raining, a woodcutter and a priest are sitting in the ruins for shelter from the elements. A commoner joins them, and he hears the two men muttering about "something horrible." His curiosity aroused, the commoner asks the woodcutter and the priest about what in the world the "something horrible" is.

Thus begins the tale of the bandit (Toshiro Mifune), the nobleman, and the nobleman's wife. The nobleman has been found dead, and the nobleman's wife has been raped. The woodcutter and the priest relate the story of how, during judicial proceedings, the bandit, the rape victim, and even the dead man offered their separate accounts of what happened to the three of them in the forest.

The key to understanding the movie is that there is no real "truth." The bandit, the nobleman's wife, and the dead nobleman all have reasons for spinning his/her own version of the events, and these descriptions of what happened in the forest are being told through a filter, that of the woodcutter and the priest. Basically, unless an objective third party observer was there to witness the scene, there is no reliable way of discerning who is lying and who is telling the truth.

Personally, while I admire what "Rashomon" is trying to do, I don't think that the movie is a masterpiece. There are hints at Kurosawa's genius, but the film itself is rather lightweight. The rape of the noblewoman and the manner of death of her husband are too slight to inspire a truly involving mystery, and I found it rather comical that the woodcutter and the priest would be so shocked that "the truth" was nowhere to be found.

Video:

The quality of the black-and-white 1.33:1 (full-frame on 4:3 monitors) video image varies wildly. Some scenes look fairly clear and free of specking. However, most of the movie suffers from an assortment of grain, shimmering, dust, and vertical lines/scratches. Also, the image jitters a bit once every so often, so print stability may be an issue. Of course, "Rashomon" is more than 50 years old, so it's possible that none of the negatives that exist are in pristine condition.

Audio:

There are two primary audio tracks on the DVD: a Dolby Digital 1.0 Japanese track and a DD 1.0 English dub. For the most part, the dialogue in either track is very clear, but the sound effects (such as rain) sound a bit muted on the Japanese track when compared to the English dub. Since these are mono tracks, there is neither directionality nor bass response. Thankfully, higher frequencies don't sound too shrill. Optional English subtitles support the audio.

Extras:

"Rashomon" is one of the most famous and most influential of Japanese films, so Criterion has released a fine DVD special edition of the movie.

There's a video introduction by Robert Altman (director of "MASH," "Nashville," and the recent, totally overrated "Gosford Park"). Mr. Altman mentions the influence of "Rashomon" on Western filmmakers and how the film helped to establish Japanese cinema's reputation throughout the world.

Donald Richie, a Japanese-film historian, contributes a fine audio commentary. Mr. Richie seems to know much about Japanese culture, and he discusses various cinematic methods employed in the movie as well as how "Rashomon" either conforms to classical Japanese culture or tweaks it. Also, Richie likes to talk about "triangles" a lot--meaning, triangularities of characters in groups of three. Most importantly for me, he discusses other films in Kurosawa's oeuvre, giving me much insight into themes that the director obsessed over during his career.

There are some excerpts from "The World of Kazuo Miyagawa," a documentary about the film's cinematographer. Mr. Miyagawa shows viewers some memorabilia from his movies, including the nameplate for the "Rashomon" gate. Already an aged man when the documentary was filmed, Miyagawa doesn't say all that much that is "informative." Rather, he sentimentally recalls anecdotes that provide glimpses of the joy of making movies with Kurosawa.

Finally, you can watch the film's theatrical trailer and peruse through a 26-page booklet with a mini-essay about the film by Stephen Prince, an excerpt from Kurosawa's book "Something Like an Autobiography," two short stories by Ryunosuke Akutagawa that inspired the film's screenplay, film and DVD credits, notes about the DVD transfer, and chapter listings.

Entertainment Value:

While I appreciate the value of "Rashomon" in cinema, I feel that the catalytic event--that of the rape of the noblewoman and the death of her husband--does not create a compelling atmosphere. Also, even though the movie runs for less than 90 minutes, its pacing is rather leaden. Deliberate pacing works in magisterial projects such as Kurosawa's "Ran," but deliberate pacing in a movie about the urgent search for truth harms the overall effect. Also, that the woodcutter and the priest would be so shocked by the lack of truth in the world strains credulity. I mean, come on, guys, is there really such a thing as "the truth"? :-)