Rashomon
My 1950th logged film on Letterboxd
Man this was.. disappointing. I have always loved stories that show the same story from different 'perspectives', so I had been very excited to watch this film, but I was just left with a bad taste in my mouth.
The cinematography's beautiful and the acting is good, though certain performances felt a bit too dramatic for me.
Maybe I need to sit with it for a bit and come back to it later but, throughout my viewing of this film, I mostly just felt profoundly uncomfortable at the way this film portrays rape.
The woman in most perspectives is shown to either blamed for the rape or is shown as being a two-faced bitch. Many people at this critique just say 'that's what feudal Japan was like' but does that really excuse a completely uncritical portrayal of said views? Even in her own story she is not innocent of the crime committed against her. Seeing as Kurosawa has always, in every other film I've seen of him, shown a complete disinterest in portraying female characters unless it is as villains. The combination of that and how this movie seems to be significantly more focused on if this woman reacted to her rape the 'right way' instead of the fact that that crime was committed against her, makes me unable to appreciate much of the good things it did (though in all honesty, besides the historic significance and how 'groundbreaking' it was at the time, it really did not impress me much anyway)
Honestly the more I think about it, the less I like it, the way the story was told felt uninteresting and the philosophy around it felt very profound. I value this film for being very innovative for its time and helping a lot at shaping a narrative device I'm a big fan of, but I'd rather just watch Hoodwinked.
Mini Review: My 1950th logged film on Letterboxd
Man this was.. disappointing. I have always loved stories that show the same story from different 'perspectives', so I had been very excited to watch this film, but I was just left with a bad taste in my mouth.
The cinematography's beautiful and the acting is good, though certain performances felt a bit too dramatic for me.
Maybe I need to sit with it for a bit and come back to it later but, throughout my viewing of this film, I mostly just f...
More Reviews of Rashomon
Dr.Necrow
1/25/2023:
A few several accounts of awful people doing shitty things. My third Akira Kurosawa was very rough indeed, I was not really that invested in this movie after the...
A few several accounts of awful people doing shitty things. My third Akira Kurosawa was very rough indeed, I was not really that invested in this movie after the...
karamazov.
Although several images [the medium spinning maniacally, Mifune's performance-- every bit as wild, full of life, and fucking nuts as, say, one by Kinski-- etc.] were/are forever...
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