Watching Rashomon again after a number of years was a minor ordeal to sit through on this viewing.
Everyone is familiar with how the film made the reputation of Akira Kurosawa and brought Japanese cinema to international notice. The film is still on a number of "greatest film" lists. The story structure was very unique at the time as the film looked at what is truth.
With this viewing I found the film to be pretty rough going. In particular the over exaggerated acting styles of the cast made it seem like an exercise in very hammy acting.
I know that Kurosawa liked it a little broad in his films but at times the performances of Toshiro Mifune and Machiko Kyo look like Mickey Rooney's character Mr. Yunioshi in Breakfast at Tiffany's. It's just not pretty.
The photography of cinematographer Kazuo Miyagawa still holds up pretty well, but a lot of his style has been copied so much by other films and TV commercials that it's inevitable it also looks a little dated.
Unfortunately, that's the way it goes with some film classics.
88 minutes. Written by Akira Kurosawa and Shinobu Hashimoto.
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