Rashomon (1950)

Rashomon (1950)

Dir. Akira Kurosawa

There's a saying that the camera never lies. But it doesn't hold true in Rashomon. Dir. Kurosawa turns the traditionally objective film lens into a wholly subjective tool, recording and replaying half-remembered half-truths from unreliable sources.

The story, which is told partly in flashback, is a simple one about an opportunist bandit (Toshirô Mifune), a samurai (Masayuki Mori) and his wife (Machiko Kyō), but the web of lies surrounding it is far from simple.

With minimal sets and very little dialogue to comfort us, it's the technique that makes Rashomon special, that makes it infinitely watchable, with striking fixed perspectives that put the onus on the viewer to decide what to believe and what to discount.