Rashomon

Have you ever seen a movie where characters retell the same situation differently? Rashomon was the movie to do it first. On a rainy morning, a commoner with tragic news approaches a woodcutter and priest. He has found the body of a murdered in the forest. The samurai’s murderer faces trial to discover what happened. The only problem is the bandit, the samurai’s wife, and the samurai’s ghost all give differing accounts of what happened the day of the murder. Which story is true? That is the question the priest, the woodcutter, and the audience must wrestle with. Rashomon is a movie about perception and how we must question what we think we see instead of believing it without hesitation.

Production

Directed by Akira Kurosawa

Produced by Minoru Jingo

Screenplay by Akira Kurosawa, Shinobu Hashimoto

Based on Based on "In a Grove" and "Rashōmon" by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa

Starring Toshiro Mifune, Machiko Kyō, Masayuki Mori, Takashi Shimura, Minoru Chiaki

Cinematography by Kazuo Miyagawa

Edited by Akira Kurosawa

Production company: Daiei Film Co. Ltd.

Distribution & Stats

Distributed by Daiei Film Co. Ltd.

Release date: August 25, 1950

Running time: 88 minutes

Country: Japan

Language: Japanese

Budget: $140,000 (est.)

Box office: $143,376+ (US)