Rashomon (blu ray)

Akira Kurosawa’s hugely influential 1950 historical crime drama

Winner of the top prize at the 1952 Venice Film Festival and an Honorary Academy Award the same year, the film concerns a woodcutter (Takashi Shimura) who witnesses a horrific series of events – an ambush, the rape of a noblewoman (Machiko Kyo) and the subsequent murder of her samurai husband (Mayasuki Mori) by a bandit (Toshiro Mifune). Yet, in the recounting of the incidents at the trial, differing versions come from all involved, thus raising questions about the reliability of subjective ‘truth’.

Director: Akira Kurosawa

Cast: Toshiro Mifune, Daisuke Kato, Masayuki Mori, Machiko Kyo, Minoru Chiaki, Takashi Shimura, Fukimo Homma, Kichijiro Ueda