Director: Akira Kurosawa, 12, 1950

Stars: Toshirô Mifune, Machiko Kyô, Masayuki Mori

Retail DVD

The Usual Suspects, Pulp Fiction, countless other films that look at the same event from multiple perspectives – all are children of Rashômon. Kurosawa’s spare morality play, the first of his films to be widely seen in the UK, recounts the death of a samurai (Mori) in feudal Japan according to several different observers. Was he killed by his wife (Kyô), the bandit who raped her (Mifune), or did he commit suicide? It drags in parts and the coda is heavy-handed, but it’s as eloquent a comment as any on the human capacity for obfuscation and selfishness.

As such, it is poorly served by a rambling tribute from John Boorman and a staggeringly monotonal documentary featuring the original crew.

DVD extras

Boorman tribute, documentary

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