The breakthrough that brought legendary Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa to worldwide attention, Rashomon has proven to be one of the most influential films of all time. Though set in feudal Japan, the film’s use of multiple, contradictory narrators left a direct imprint on the modern-day courtroom drama. A samurai has died at the hands of a notorious bandit, yet the circumstances of the murder are anything but clear-cut. Through flashbacks, we see the events as described by each of the four witnesses: the bandit, the samurai’s wife, a passing woodcutter, and (with the help of a medium) the deceased samurai himself. Each one’s version of events differs in significant ways, often shifting to best suit the interests and ego of the speaker. Kurosawa deliberately upends the viewer’s expectation for an objective version of events in favour of nuanced psychological realism, crafting a brilliant meditation on the slippery nature of truth.

Co-curated by Luqman Hakim Bin Abdul Rahman (Year 4, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences)