'Rashomon' is a 1950 film by Akira Kurosawa, and is really advanced for its time. It is a thriller, but is one of the first of its kind to use a non-linear plot. The film itself is set in ancient Japan, a woman is raped and her husband killed. The film gives us four viewpoints of the incident (one from the bandit, samurai's wife, the samurai and the woodcutter who saw the aftermath) each revealing a little more detail.The film is also interesting in it's simplicity; the film only uses three locations: Rashomon gate, the woods and the courtyard. The cast itself is only made up of 8 (3 lead roles and 5 minor parts). this goes to show that an intricate plot in much more effective than flashy sets and an epic plot.
The light in the film is also an interesting aspect as it seems to symbolise evil and sin. This completely contrasts with what light naturally represents (goodness hope). the bright light in the forest scenes was acheived by using a big mirror to reflect the sunlight into the scene. Similarly to make the rain in the film stand out it was tinted with black ink as pure water didn't stand out.
The film is hugely influential and films such as 'The Usual Suspects' and 'CSI' that thrived on the idea of a story being in several pieceslike a big narrative jigsaw. Here's a trailer for the film:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=SKbNfo20wzk
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