Rashomon

Darren Milliron 10/18/11

Movie- "Rashomon" -1959

Language- Japanese

Director- Akira Kurosawa

Runtime- 88 minutes

Awards-Directors Guild of America: Best Director (nominee)

Venice International Film Festival: Best File (winner)

National Board of Review: Best Director (winner)

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Rashomon started off in mystery as the men were talking. It began with two men in absolute shock and couldn't believe this story of what had happened. They really built up the suspense quickly as the viewer wants to know what happened and what's the story! As the man begins his story the film goes to back in time and the viewer gets to see each person testimony, none of which even matched. This seemed important because each one is portrayed as a flashback which may have possibly started a trend we see even in modern films.

Let's highlight some aspect in an article from the Chicago Sun-Times by Roger Ebert about the film. To my surprise he talked about the flashbacks in the movie and called them "smart" while calling other films that use them just to fill in information as "lazy". He also mentions that the movie ends with "three self confessions of the murder, but no solution". This definitely is a new concept in film at the time and might lead to some people who don't understand it.

Another article I want to take a look at is from EBSCOhost and talks about an interesting fact. Why did the bandit admit to killing the man in the woods? The possibility could be that he and in fact everyone else truly believes they are telling the truth. Perception is key and in the movie the commoner even says "men can't tell the truth, not even to themselves". It makes one think, do things really happen the way we perceive them to? That's an interesting and deep statement.

In my opinion this movie for the time period was very well done. There were a few odd camera angles such as looking straight up of the sky through the tree canopy and from directly below the actor. I really don't see that in a lot of movies and to be honest I'm not sure whether I like it or not, it got my attention and it looked cool but it's just not what I'm use to. On another note I really did get the feeling that I was watching a modern day murder mystery at times during the film. Seeing several peoples interpretations of the same event was pretty interesting and reminded me of something out of "12 Angry Men" or "My Cousin Vinnie".Overall my rating of "Rashomon" is a 7/10.

Citations:

http://library.kean.edu:2055/ehost/detail?vid=4&hid=125&sid=c414f699-472e-4212-9054-14799b8be931%40sessionmgr110&bdata=JkF1dGhUeXBlPWNvb2tpZSxpcCx1cmwsY3BpZC

ZjdXN0aWQ9a2VhbmluZiZzaXRlPWVob3N0LWxpdmU%3d#db=aph&AN=9608216262

http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/articleAID=/20020526/REVIEWS08/205260301/1023

The 400 Blows

Darren Milliron 10/4/11

Movie- "The 400 Blows" -1959

Language- French

Director- Francois Traffuat

Runtime- 99 minutes

Awards- Cannes Film Festival: Best Director (winner)

British Academy of Film: Best British Film (nominee)

New York Film Critics Circle: Best Foreign Film (winner)

Academy of Motion Picture Arts: Best Original Screenplay (nominee)

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One may ask, "How does this film relate to the larger topic of film theory?". Right off the bat I want to mention the very last scene of the movie. It's a long continuous shot of Doniel running away from the detention camp to the ocean. Most films would use a montage to lapse the time and but in this film they followed him for several minutes of just running and this seems very different from any other movies one would see in the United States. Another thing to talk about would be the ideogram at the end of the final scene. The boy makes run a for the ocean and finally gets there running right to the waters edge. He finally looks into the camera and the movie ends as a still image. Early in the movie we learned how he never saw the ocean and wanted to go there one day. The final scene of him by the ocean represents an idea or concept to the viewer that he finally made to the ocean, but what now? The end leaves you with a lot to think about.

Let's relate some published articles to the screening. First one comes from the Chicago Sunday Times by Roger Ebert. He had something to say about the last scene of the movie which I found interesting,

"The film's famous final shot, a zoom in to a freeze frame, shows him looking directly into the camera. He has just run away from a house of detention, and is on the beach, caught between land and water, between past and future. It is the first time he has seen the sea."

According this article he relates the ideogram of the ocean and Doniel as him being "caught... between past and future". I saw the ideogram in that final scene and it seems as if author of this article caught onto as well which really helped to back up my claim.

The next article is from EBSCOhost from the Academic Search Premier is a movie review by David Sterritt. In the article he refers to the movie as a "master piece" and even says

"This said, it's ironic that Truffaut felt uneasy about some "experimental" touches... the tracking shot showing Antoine's flight from confinement, the unforgettable freeze-frame at the finale."

It seems as if I am not the only one who was impressed by the end of the movie. It was different and unexpected from what I usually think of a movie. The ending left the viewer with more questions than answers. Francois Truffaut wanted to leave and imprint in back our minds with this final scene, and I think he was really successful in doing so. It seems as if that is the most memorable scene for everyone.

My personal opinion I think this movie was ahead of it's time. Some of the humor seemed more modern day, brief periods of minor nudity, and there was even some bad language. In American films at the time I don't think they could even show a toilet bowl or a husband and wife sleeping in the same bed! For a 1959 film they could have filmed it in color. Now they could either have filmed in black and white intentionally or perhaps the technology just wasn't available in France during that time period. In the States color TV had already made an appearance in 1953 and wasn't available in Europe till 1960! (See article) Overall the movie had a lot of interesting scenes and was really able to keep me entertained and focused throughout, difficult for most movies to do from that time period. I would have to agree and say it's the best foreign I have ever watched and I really did enjoy it.

The cinematographic principle and the ideogram

The cinematographic principle and the ideogram

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