Kurosawa had for a long time wanted to make a film out of the stories of Ryunosuke Akutagawa, and had actually written a script, but Toho found it too great a risk, so Kurosawa left Toho to film what would become ”Rashomon” at Daiei, even though Nagata, the studio head, had no idea what the film was about.

And exactly what “Rashomon” is about is still today its main attraction, as its not so much about story, but more about, as suggest by Donald Richie, human action undistracted by plot. Told thru elliptic arranged tableaux, its dreamlike quality demands us to observe, rather than to follow.

It all begins with a woodcutter finding the body of a samurai, which subsequently leads to the arrest of the assumed killer, Tajomaru, and a court case, where several versions of the event is told, from their unique perspective: Tajomaru’s, the wife’s and the dead Samurai (through a medium).

Winner of the Golden Lion at Venice 1951, “Rashomon” became the film to break down the wall between Japanese film and the west, despite its Japanese response. Japanese critics didn’t like the film and the industry had not made it for exports, as they believed that foreigners wouldn’t be able to understand Japanese film, which in turns lead Kurosawa to speak up and critique the industry for being afraid of supporting Japanese film.

Today, a good fifty years later, “Rashomon” stands one of cinema’s greatest masterpieces and the film by which “we”, the west, discovered Kurosawa by, who in turns made “Ikiru” and “Shichinin no Samurai”. It is a strange film, but nonetheless fascinating and hypnotic, and for those who just don’t get it, it will still be around in fifty years. That is the great comfort about art, it never ages, it never goes away, it always invites us back.

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Criterion (without any extras) also available in The Essential Art House - 50 Years of Janus Films - a 50-disc celebration of international films collected under the auspices of the groundbreaking theatrical distributor. It contains Alexander Nevsky (1938), Ashes And Diamonds (1958), L'avventura (1960), Ballad Of A Soldier (1959), Beauty And The Beast (1946), Black Orpheus (1959), Brief Encounter (1945), The Fallen Idol (1948), Fires On The Plain (1959), Fists In The Pocket (1965), Floating Weeds (1959), Forbidden Games (1952), The 400 Blows (1959), Grand Illusion (1937), Häxan (1922), Ikiru (1952), The Importance Of Being Earnest (1952), Ivan The Terrible, Part II (1958), Le Jour Se Lève (1939), Jules And Jim (1962), Kind Hearts And Coronets (1949), Knife In The Water (1962), The Lady Vanishes (1938), The Life And Death Of Colonel Blimp (1943), Loves Of A Blonde (1965), M (1931), M. Hulot's Holiday (1953), Miss Julie (1951), Pandora's Box (1929), Pépé Le Moko (1937), Il Posto (1961), Pygmalion (1938), Rashomon (1950), Richard III (1955), The Rules Of The Game (1939), Seven Samurai (1954), The Seventh Seal (1957), The Spirit Of The Beehive (1973), La Strada (1954), Summertime (1955), The Third Man (1949), The 39 Steps (1935), Ugetsu (1953), Umberto D. (1952), The Virgin Spring (1960), Viridiana (1961), The Wages Of Fear (1953), The White Sheik (1952), Wild Strawberries (1957), Three Documentaries By Saul J. Turell plus the hardcover, full color 240-page book.

1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray

1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray

DVD Release Date: March 26, 2002
Amaray

DVD Release Date: September 16, 2004
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Release Information:
Studio: Criterion (US)

Edition Details:
• Audio commentary by Japanese-film historian Donald Richie
• Interview with director Robert Altman about Rashomon (6:36)
• Excerpts from The World of Kazuo Miyagawa, a documentary on Rashomon’s cinematographer (12:34)
• A Testimony as an Image, a sixty-eight-minute documentary featuring interviews with cast and crew (1:08:22)
• Archival audio interview with actor Takashi Shimura (16:04)
• Theatrical trailer (3:28)
• PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by film historian Stephen Prince; an excerpt from director Akira Kurosawa’s Something Like an Autobiography; and reprints of Rashomon’s two source stories by Ryunosuke Akutagawa, “Rashomon” and “In a Grove
 

Release Information:
Studio: BFI

Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1

Edition Details:
• New audio commentary by Kurosawa expert Stuart Galbraith IV
• Rashômon at 65 (Stuart Galbraith IV, 2015, 34 mins): documentary visiting some of Rashômon's key locations, featuring interviews with former staff from Daiei-Kyoto Studios (34:03)
• John Boorman on Rashômon (5:59)
• 2010 BFI theatrical reissue trailer (1:50)
• Illustrated booklet with a new essay by Stuart Galbraith IV and full credits