Rashomon

羅生門 (1950)

Timing: 1:28 (88 min)

8.044/10
2481

7.899/10
49779

8.1/10
196000

All about film

Video 4

Photo 102

Actors and characters

Release date

1950-08-26

Country

Japan

Production

Daiei Film

Genre

Crime, Drama, Mystery

Budget

$250 000

Revenue

$35 584

Website

Director

Akira Kurosawa

Actors

Toshirō Mifune, Machiko Kyō, Takashi Shimura, Masayuki Mori, Minoru Chiaki, Kichijirō Ueda, Noriko Honma, Daisuke Katō
All actors and roles (8)

Scenario

Producer

Jingo Minoura, Masaichi Nagata

Operator

Kazuo Miyagawa

Composer

Fumio Hayasaka

Artist

Audition

Editing

Akira Kurosawa
All team (19)

• The film is based on works by Ryunosuke Akutagawa, «Rashomon» and «In a Grove». He borrowed the setting, title, and overall atmosphere from the former, and the plot from the latter.
• In the scene at the Rashomon Gate, Kurosawa couldn't achieve a rain effect that was visible not only in the foreground but also in the depth, where it blended with the gray sets. So, ink was added to the water of the rain machines, making the rain more contrastive. The ink can be seen in the final shot: it got on the face of the departing lumberjack.
• Kurosawa told Toshiro Mifune to borrow the physicality of his character from the wild, say, from a lion. Since then, Mifune played practically the same «lion-like» role several more times, immortalizing himself with this very physicality.
• During filming, a delegation of the crew approached Akira Kurosawa, opened the script before him, and asked, "what does all this even mean?" Kurosawa's answer went down in history: he said that this film was a reflection of life, and life does not always have a simple and clear meaning.
• It is believed that this film was the first to point the camera directly at the sun, showing it moving through the leaves. Kurosawa himself claimed for some time that the cinematographer Kazuo Miyagawa had invented this technique, although he later retracted this statement.
• Even at noon in the forest where filming took place, it was dark. Therefore, Kurosawa and cinematographer Kazuo Miyagawa used a large makeup mirror to reflect sunlight, directing it onto the subject being filmed.
• Kurosawa told Toshiro Mifune to borrow the physicality of his character from the wild, say, from a lion. Since then, Mifune played practically the same 'lion-like' role several more times, immortalizing himself with this very physicality.
• During filming, the crew asked Akira Kurosawa what was meant by what was written in the script. He replied that this film was a reflection of life, and life does not always have a simple and clear meaning.
• The film is based on Ryunosuke Akutagawa's works "Rashomon" and "In a Grove." It borrows the setting, title, and overall atmosphere from the former, while the plot is taken from the latter story.
• Kurosawa told Toshiro Mifune to borrow the physicality of his character from the wild, say, a lion. Since then, Mifune played practically the same "lion-like" role several more times, cementing his image with this very physicality.