Delayed Reaction: Rashomon

The Pitch: The same story of a murder told from many perspectives.

Rashomon's reputation precedes it. I know I've referenced it a dozen times at least on this blog and I hadn't seen it until now. I don't know if it was the first film to employ conflicting narratives, but it's certainly the one most associated with it. I love the simplicity of the film: one story told by four different people. They each have their own agenda when telling their version, so each story is different enough to not make things repetitive. I suppose the Woodcutter's version is supposed to be the most definitive, but I still don't trust all of it.

I'm a sucker for this story structure. Ever since I saw that episode of the Alvin and the Chipmunks animated series as a kid that told all three chipmunk's version of the day's events (I think it had something to do with one of Dave's things breaking or a mess of some sort. I should really track it down), I've been fascinated by subjective views of objective events. Basically, this was a very easy sell for me. And a pretty short movie to boot.

Verdict (?): Strongly Recommend