Akira Kurosawa’s hugely influential 1950 historical crime drama returns to cinemas in the New Year, as part of a BFI celebration of the director’s work.

Winner of the top prize at the 1952 Venice Film Festival and an Honorary Academy Award the same year, the film concerns a woodcutter who witnesses a horrific series of events – an ambush, the rape of a noblewoman and the subsequent murder of her samurai husband by a bandit.

Photo: Rashômon
(1950) Poster

Yet, in the recounting of the incidents at the trial, differing versions come from all involved, thus raising questions about the reliability of subjective ‘truth’.

Rashomon (1950) Available to book now for 6 January 2023

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