Ep. 274 Akira Kruosawa’s Rashomon (1950)
And we are live. So, uh, welcome to episode 274. Wow. Of an American Werewolf in New Jersey. I am the American Werewolf. Uh, in the house tonight, we’ve got insert clever name here. Hello. Thanks for having me. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It’s good to see you. And uh here to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, we’ve got John K. Alvarez. He saw the whole thing. Witness number five, but you can’t prove it. Yeah. Well, you know, you got to take his word for it, but you know, there’s always a catch. So, um the divorce rate these days is up over 50%. Uh these hoes ain’t loyal out here these days, man. I’m telling you. Uh there that that may be the best way to put it. These hoes just ain’t loyal and they’ll turn on you in a second. Looking for that exit plan. Um we’re talking about unreliable narrators. We’re talking about Akira Kurasawa’s Rashiman. So if you’re ready to go, shall we get it going? Hit the button. Boogie woogie. [Applause] [Music] over my head. I hear music. [Music] I hear the music in the air. I do my [Music] I [Music] feel my [Music] I feel like the airwhere [Music] [Music] There’s someonewhere. I believe there’s someonewhere. I believe there someonewhere. So, is is life a big pile of [ __ ] or or is is it just is there hope out there? you know, is there goodness out there? Um, is it that you know, the despair is so much louder bearing down on you that it becomes easy to overlook the good things. I’m convinced in this film that the third person uh hiding out in the rain is actually a demon. Um because he just does nothing but mock and cajul and just sort of stick his finger in everybody’s, you know, wound, you know, constantly with the, you know, the the message that, you know, if you’re not selfish, if you’re not a piece of [ __ ] if you don’t do it to the other guy, they’re going to do it to you first. There is that. Um there is Yeah, there is that. um you know, he just sort of ramps up the despair. Um it’s just just not a person that you know, you would want like and then he just sort of disappears, you know, he just kind of fills the place with despair, makes it 10 times worth, and then he just kind of leaves. um as we attempt to sort out what is actually true in this story. Um four different versions of the same story, a rape, a murder. Um who is actually telling the truth? Let me start out with insert clever name here. Uh what did you think of Rashima which is available? Let me before you get started. This is available on HBO Max. Uh but it’s also available for free on Plex uh if you don’t have uh that subscription service. So you can’t watch it for free. I would advise that you do. What did you think of the film? Uh I enjoyed it very much. I keep uh getting pulled into these discussions of movies that I am illprepared to talk about. Uh I’ll say once again, I’m not big on samurai movies and until you started forcing me to watch them, I hadn’t really sat down and watched the Kurasawa movies. Although I’m entirely glad that you are doing it because it’s one of those things that I always said, “Yeah, I’ll get to it.” And never did. Uh and uh this movie was fantastic. I enjoyed it very much. Trying to figure it out. I don’t understand it. I’m like the guy with the with the scraggly beard uh at the beginning. I just don’t understand it. I know what happened. I get the plot, but um uh there was some very very interesting things going on in it. and I keep getting pulled into larger themes uh considering that it came out in 1950. Uh so it seems like one of those movies where uh you know all of Japan’s psyche is trying to sort out what just happened to them five years previous. You know, in the same way Godzilla uh did that, but this one was done, you know, on a shoestring budget. Essentially, it’s a uh essentially it’s a a a play or a uh a drawing room uh uh discussion piece and uh is very very well done. I mean the uh the use of uh natural light and shadows beautiful cinematography beautiful, the shots are great. The acting was a little cringy and over the top, although that might have been the style or at the time. Uh but uh you know, I I really enjoyed the movie overall. It was a It was a very pleasing uh watch. Uh witness number five uh for the defense, for the prosecution, uh what did you think? I agree with everything that Sir Sebastian says. That’s the most clever name I can think of. Um I when I first saw it and started getting into it and I was lucky enough to to watch it twice before we got here. Um, this reminds me the closest to an absurdist play. Yeah. Uh, only because the absurdest play questions why most of the time and and that’s the question I think that was not just going on with the people on the screen, but was going in my head. Why would they act this way or why would they why was that their moral compass? And that really kept bringing me back to it. Yeah. Um I mean this is like a pinter play or a burle breed like waiting for goto. Yep. That’s the type of Yeah. That type of that feeling. And as opposed to some of those plays that when I first saw them when I was in college and found them to be a little trit and boring until I got older, I was lucky enough to see this film at the age of 60 and go, “Man, I’ve asked these questions, too.” Um, I think the person that came running in who was asking the questions to build off of what Michael was kind of saying, I don’t know if that’s a demon or if that’s a representation of us, the world. Do we know people that would poke and pride that when they’re when they’re they’re, you know, or laughing at the situation at other people? Yeah. Play’s advocate. I’ve never done that. you know, I’ve known I’ve known some people and have seen some people and it’s kind of sad really and hopefully I was never one of them, you know, type deal. That’s the things that I found myself questioning that. And I thought it was brilliantly shot. Yeah. I love the fact that a man who’s been known for doing samurai movies, a lot of these people couldn’t handle a sword in some situations. I I loved that. It made these characters, even though they were kind of over the top or in some cases larger than life, in one situation, they were the most real I’ve ever seen, you know, like real people. And I love that. I truly did. It is. It is the furthest thing from an action movie that you can find. um you have this this idea that um you know everybody lies and I think that’s absolutely true in that you know everybody lies you know nobody is you know and we talk about this you know not necessarily in a fault-f finding way because you would say well if you were absolutely honest with everybody you know everybody would kill everybody you know so that’s not going to work so you have to sort of you know obuscate or you know, gauge what you say. But there’s also the idea that people even lie to themselves. So, you know, there’s there’s just this, you know, subjectivity um that um permeates throughout, you know, all four versions of this story. You’re never even exactly sure well what is what is the the true version of this. And so we understand this is uh based on two uh stories from uh Raya Suk a Kuragawa uh who wrote Rashiman and in the grove uh both of which are in the inner grove both of which are part of this. It was written like a hundred years ago. Um the author I think uh ended up taking his own life. Um, so you know, just somebody I guess who was very heartfelt about maybe despair or existentialism or you know what was you know what exactly is true. But for the purposes of this discussion, we have uh a rape and a murder uh seen through the lens of four different stories, four different versions of the same thing. And in the same way that we would play that drinking game in college where, you know, you would, you know, whisper in somebody’s ear and then by the time it went all the way around in the circle and got back to you, it was completely different. You know, that’s what we’re dealing with here. And it’s it’s a tough it’s a tough story. Um, you’ve got Tashiro Muffi who plays the bandit who is essentially descending on these people in the woods, a husband and a wife. Um, he I mean, and some things are, you know, just universally true. He rapes the wife. Um, just I I know initially I think somebody said there the acting was a little over the top and I thought that when I watched it with Muffy’s performance as the bandit, but then I thought this guy’s just more like a [ __ ] werewolf like he’s just you know like you know kind of almost like you know just kind of waiting to pounce like this lowlevel predator you know and who like who the [ __ ] just hangs out in the forest waiting to pounce on somebody you you know, and and that’s what he does. And he manages to tie up the husband and he rapes the wife and then, you know, through one uh depending on which version you believe, the husband ends up dying and, you know, he ends up being captured and he seems largely unrepentant. And you’re sort of stuck sorting through this uh series of versions, whether it’s, you know, the bandits version or the woman’s version, the raped woman’s version or, you know, there’s one bystander who, you know, sort of didn’t admit that he saw anything and gives you his account. And then the the husband who sort of gives this account almost through a through a medium and you you’re not exactly [ __ ] true. Even by the fourth time you see except that each story is shittier. Every version seems to be shittier every time you know seem to get closer to the truth. And by the time this movie is less than 90 minutes long, but until the last five minutes of the film, you’re just like, this is I I did like the fact that when the thief, the wife, and the nobleman uh were telling their stories, even when like the thief or the bandit was, you know, telling his story and he was the villain, he made himself look more like the hero. He was the great sword fighter and you know and and when the nobleman took his own life it was because of honor and when she and it wasn’t until the fourth guy came in you realized no they’re all just normal they’re all you know pathetic type deal and I love that. I I I thought that was such an unique well not unique but a great way to tell the story. It was interesting the the last uh version of the story. Both the noblemen and the and the uh bandit, their hands are shaking when they’re fighting because neither of them want to do this and they’re both afraid. Uh that was uh really interesting. But I like uh uh the bandits version where you know, oh, I was just chilling in the forest. I didn’t do nothing. I was just sitting there. I’m just hanging. My body brought me a pretty woman. the only guilt the only guilty man in Shaw Hank, you know, he’s just, you know, he’s, you know, it just happened, you know. And I I love how the woman responds to him. He’s raping her, but she responds and all of a sudden her arm comes up behind and like, you know, starts embracing him because he’s just such a a badass. You know, she’s just so turned on about and you’re like, okay, you can tell right away this is [ __ ] It’s like the first round of interrogations in NYPD Blue where you know the guy’s lying to Cypitz before he starts smacking him around or something like that. Um, you know, you get to the second version and it is just, you know, it’s all sad and, you know, she gets raped and then the husband rejects her. uh he can she can just see the contempt and so she blacks out, you know, in her trauma and ends up stabbing him uh with this dagger. Um yeah, after she after she uh after she was like a badass and went after the thief with her little knife, uh because you know she was the hero and didn’t do nothing wrong. Uh that’s you know she all of a sudden oh I I blacked out. I did. I is that the is that a thing though? I mean, are are we all the hero in our own narrative? Yeah, that’s that’s that is in recent Oh, let me just let me just and then I’ll let everybody in. I just want to say this quick thing. I mean, in recent times, I guess from the millennials on down, you know, like self-loathing has become like a, you know, the catchy thing. Yeah, maybe it was self-deprecation in our time, but now it’s moved on to self-loathing, you know, depending on who you talk to. But, you know, everybody from their own perspective thinks they’re right. Go ahead. I mean, Napoleon once said victory. I mean, history is told by the victors. Yeah. Type deal. And there’s was another person who turned around, I’m trying to remember who it was, who said, “We are every every person’s a hero in their own story, even if they’re the villain, you know, and and that’s something that I really do think that was presented here, the outside person who didn’t, you know, the the wood cutter, I guess, or the wood cutter, you know, the tradesman when he saw what was going on, even though he was afraid right to speak. I’m would to me I would assume that was the more accurate story because he had nothing to gain. I mean, he really didn’t even like testify for it. So, he just told what he saw, which is ironic because that’s when the one guy said, “I don’t believe you.” You know, that couldn’t have happened. We uh Bill, did you want to say something? No. Uh but it’s not the moment. I I was just going to say, you know, we kind of rationalize the things that we do. Yes. Mhm. You know, we all just kind of rationalize, you know, whatever it is, you know, we had a good reason or we couldn’t help it or, you know, I mean, it doesn’t get to the point where, you know, we’re doing these sorts of things, but by the time you get to the the third story, you know, she’s clearly, you know, trading uh Oh, we get to the Yeah. Because I mean in the first one, you know, in the first one she’s just like, “Look, one of you have to die.” There’s there’s always the hint throughout each sort of telling that she is do well maybe that they’re all doing something wrong. You know, the husband is the girl’s dumbest husband following Muff into the woods for some free swords. Swords. Who the does that? Okay, that doesn’t even any sense. you know, she ends up getting raped and then she decides that one of them has to die. Like she can’t If we were to believe that she wanted to trade up the whole time, then you have to read into that that there’s a whole litany of uh of things wrong with the husband. Right. Because Yeah. I mean, and ultimately, you know, by the time we get to that story at the end, she’s been looking for an exit for a long time, right? She’s been looking for an exit for a long time. And she is so craven that being attacked by somebody in the woods is preferable to being with her husband, right? And you get to a point where all four stories, you know, are [ __ ] all four stories, the one telling it trying to make themselves out to be uh the least culpable. Uh but you you do know that it that the real story is a mix of all four. Just it has to be. Even the wood cutters version is not 100% accurate because he’s just a an innocent guy watching this thing from afar. He doesn’t know the ins and outs the way that we find out about it. Is it I mean it just seems like it would in the way that things reverse in the final story um where she turns the tide you know against both of them by questioning she pushes that button questioning their manhood. Yep. Right. And to the point that they’re just so gullible for it. You know this one man supposedly a notorious killer and a bandit. you know, the other man to train samurai. But it almost reminded me of Ran and that woman in Ran who just like, you know, used her femininity to like control everybody. And she ended up like burning the whole [ __ ] house down, you know, burning the whole family to the ground like out of revenge just by pushing everybody’s buttons. You didn’t need to be physically strong. You just needed to be able to It’s almost like a Jenga game, you know? you needed to pull the right piece and then just wait for the rest of it to fall apart because I don’t know maybe I’ve just reached that age but like it occurred to me in the fourth story like when she just played her hand if both of them either had just you know we’re both just going to [ __ ] kill this [ __ ] or you know they just decide to walk away right you know and just leave her there but they they can’t do it right I don’t know what I don’t know if it’s pride like she’s like like she’s touched their pride, you know, like with a capital P, you know, kind of pride or, you know, what do what do you guys think? Well, it’s an honorbound society. They can’t really walk away when they’re challenged. It’s not like being a 21st century American where we’re used to doing that, especially, you know, 1950. And again with the with the grand themes of of of post World War II, it’s almost like a a condemnation of the society that pushed uh you know the rap king and and and you know the the the campaigns in Russia and China, you know, to the point where holy [ __ ] someone’s going to come all the way back at us with a nuclear weapon because we are the bad guys, you know. And she even turns around at one point and says, “Who am I to choose? I’m just a woman.” Right. Which was you’re the men. Yes. You’re I mean, she really there was a sense of like a Lady McBth the power behind men putting them put putting them against each other because even when they first looked at each other after she said it, there wasn’t a stare down. But it eventually you saw them start puffing their chest up a little. You know, I think she really did prick that nerve of saying, you know, you choose. I’ll go with either one of you. Yeah. The shaky hands. Neither of them really wanted to do it. Neither of them really wanted to die, especially not over this this lady. So, you know, it was a it was a a weird thing. I had Go ahead, Mike. I’m sorry. Go ahead. No, I was just gonna say real quick. she had more agency than it initially led on, you know, that they initially let on about, you know, in her, you know, cuz it seemed like there was this accepted role. Um, you know, she’s physically weaker. So, you know, Muffi kind of overpowers her, but her strength lie, you know, was in another place and once she got a a chance to play that card, she turned out to be stronger than both of them, maybe, right? And remember that her own story about herself, she puts herself in the position of a warrior with the knight and fighting. So even if that didn’t happen in her mind, she’s seeing herself as, you know, the one who is fighting the noble fight. So triggering those two to fight each other through her feminine WS is uh is her, you know, her warrior stance and her power. She kind of reminds me because like I remember growing up and there was a friend of mine in high school. He had a girlfriend and and I don’t want to sound like I’m picking on women so my apologies, but he got into more fights. He got more fights his junior He got more fights his junior year in high school when she said, “Oh, you just gonna let that guy get away with that?” Thing was deescalated. And I’m going, “What are you doing?” You know, you could dude, you go in your Twitter feed for five minutes and you’ll find a hundred stories like that, right? You know, women are like goating, you know, nowadays they just walk up and like slap guys in the face. depending on who the guy is is depending on what kind of response you’re going to get, you know, but it’s always that pricking, you know, and they’re [ __ ] you, you know, you [ __ ] you know, blah, you’re a piece of blah, you’re a, you know, this and that and, you know, all this, you know, they’re just like it’s just this attack, you know, and, you know, depending on who the guy, a lot of guys just sort of stake it, a lot of guys, you know, some guys don’t, you know, and it turns out, you know, a different kind of way. But yeah, it’s it’s a different kind of assault. And I I think it does come down to an assault on their pride on a on a man’s pride. Uh hold on. Wow. Uh no. Well, I mean, can you No, I agree with you. It’s like wild [ __ ] Can you can you I mean, can you have justice if you can’t have an agreement on what is true? Yeah. I uh I the the coolest part that I kept noticing is that every time someone was telling their story, they were in the shade. They were in the dark and the two the two guys, the priest and the wood cutter are sitting there in the light as if like, you know, they’re innocent and the people who are telling their story are going to this dark side. I mean, he uses uh shadow and light really well uh to sort of set the stage for, you know, what’s going on. And then uh you know uh the whole the whole all four stories are set in the woods with the mix of light and dark and light and dark across their faces across their across every scene. And the only time people are considering, you know, are we getting it right is when they’re sitting there with no light and it’s all rain sort of washing washing the the lies away. It was it was a very clever way of telling the story visually. And I love that when they were in the court or for the tribunal, it’s out in the sun. Yeah. There’s absolutely the light of day. Yeah. The light of day. I mean, the the way the storytelling was set up, cuz I have to admit, in the beginning when I first saw them running through the woods or when the uh um um the uh bandit was running through the woods at time and pushing through, I was getting a little annoyed until I realized, oh, wait, this is, you know, trying to make the discovery. Yeah, I loved that. That was that was an actually a nice touch. But what was up with the sweating, though? I noticed that there was a lot of sweating and then there weren’t sweating and there’s a [ __ ] ton of sweating. They couldn’t figure out what that meant. It’s uh Well, I I think it means that nobody’s telling the truth. Yeah. I think it means that nobody’s everybody’s got their spin on this, you know, and I think Bill’s got an interesting point, too, in that, you know, we’re in postWorld War II Japan, right? This was not this was not a big hit in Japan and it wouldn’t surprise me necessarily if Japan wasn’t quite ready to look themselves in the face, you know, about what had happened during the war. Whereas maybe four years later, the Godzilla thing is kind of an attack on Japan. So you could see why, you know, it presents the plight of the Japanese people in a more sympathetic light. This is not a sympathetic portrayal of almost anyone. Even the wood cutter, you know, it’s kind of cowardly because he’s he has what we perceive to be as close to the truth as possible, but he doesn’t have the courage to step forward and speak about Yes. You know, he’s not that one guy you didn’t see, Akiru. The one guy who knows what the truth is. I covered this on uh a pre-recorded uh video and he knows what the truth is and he stands up because he’s so [ __ ] outraged and everybody just looks at him like really [ __ ] you’re you’re going to be the one to you know upset the apple cart and he ends up just sitting down. Yep. Right. You know, everybody in Yeah. He’s the one guy. And I think maybe that’s why the third person that I think is kind of a demon just kind of smacks him, you know, because it’s it’s just contempt. you know, and it is contemptable. It is contemptable. So, you know, this was a big hit overseas, but not a big hit in Japan. I I could see why people wouldn’t, you know, they want to see heroic things. They want things to feel good about. They have enough to feel shitty about as it is, you know. Uh, and so all of us, no. Yeah. Yeah, there’s there’s no way in the post-war experience that we would have had some self-inccriminating movie about uh World War II. Not until, you know, 20 years later, 30 years later. So, you know, even the US was was guilty of that. Even though we were the victor, you know, we had that same thing where everything had to be us as the heroes and pumping ourselves up. So yeah, I I I would agree that no one in Japan would want to really watch this movie and and sort of test themselves because I think each one of the characters just represents a a facet of Japanese uh uh society and their uh and their culpability with something bad happening, right? And that’s why I think when the guy came in towards the end and he was laughing at the wood cutter. Yeah. And the priest, who are you? you, you know, the priest, the priest was saying, the priest was saying, I think this is hell, which I thought was a nice metaphor. But when he was saying, when the demon was saying to the wood cutter, he was like, you know, you you know, who are you? You are, you know, and he was laughing at him saying, you could have said something and you didn’t. And I loved that because I don’t think, well, I liked it as a storyteller, but I think in Japan, they didn’t want to hear that. Yeah. That would have that was too close to home. But I think Kiraala said, “No, you need to hear this now.” Yeah. If the wood cutter represents the common man or the pe the peasant or, you know, just the average the average Japanese, you know. Do you think this would have been better if they did have at the end a definitive truth? No. Or is it is it better uh you know with with things being you know foggy and uncertain? No. If you had a definitive truth at the end then it renders the rest of the movie superfluous. I well I mean that that’s what happens in most police procedurals. You know you get the guy who lies and then they get to it at the end and so the show goes on for you know however many seasons and almost everything that you see they usually get to the truth. You know, now I’m not saying those that’s bad necessarily, but you know, maybe it is better sometimes when things are, you know, obuscated a little bit. Well, do do you think that’s what the baby represented at the end? What do you mean? The baby the truth being five years removed from the war, it’s still young. And you know, yeah, it needs to be and for lack of a better term, raised until we’re able to accept it and understand it. And interesting because I have six other children. What’s one more? Yeah. We don’t What’s one more? I could take And even the other guy who came in from the the audience, the demon, he wants to rob it. Yes. And the wood cutter is saying, “No, you know, leave it alone. Can’t you see it?” I wonder if that was a symb symbolism of the truth because the truth is innocent as well. What does he rob this this fancy kimono that he was wrapped up in? It was like, you know, well, it also has the amulet for protection. Yeah. You know, there was Yeah, there was an amulet on that kimono for protection. He just wants to steal it. It’s a cheap thing. It means nothing. There’s a quite a bit of nihilism in this film, right? you know, there’s if there’s, you know, there’s no value in basic truth, then there’s really not much value in anything, right? Especially when something is as important as, you know, taking someone’s life, you know, and you really can’t get to the bottom of it, right? Um, and it’s the common man who said, “I’ll take Carol.” Yeah. It’s interesting that they’re taking shelter in a in what is essentially a destroyed gate between two cities, you know. So, you know, it’s it’s that that was highly symbolic. And then the demon comes in and just starts throwing more wood on the fire. Yeah. Yeah. And and then when they’re they start to get warm, he takes the fire and throws the wood into the water. God, that was such a great touch. [ __ ] you. You’re not going to be No, there’s not going to be any comfort. No, we’re going to sit here in the rain. It’s going to be cold. It’s going to be damp. I’m not gonna allow you to have It’s just such a small and petty thing. It reminded me of Nefarious when he uh he cut the guy’s final meal. Yeah. Remember that? And he’s just he he switched in and said, “No, I don’t want anything.” And then the guy comes back. What do you mean? No, sorry. You said you didn’t want anything. It’s just a such a small, petty, cruel thing to do. Yeah. Right. Do we do we see these kinds of films nowadays? Can Can you think of anything? How masterful is that? No. Ridley Scott did an okay version of something called The Last Duel, which is about with uh Matt Damon and Adam Driver, and that’s pretty good. It’s about uh something that happens from three different perspectives. Uh do we see this in real life? I mean, I see it. Anybody that watches the news looks at the same thing and sees it from at least two different perspectives. Now, and like news agencies make their bread and butter on I’m on this side of the fence. I’m on this side of the fence. I’m telling the truth. You know, you can count on me to do so. Like Yeah. It’s that’s kind of hellish. Yeah. Go back to the uh go back to the uh the medium that gets the uh the nobleman’s uh perspective. I mean, [ __ ] that was uh that was pretty dark and you know the whole perspective of I’m in hell. It’s like it’s like something died and is in darkness now. It doesn’t it doesn’t exist. It’s not in the light. That was very interesting. Exactly. Yeah. I I thought that that medium was extremely intense. That was the best scene of the movie. I thought shaking of the of the stick and like the contortions. I was like, “Yeah, this is right on.” Yeah. Very interesting. Yeah, that was something. Um, you know, lots of the Rashim. I mean, the Rashimon effect is an everyday thing. As much as it may be a rarity in cinema, clearly everybody have an argument with somebody, right, Bill? When’s the last time you had an argument with you with with Chewy? Yeah, today. You know, and who, you know, the same thing, but you’re both looking at it, I’m sure, from completely different, you know, perspectives. you know, arguing with your boss at work, you know, arguing with your significant other, your girlfriend, your boyfriend, your, you know, your parents, you know, your your brother, your sister, you know, whatever, your neighbor, you know, it’s it’s at the end of the bar, huh? A guy sitting at the end of the bar. Yeah, that’s why there’s a couple of times I’ve been in like a local bar and someone starts talking at the news and you hear someone else chime in and I’m like in my head I’m like a aren’t you seeing this? Because you’re both telling me two different things I’m that I’m seeing and they’re just two different I don’t want to say two different perspectives but yeah they’re like three or four different perspectives. We have multiple perspect perspectives in this world. I was thinking about that old saying uh today. I mean, I’ll say, you know, it’s uh Lou Reed, but I know it’s older than that where you you say uh uh believe half of what you see and none of what you hear. Yeah. you know, uh I today working, you know, uh part-time as a custodian in my school district, you know, there is rumor and gossip just going left, right, and center. And you have to not believe most of it because of the rashman effect. I know it’s to be true because one building said has a perspective, another building has another perspective, and no one really knows what’s going on. Well, I I have a landlord who actually for years we lived together. We were romantically involved and we were had two different perspectives on life. Um but now she actually calls me up and says, “I heard this story. Is it true?” And I’m like, “Well, where’d you get it from?” And she tells me like three different news sources, you know, like NBC, Fox News, and and something else. and she’s like and she’s not too sure which is the truth. So, and it’s strange. It’s good that she’s comparing news sources. I would tell her to use ground news. This is not I don’t get paid by ground news. It’s just a really good app. Yeah. But she she talks about it like and she goes, “I used to think I knew what the truth was.” Yes. You know, and she goes, “And now I don’t know.” I’ve had a couple people come to me over the years saying, you know, I thought you were completely wrong about A, B, and C, but now I’m questioning, you know, the narrative that was given to me over the years, and you might have been right about a thing or two that’s happened to me. That that goal goes back to Rashiman. Yeah. I also thinking about uh Usual Suspects kept popping. Sure. Sure. Usual suspects. Yeah. Yeah. But I’m I’m a big fan of unreliable narrator stuff. It always intrigues me when we go, “Oh, how much of that was real?” You know, that’s enjoy in literature and in film. Uh, weren’t you the one who said uh you were never sure if One Floor of the Cuckoo’s Nest uh had a reliable narrator as it applies to Nurse Ratchet? Uh, yes. like you’re never exactly sure if you know from a kid’s perspective and that’s unreliable uh because he’s schizophrenic and it goes into detail about how he’s schizophrenic and the movie’s told from uh you know Mcury’s uh point of view and he’s not reliable. Uh Fight Club was another movie unreliable narrator. Yeah, exactly. Absolutely unreliable. Uh you said usual suspects. What else? Um, American Psycho. We covered American Psycho. Is is Baitman actually a serial killer? Or is he imagining all this [ __ ] Because I mean, he’s clearly mentally ill, but did he actually kill all these people? People, you know, nobody even knows everybody’s name. Uh, I mean, you know, Russell, what was it? The Beautiful Mind. That was another one. Yes. Thought that uh, you know, the the So, he was working against the Soviets and you know, the six sense. So, I mean, there are lots of movies with unreliable narrators, but none of them, I don’t think, that quite take take it this far, showing the four four different movies. You know, it’s a trope in cartoons a lot. I see it in uh cartoons, uh, telling the four stories. And, you know, it’s exaggerated, but you know, I’m the hero in this version, you’re the hero in that version. I’ve seen it. Uh, and you know that when I finally saw Rashiman this week, I was like, “Oh, that’s where that comes from.” 19 75 years later. Um, Chris, he’s he’s a one-of-a-kind director. One of a kind. Um, there’s rarely been a director that has this many home runs. Um, right. You know, I I think we’ll do one more maybe one more at least one more live stream before the summer ends. I think I’d like to close out the summer with Seven Samurai. Um probably his most well-known. Um and then I’ll cover the rest of the the period with other Kurasawa films that uh I want to cover on my own. I’ll pick some of those out. Yeah. Now I get back to work in September and my uh my co-teer is a big film film buff and I get to bring up Kurasawa with him now. So thank you. Very nice. I’m I’m actually thinking about uh in this fall working on um I I’m still not 100% but uh covering just GML del Toro. Oh, cool. Covering del Toro in the fall. There’s a lot of good stuff out there whether it’s Kronos or it doesn’t all have to be, you know, Hellboy or that sort. Yeah. Pans. Um, you know, there’s The Devil’s Backbone, which I still think is the best ghost story of all time, ghost film. Um, so lots of good stuff out there. All right. Uh, is there anything about this film that we have not discussed? Obviously, it’s one of those things we really could go for hours uh talking. If we wanted to break it down, you know, that kind of way, we could. Um, but is there any particular point that you have not addressed that you’d like to discuss? No. Okay. No, I think we nailed it all. I mean, we could, like I said, we could we could easily delve into it more, but I’m even pulling back on the reins because Well, I’m not going now, so we don’t have to. We don’t have to beat a dead horse. We hit it all. Yeah. Yeah, I I I I think you get the main points and that, you know, um I I think there’s also a is there a message here? Maybe this is the final question. Is there a subliminal message here that this sub this sort of subjectivity leads to trouble, right? that maybe maybe there should be some sort of objective truth, you know, and you know, because now, you know, you hear it’s relative, you know, it’s this and it’s that and just everything just becomes so be, you know, clouded and murky and, you know, where where is the clarity, you know? So maybe within uh all this, you know, subjectivity, you know, maybe that’s something we should be taking a hard look at trying to minimize as much as as possible. Um probably one of the best ways to stand on firm ground um is to as the old saying, tell the truth or at least don’t lie, right? Yeah. You know, if you can’t tell the truth, because maybe you don’t know what the truth is, but you know, when you tell a lie. Mark Mark Twain turned around and said, “If you never lie, you don’t have to make sure you’re covering something, right?” Yeah. You’ll never You never have to remember what you said. Yeah. And it was um what was the other one? If you’re a person who tells the truth, you’re going to be very lonely. Yeah, that too. You know, that was another thing. And it’s and I remember seeing it years ago and thought it was clever. I even have it on a t-shirt that a friend of mine gave me because I like Twain a lot. But he’s true. If you actually stand there and and speak the truth, I should say or look for the truth. People sometimes don’t want to hear it. They kind of like there’s some people who like the narrative. You know, there’s there’s comfort there. There’s comfort there. I get it. But look at I mean at the other extreme rehabs and prisons are full of liars. Yeah. You know people that have lost their mind on [ __ ] drugs you know or you know whatever it is that they did to get themselves go down to Rawway. You know how many honest people are you gonna find and you know or the county lock up you know didn’t do nothing. Yeah. Didn’t do nothing. This kind of theme uh the Shin Godzilla uh it popped up in there uh a lot. that kind of theme of uh you know the truth the the truth is murky so tell the truth kind of thing because the lies be get lies be get lies. It’s very true. It’s very true. I have a friend of mine who teaches um uh theology now at NYU. Oh, nice. A guy from down here. He’s now it’s funny because his nickname to me was D-Rock, but now they call him Reverend Doctor. And every time he sees me, I call him Reverend Dr. Drock. And he laughs. He hugs me. But he he turned around and said, “I can’t believe I laughed when I first heard somebody say the term truthiness, you know.” Yeah. Which was what was a Steven Coar thing he used to do. And he goes, “Truthiness where it sounds like the truth, so it should should be was like his word of the day.” And he and he goes he goes, “I laughed at that until I realized people took it seriously.” And I went, “Oh, okay. There you go. I I vote I mean I like that too. But yeah, if there’s an overall theme, if there’s an overall message to the movie, it’s just, you know, tread carefully because Yeah. You know, you don’t know who what the truth is and we probably never will. Yeah. You have to trust in in the inner goodness moving forward. That’s the the what the priests sort of uh Yeah. Exactly. And don’t take your wife into the woods. Yeah, not on a white horse anyway. No, no, don’t do that. Don’t do that. Don’t do that. Don’t get All right. Um, let’s get to the part in the stream where we rate the film. Um, this channel has a rating system that goes from zero to five up by halves. So, zero, 0.5, 1, 1.5, all the way to five. So zero for example would be I’d rather piss my pants once a week uh than watch this film again uh all the way to five which yeah only once a week um which is this is uh the journey this is the destination this is cinema this is why I watch films in the first place uh insert clever name here uh woodcutter number two uh what would you give Akira Kurasawa’s rashima yeah I’m gonna uh I’m gonna plead the fifth. One, two, three, four, five. I’m giving that one a five. Not only because of the the respect for Kurasawa and and and all, but I I genuinely loved this movie. Uh the the the visuals, the themes. All right. So, the acting is a little cringey. I’ll forgive it. Uh but that is, you know, produced on a shoestring budget. It’s one of the best indie indie film making that I love through the 90s. I love this movie. I I I I did not watch it looking for faults. I I enjoyed it and I enjoy discussion. I’m gonna give it five. It’s cinema. This movie was made on $40,000 budget. Really incred incredible. Incredible. Uh John K. Alvarez, witness number five. Uh what do you say? Oh, one, two, three, four, five. more than four and less than six. I I keep finding if I could give it higher, I would. I keep because I keep finding myself and I love this with any cinema. Even sitting here, I’m still questioning it. I’m thinking about it. I mean, I’m going to probably think about this when this when these cameras go off type deal. It’s it’s that it’s lingering on me in a good way. I I I completely understand. I completely understand. Uh I’m going with five. Yeah. Um I can’t I can’t think of a reason not to go with five. Um I think what I appreciate most were the last five minutes in the movie where the wood cutter brings a little hope. um in the end despite everything that he’s seen despite his own shortcomings um he doesn’t fall into that trap of staying in that place you know that you know even a person who may have fallen short can still redeem themselves um and how can I redeem myself by helping others you know maybe I can protect the innocent you know this innocent person Um, you know, maybe I can protect the future. Maybe I can, you know, and if this, you know, baby is a symbol of the future and the truth, then I can do what I can to to raise it and to nurture it. Um, I thought that that may have been um the most important part in the film. Um it’s easy because like I said because of especially with that demon uh just bearing down uh all the time about you know what [ __ ] you know life is by definition. It would be easy to overlook uh the fact that in the end uh the two men both of them um do and he says you know uh it would be easy to be skeptical on a day like today. He goes I apologize for what I just because he draws the baby back when the wood cutter reaches for it and he goes I’m so sorry. He goes, “I apologize.” He goes, “A day like today, it’s understandable to be skeptical.” And I I think that’s I think that was the best part of the film, just the last five minutes. So, yeah, absolutely. A five. Absolutely. Uh, and name here. Go plug something. Uh, have a happy shark week. I’ve been enjoying it all week. I’ve been enjoying it all week. Uh, John K. Alvarez, uh, anything going on? anything you need to plug? Actually, uh I I have an event, but I would like to the next time that I get invited, I would I like to try to push it then. I’m physically trying to help save a living history museum. Okay. Uh because they ran into financial trouble and quite literally the curator and the lady who runs the place or owns the place that I’ve known since 1999 called me up within an hour and said, “Can you help? You know, we we’re we’re bringing in some of the old people to give us a hand. Well, when I find out more information about it, I’ll be more than happy to share it. Also, it’s the summer. Please do me a favor. I saw a bike accident. Kid not looking, going right through the intersection when a car went over, smashed on on the windshield of a car. He was fine except like where he landed. Fortunately, the car was clear and the kid just hit the car. And the car didn’t hit the kid, but he was he was I didn’t see you. I didn’t see. It’s scary out there. Please be careful. Where is I hear you. I hear you. I’ve seen a few accidents uh this summer and yeah, luckily it didn’t look like anybody was badly hurt. Thank God. But the cars didn’t look too great. So, you know, by the grace of God, you know, that sort of thing. Hold on a second. We had a couple of comments here and I apologize. I got uh Abella U9. Hey beta, I really love your stream and enjoy being part of your fan community. Thank you. Would you mind adding me up on Discord? My username is Snake Attack 5. All right, I’ll just for the name alone. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Call me Snake. Cheap views on Streamboo Live. Okay, self-imposed. Okay, that’s I think I got spammed a little bit there. uh for this channel. Uh there was a little bit of a break here uh because I’ve been busy with work and I’ve been trying to enjoy the summer. Although every [ __ ] weekend is just shitty for the weather. Like I’m trying to get down to the uh beach and like it’s a beautiful day like today, 80 degrees, nice and sunny, and then you get to the weekend and it turns to [ __ ] Um so I’m going to be getting back into uh more Curacawa. I think the next one that I’m going to cover is going to be Redbeard. Uh, and Redbeard is just a fantastic film that I love uh by him. You can always cover the Sanjuros and the Jimos, but you know, you know, everybody talks about those. And Redbeard is the story of a doctor, a young man who like comes from a rich family and he gets a sort of ceremonial position. He thinks he’s going to land as um like a physician to the Shogun. Um, but what he ends up doing, he ends up pissing somebody, this, uh, this man off because I think he got a little frisky with his daughter. So, uh, he was in the showun’s ear and he ends up getting he ends up getting sent down into this community of untouchables. Uh, where the poorest of the poor and this the man who’s been the doctor there for like 30 years is Tashiro Muffi. It’s it’s an older um Kurasawa film and he actually learns a bit about being a human being and not just a spoiled rich [ __ ] So uh I think that’s next on the uh on the viewing roster. So uh my thanks to uh insert clever name here. Thank you very much. I’ll be in touch with you guys in a day or well later on. Uh and I’ll let you know probably when we’ll do Seven Samurai. Hopefully we’ll get some people on for that. And my thanks for John K. Alvarez, witness number five. Um, and as we close out, uh, just remember to tell the truth or at least don’t lie. Okay, that’s it for us, uh, here everybody. Uh, have a good one. God bless you. We’ll see you in the next one. All the best. Cheers. Hey everybody, this is the American Werewolf. Thanks for stopping by. Like the video. Leave a comment.
Rashomon (Japanese: 羅生門, Hepburn: Rashōmon)[a] is a 1950 Japanese jidaigeki film directed by Akira Kurosawa from a screenplay he co-wrote with Shinobu Hashimoto. Starring Toshiro Mifune, Machiko Kyō, Masayuki Mori, and Takashi Shimura, it follows various people who describe how a samurai was murdered in a forest. The plot and characters are based upon Ryūnosuke Akutagawa’s short story “In a Grove”, with the title and framing story taken from Akutagawa’s “Rashōmon”. Every element is largely identical, from the murdered samurai speaking through a Shinto psychic to the bandit in the forest, the monk, the assault of the wife, and the dishonest retelling of the events in which everyone shows their ideal self by lying.
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