Thinking Things Through

There are always lots of things to think about. My mind has been mostly full of one of them for the last few weeks.

In just over a week I'll embarking on one of the biggest trips of my life. No exaggeration! I'm leaving L.A. for two and half weeks and what's more, I'm leaving the COUNTRY for 10 days. This is huge guys. I'm 26-years-old and I've never left the country. Maybe it's my socio-economic place in this world, but from where I'm coming from this is not really normal. Almost everyone I know has at least been to Mexico or maybe Canada. I never have. Up until two days ago I didn't even have a passport.

Needless to say, I'm very excited. Excited and nervous as heck. Mostly emphasis on the excited though. My plan for the weekend involves lots of last minute shopping and packing. I don't need to get much but there are few items that need to be purchased. I've already picked up my shoes.

I'm also not planning on bringing my computer with me so this means that as of a week from Saturday I will be offline. No blogging, no Facebook, no Twitter once I leave the states... no more online timesuck. I will have my ipod with me so I could potentially be updating from there when wireless makes itself available. But that's about it.

I have to admit that I'm almost as excited about the prospect of disconnecting as I am about the trip itself. I love the internet and what it does for me but sometimes... I just need a break. This sure is going to be a big one.

In the meantime, there are still other things to occupy my brainspace with.

Roman Polanksi. Okay, not going to say much more about this but I think I can better articulate my thoughts on it all after reading more and talking to folks and thinking about it. Here's what I think. Looking at the crime - reprehensible. There's no excusing it, plain and simple. Looking at the reactions to the story - ridiculous. On the one hand, we have people yelling for his head. People who up until a week ago couldn't have cared less. 33 years and you get offended now? Come on. On the other hand, this petition to free him? No matter what else, he's still guilty. Whatever other absurdity is going on, how can you justify signing a petition to release someone guilty of the crime? And Woody Allen signing in support? Seriously? I feel like I'm watching a satire, not real life. It's all absurd.

And I'm done. That's all I'm going to say about it. I didn't much care about what Polanski was doing last week beyond a passing interest in what his newest film might be and I think it's probably best to stick to that. There's all ready enough hypocrisy to go around.

More fun things!

For the Vegans: Came across this site thanks to @ecovegangirl. Curious if your beer/wine/liquor is vegan friendly? Check out Barnivore! Happy to see that some of my favorites like Stone and Abita are on the list.

Also on the vegan front is Vegan Oktoberfest  at Verdugo Bar on Sunday. I probably won't make it since I'll be at the book fair all day but it looks tasty!

And how many times can I link to the book fair? Really?

Rashomon is playing at the Nuart! I have so much going on and I've seen this movie not just a few times but still. A nice new 35mm print? Tempting...

Thom Yorke is doing a surprise show tonight but good luck getting tickets to that! And if you did get tickets, don't tell me. I don't want to know. You jerks.

Adam P. Knave has an interview up about Stays Crunchy in Milk. It's good! Go read it! And then read his book that my favorite grammarmonkey edited.

That's all I got at the moment. This work thing is actually requiring me to work. So back to that!

Review: Rashomon

X-posted at Epinions



When we watch a film, when we are a part of the audience, we take the role of the observer. We see what is presented to us and we make a judgment. In some films, the story is straightforward. We don’t have to work for understanding, it’s all laid out before us. In other films, there is ambiguity. Everything is not made clear, we have to take an active role in the observation and work to understand the information we are given. In either case, as an audience we trust in the fact that we are being presented with the truth.

What if it’s all a lie?

This issue of trust, truth, and ambiguity lies at the center of Akira Kurosawa’s masterpiece Rashomon. One of Kurosawa’s most famous films, Rashomon tells one story four different times. Which version is true? Which teller do you trust?

It all begins one rainy day when three men take shelter from a storm. As nature unleashes its fury two men, a woodcutter and a priest, recount the tale of a murder to the third man. Several days before, the woodcutter discovered the body of a murdered man in the wood. The woodcutter and the priest were then called before the police in an effort to discover the murderer. Also called to testify were an infamous bandit, the murdered man’s wife, and the murdered man himself through a medium. It is no simple case, as each witness tells a different version of events and all claim responsibility for the crime.

The story of the film evolves through the different characters. There is the frame story involving the men in the storm, there is the trial, and there is each person’s version of the events. The audience is brilliantly called as witness and judge through the trial segments. Each character is placed in the center of the frame and speaks to the camera. The police are silent observers; we sit in their place.

I feel that the film’s one real weakness is the frame story itself. I’m not convinced it’s completely necessary and I find its conclusion to be overly sentimental. I think the film would have worked just as well without it. As far as flaws go though, this is not a major one.

My personal favorite segment is the wife’s story. Machiko Kyo plays Masako, the wife. She is a beautiful and wonderfully talented actress (she also has a large role in one of my other favorite Japanese films, Kenji Mizoguchi’s Ugetsu). Between her emotional recitation of the events of her husband’s murder and the flashback scene, I find her segment to be the most engaging. I also find her character to be the only one I feel any real sympathy for. Perhaps it’s because I’m a woman but I find that in every telling, even when she may be behaving reprehensibly by certain standards, I feel sorry for her. She is the one the bandit attacked, she was forced into the role of the victim, and no matter how she is cast I feel sympathy for her.

Rashomon also features the always wonderful Toshiro Mifune. One of the most well known Japanese actors, Mifune starred in hundreds of films and chances are if you’re a watcher of Japanese cinema you’ve seen him. However, while I love Mifune and always enjoy watching him, he can at times be a little too over the top. I do think he is fantastic and charismatic as the bandit. There are just moments when I wish he would have taken the role a little more seriously. Sometimes he’s just a little too goofy.

Its unique structure is what makes Rashomon a classic. Its craft is what makes it a masterpiece. The sound design is impeccable, the cinematography inspiring. Visually, Rashomon has left a definite impact on many filmmakers. The black and white photography is gorgeous. The way that cinematographer Kazuo Miyagawa plays with the light is phenomenal. Sunlight dances through the trees, across the characters' faces. When the woodcutter first tells the tale of the murder, the camera ingeniously introduces the story. In a series of pans, tilts, tracking and handheld shots, the camera follows the woodcutter but it does more. The woodcutter is not always the visual focus, the trees are. The wood is introduced as an observer as well, the great ancient tress standing as silent witnesses. While men are overcome by lust, greed, and corruption, the trees watch. They know the truth but they cannot reveal it.

Rashomon truly is a great film just as Akira Kurosawa is a great director. It’s also a great introduction to Japanese filmmaking. Kurosawa is known as the great American Japanese director. His films are accessible, they are entertaining, and they are superbly crafted works that can be appreciated by both the serious and the casual viewer. If you’re not afraid of subtitles check out Kurosawa, the experience will be a rewarding one.

Rashomon (1950)
dir. Akira Kurosawa
B&W
Japanese w/ English subtitles