Good, but vastly overrated.

"No one tells a lie after he's said he's going to tell one."

Akira Kurosawa's Rashomon is a film that I both liked and disliked.

On the one hand it was a visual arresting, superb study of human nature. But on the other hand the film is highly boring not to mention monotonous.

Rashomon opens as a group of men start discussing a heinous crime that unfolded on an isolated bush trail, and then the film looks in-depth at four different perspectives of what happened.

For me this was a fascinating plot synopsis and I wanted to see it because it sounded quite intriguing. The audience is presented with a set of differing eye-witness accounts and are given the opportunity to draw their own conclusions.

The first thing that stood out is the cinematography and the locations. The camera is used to great effect and with great visual flair. The game actors give it everything they have and the dialogue is occasionally quite effective. At first I thought that there's no way that this could go wrong. Unfortunately, my interest in the film flew out the window within the first five minutes. Everything just became so tedious and boring, with eye-witness accounts that are poorly distinguished. I was struggling to not only figure out who is giving their testimony, but also what the hell is so different about each story. There were a few things, but nothing overly obvious. I was paying full attention to it, but you have to be some kind of mind-reader to actually comprehend what on Earth is going on!

Another thing that struck me was the melodramatic fashion in which the film was played out in. The leading female spent the whole time crying, screaming or laughing in a creepy manner. Whenever she's crying or screaming I was covering my ears as it was giving me a headache. She was indescribably irritating!

The male members of the cast weren't much better. There was one crazy maniac who spent the whole time laughing. I usually appreciate this form of acting as it displays what they're capable of, but he was so damn annoying and it was far past being a brilliant way to display the character.

But on the other hand Rashomon is a visual feast for the eyes, with impressive stylised action and some effective grainy black & white photography. The bush trail in particular gave the impression of isolation in times of danger. The film's underlying messages are truly worthwhile about the reliability of the word of a man. Lies, deceit and callousness abound. Rashomon is a much loved classic from director Akira Kurosawa. I'm not fan of the director, and therefore watched the film with an open mind, but I met the film with mixed feelings. The concept is tremendously original and groundbreaking. I just wished the execution had improvements.

7/10