Rashomon and Sherlock jnr

By seeing both films, SHERLOCK JNR and RASHOMON, I found that the two films conveyed such a big difference in the story line and emotional effects they have on me; yet there were some similarities.

Timing was the biggest thing that distinguished the two films; not only that, both films also owed their success to it. In Rashomon, the story was conveyed through pauses between the actions rather than the actions itself; making it a much slower-paced movie. The characters would perform a situation and always leave some long pauses, and this was where the audience fitted in. We had more time to analyse the actual actions and think about the consequences, and so felt more engaged with the story. At some points in the film, I even found myself holding in and letting out my breath as the performers were doing so. On the other hand, in Sherlock Jnr, I truly believe it would not have been half the fun to watch, if it hadn't been for the smooth, quick pace of each scene and physical movements.

"The film is presented almost as visual poetry, paying a great deal of attention to sights and images while sound and dialogue have lesser importance. It would be possible to watch Rashomon without subtitles and still capture more than a small fraction of its essence".--A film review by James Berardinelli. I totally agree with this statement. As a non native English-speaker, I was having to go back and forth between the subtitles and the acting. It was a bit of a distraction at first, however later on in the film, I found myself less dependent on the subtitles. The body language was something both films paid attention on, as the uses of speech were minimal. This encouraged the audience to strongly focus on the physical movements and facial expressions of the performers. I found this more difficult, yet more interesting to watch than some of the modern films with lines and sound effects. Some of the actions were exaggerated and bigger than life. While others, although very small, were deliberated and would stay on for longer. For instance, at the start of Rashomon when the wppdc took in a long, deep breath, his body was still, his gaze was locked. Every bit of his body pointed towards that particular breath and nothing in the frame can take away from that one small intake of air. I was fixated and was curious to see what would happen next. One comment I would make is to take out the ending where three men were discussing how not to trust anyone. In my opinion, the whole film had already been persuading that concept through four different flashbacks of each characters.

For the project I am working on, I looked at a Japanese philosophy called 'Wabi Sabi'. It is a concept of beauty in nature which roots in the japanese culture for more than 600 years. It was interesting for me to see an old film (Rashomon) made by a Japanese filmmaker and to see through his point of views. I saw a lot of nature references from the setting he chose and the way the camera pans. Through his film, Akira Kurosawat, showed a great appreciation of the imperfections in nature. The rain shelter, for instant, was decaying away with time yet he shot it so perfectly that the old wreck looks stunning. Worn surfaces and broken structures also appeared throughout the films.