It’s difficult to view Akira Kurosawa’s masterpiece of perspective Rashomon without pondering just how influential it was – even as most of those works that tribute it miss the ambiguity that Kurosawa injects into his tale. Three men; a priest, a woodcutter and a rather good-natured commoner, discuss a recent murder of a samurai which involves both his wife and a rogue bandit, based on the testimony of all involved (even the spirit of the samurai as told through a medium). Each story includes many of the same details but are noticably different in terms of motivation and action, and in fact reveals a very cynical view of humanity that is only briefly overturned by an act of kindness at the film’s end. It’s the movie that broke Kurosawa in the West, an irony since it was initally rejected as too Western by Japanese critics, and holds up as an exciting and – even in light of its imitators (including The Outrage, a Western remake) – original piece that fortells many of the amazing films to come from the director. Amazing and original use of lighting, and a wonderful, manic performance by Toshirō Mifune as bandit Tajōmaru.