Rashomon

195088 minutesNot Rated

4.7

Arcplot Score

📝 Unconventional

Unverified

⭐ 8.1IMDb

🍅 98%Rotten Tomatoes

Ⓜ️ 98/100Metacritic

🎬 8.0TMDb

📊 4.5Popularity

🏆Nominated for 1 Oscar. 9 wins & 5 nominations total

Genre: Crime, Drama, Mystery

Directed by: Akira Kurosawa

A priest, a woodcutter and another man are taking refuge from a rainstorm in the shell of a former gatehouse called Rashômon. The priest and the woodcutter are recounting the story of a murdered samurai whose body the woodcutter discovered three days earlier in a forest grove. Both were summoned to testify at the murder trial, the priest who ran into the samurai and his wife traveling through the forest just before the murder occurred. Three other people who testified at the trial are supposedly the only direct witnesses: a notorious bandit named Tajômaru, who allegedly murdered the samurai and raped his wife; the white veil cloaked wife of the samurai; and the samurai himself who testifies through the use of a medium. The three tell a similarly structured story - that Tajômaru kidnapped and bound the samurai so that he could rape the wife - but which ultimately contradict each other, the motivations and the actual killing being what differ. The woodcutter reveals at Rashômon that he knows more than he let on at the trial, thus bringing into question his own actions. But another discovery at Rashômon and the resulting actions from the discovery bring back into focus the woodcutter's own humanity or lack thereof.

Box Office

Budget:$0.3M

Revenue:$0.1M

Profit:$-0.1M

Arcplot Score Breakdown

Beat Timing Precision3.6/10

Emotional Arc Impact5.5/10

Thematic Consistency5/10

Overall Score4.7/10

Beat Sheet

15 plot points

Opening Image

1 min

Theme Stated

5 min

Set-Up

10 min

Catalyst

20 min

Debate

30 min

Break Into Two

40 min

B Story

50 min

Fun and Games

60 min

Midpoint

68 min

Bad Guys Close In

75 min

All Is Lost

80 min

Dark Night of the Soul

85 min

Break Into Three

86 min

Finale

87 min

Final Image

88 min

Emotional Arc

+100-10

Plot Points

Opening Image

1 min

Forest and gatehouse. Bandit attack reported. Sense of mystery and tension.

Theme Stated

5 min

Theme: truth is subjective; perspective defines reality.

Set-Up

10 min

Woodcutter discovers dead samurai. Magistrate investigates. Four witnesses: bandit, wife, samurai (via medium), woodcutter. Conflicting stories begin.

Catalyst

20 min

Testimonies reveal contradictions. Mystery deepens. Who is truthful? Stakes: justice and truth itself.

Debate

30 min

Witnesses argue and recollect differently. Perspective vs. fact questioned. Audience uncertainty grows.

Break Into Two

40 min

Flashbacks of crime from different viewpoints. Story structure shifts. Characters reinterpreted.

B Story

50 min

Woodcutter’s integrity emerges. Moral implications of perception and honesty explored.

Fun and Games

60 min

Different accounts add suspense, intrigue, and narrative experimentation. Enjoy intellectual challenge.

Midpoint

68 min

Audience realizes story is unreliable. Partial resolution: truth may be unknowable.

#10

Bad Guys Close In

75 min

Bandit is caught. Legal and ethical dilemmas emerge. Truth remains contested.

#11

All Is Lost

80 min

Court decisions do not clarify events. Justice incomplete. Moral despair.

#12

Dark Night of the Soul

85 min

Characters reflect on motives, guilt, and morality. Audience questions perception and ethics.

#13

Break Into Three

86 min

Woodcutter confesses small truth: he took a dagger. Partial clarity. Human frailty highlighted.

#14

Finale

87 min

Bandit punished. Woman’s honor uncertain. Rashomon gate stands. Moral ambiguity intact.

#15

Final Image

88 min

Forest and gatehouse. Story unresolved. Mirror of opening: ambiguity continues; truth remains elusive.