January Film Club

Happy New Year everyone!  Hope you all had a safe and enjoyable holiday.  A new year brings a whole new lineup of films to view over the course of this year, so, for the returning Film Club members, I hope to see you again, and for all those who have yet to join, what are you waiting for!?  We'd love to have you watch a film with us.
I was also toying with the idea of a somewhat different format, well, not a different format, just I'd like to include some discussion time if possible.  I believe these films have a great deal of material to talk about, so I was thinking of implementing that.  Any feedback would be appreciated.

Now, on to business.  The film for January will be:

Rashomon
Directed by: Akira Kurosawa

Rashomon is a a 1950 Japanese crime drama film directed by Akira Kurosawa, working in close collaboration with cinematographer Kazuo Miyagawa.  It stars Toshiro Mifune, Masayuki Mori, Machiko Kyo and Takashi Shimura.  Rashomon introduced Kurosawa and the cinema of Japan to Western audiences, albeit to a small number of theaters, and is considered one of his masterpieces.  The film opens on a woodcutter and a priest sitting beneath Rashomon gate to stay dry in a downpour.  A commoner joins them and they tell him that they've witnessed a disturbing story, which they then begin recounting to him.  The woodcutter claims he found the body of a murdered samurai three days earlier while looking for wood in the forest; upon discovering the body, he says, he fled in a panic to notify the authorities.  The priest says that he saw the samurai and the woman traveling the same day the murder happened.  Both men were then summoned to testify in court, where they met the captured bandit Tajomaru, who claimed responsibility for the rape and murder.

From here, the film goes on to recount the story from the point of view of the bandit, the woman, the samurai and the woodcutter.  What really happened?  Who's story is the correct story?  Come and see the film and find out for yourself.

This a film that is so rich in style and technique, storytelling and humanity (or lack thereof), you won't want to miss this genuine masterpiece.  Hope to see you there!
For those who are interested, Rashomon holds an impressive 100% certified fresh rating on the aggregate review site: rottentomatoes.com

Here's the trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCZ9TguVOIA