In Ric Groen's essay about what films do best, he concludes four things that films achieve best. His four main points are:
In his essay, Ric Groen first states that films can jump through time and place better than any other medium. Rashomon is probably the best example of this concept. In the film, three men recall a trial that they witnessed and the four different accounts that were given during the trial. The men retell the statements given at the trial, which in turn are retelling the story of why the accused are on trial. This idea is clearly complicated and not easily understood through text, as I just demonstrated with my explanation of the film. When watching the film, there is no problem understanding what is happening. If a novel attempted this many paragraphs would need to be used to convey the same thing that a quick establishing shot achieves in Rashomon. Similarly, a photograph would have remarkable difficulty in achieving this as easily as film. Even though not all films do this well, great films like Rashomon do it best.
Another thing that great films do best, according to Ric Groen, is relate to everyone. Films are universally relatable because they manage to replicate the feeling of dreaming. The way images zip, and zoom, by produces a feeling that our minds attempt to comprehend. Kurosawa's Rashomon provides a lucid tale that the mind comprehends with the images projected. The brain clearly articulates a story despite the seemingly illogical juxtaposition of certain shots. This language that humans have come to universally read and understand is something that is unfamiliar to other mediums. In this way, film has become a universally understood and relatable medium, and great films like Rashomon with great directors like Kurosawa achieve this effect best.
One of the main reasons why I picked Rashomon to identify Ric Groen's elements is that it is a foreign language film. I don't think someone can understand his idea that film transcends language barriers until you view a film as a foreigner, attempting to understand a story from a different culture's perspective. Rashomon is a Japanese film which implies different conventions from American filmmaking and storytelling. Watching Rashomon there is no scene where you are confused on what is happening. When there is no dialogue on screen, you are simply watching people act in a scene. In literature, a foreign language would be indecipherable and impossible to understand what is happening. The visuals of film, as proved in Rashomon, defy the barriers language provides and focuses on the pure emotion of the scene and how we perceive it. I could not find a suitable clip from Rashomon but the clip beneath from Kurosawa's 1961 film Yojimbo should illustrate the same point just as well.
- Films can jump through time and place like no other medium.
- Films are universally relatable.
- Film transcends language barriers.
- Film magnifies an actor's talents.
In his essay, Ric Groen first states that films can jump through time and place better than any other medium. Rashomon is probably the best example of this concept. In the film, three men recall a trial that they witnessed and the four different accounts that were given during the trial. The men retell the statements given at the trial, which in turn are retelling the story of why the accused are on trial. This idea is clearly complicated and not easily understood through text, as I just demonstrated with my explanation of the film. When watching the film, there is no problem understanding what is happening. If a novel attempted this many paragraphs would need to be used to convey the same thing that a quick establishing shot achieves in Rashomon. Similarly, a photograph would have remarkable difficulty in achieving this as easily as film. Even though not all films do this well, great films like Rashomon do it best.
Another thing that great films do best, according to Ric Groen, is relate to everyone. Films are universally relatable because they manage to replicate the feeling of dreaming. The way images zip, and zoom, by produces a feeling that our minds attempt to comprehend. Kurosawa's Rashomon provides a lucid tale that the mind comprehends with the images projected. The brain clearly articulates a story despite the seemingly illogical juxtaposition of certain shots. This language that humans have come to universally read and understand is something that is unfamiliar to other mediums. In this way, film has become a universally understood and relatable medium, and great films like Rashomon with great directors like Kurosawa achieve this effect best.
One of the main reasons why I picked Rashomon to identify Ric Groen's elements is that it is a foreign language film. I don't think someone can understand his idea that film transcends language barriers until you view a film as a foreigner, attempting to understand a story from a different culture's perspective. Rashomon is a Japanese film which implies different conventions from American filmmaking and storytelling. Watching Rashomon there is no scene where you are confused on what is happening. When there is no dialogue on screen, you are simply watching people act in a scene. In literature, a foreign language would be indecipherable and impossible to understand what is happening. The visuals of film, as proved in Rashomon, defy the barriers language provides and focuses on the pure emotion of the scene and how we perceive it. I could not find a suitable clip from Rashomon but the clip beneath from Kurosawa's 1961 film Yojimbo should illustrate the same point just as well.
[I was] directing Rashomon every minute of the day and night.
Kurosawa
The emotion of a scene is chewed over in Groen's elements. He discusses how film magnifies an actor's talents. In Rashomon Kurosawa casts some of his friends, and soon to be regular collaborators, including Toshiro Mifune and Takashi Shimura, who appear in a large quantity of his films. During production, Kurosawa lived with the cast and crew, providing the sense that Kurosawa was, "directing Rashomon every minute of the day and night." This invasive method keeps the characters in tune with one another and adds a layer of chemistry to a film. Even though this technique could also be employed with stage production, you can really see the impact of an actor's ability up close on film. For example, if Rashomon had been a stage production, a forest and an elaborate, realistic set could never have really been made (see temple on the left). On the stage, you also wouldn't feel the relation of each actor in accordance to one another and have focused centred on specific elements. Film presents an absolute vision that allows an actor to fully control, and consider, implications of their actions, or lack there of. This is the point Groen is getting to in his essay. In Rashomon this point holds true, and even though it's not Rashomon, the above clip supports this idea.
All in all, after looking at a truly great film like Rashomon, I can clearly see Groen's ideas put to work. The four main elements he discusses are all there and are a great example of what makes film so good.
All in all, after looking at a truly great film like Rashomon, I can clearly see Groen's ideas put to work. The four main elements he discusses are all there and are a great example of what makes film so good.