An all time classic and essential film, Rashomon has spent seven decades as the high watermark of questioning the subjective nature of truth. Often imitated, even spawning the so-called Rashomon Effect, the film about conflicting accounts of the death of a samurai and assault of his wife illustrates that one version of events many times just isn’t enough. But Akira Kurosawa based his masterpiece on far more ambiguous source material, the short story In a Grove by Ryunosuke Akutagawa. So how did Kurosawa adapt ambiguity itself from page to screen? It’s time to ask, “What’s the Difference?''

Famous for their Samurai collaborations like Yojimbo, Sanjuro and Seven Samurai, Rashomon is a much quieter film from Kurosawa and Toshiro Mifune. But the questions posed in the 1950 black and white, Japanese cinema staple, are no less intriguing. From films like The Usual Suspects, Hero and the more recent Ridley Scott film The Last Duel, The Rashomon Effect is still impacting film and filmmakers to this day.

This episode of What’s the Difference was written and Rashomon’d by Clint Gage, Alex Stedman, Siddhant Adlakha and Casey Redmon.

It was edited by Clint Gage with animation by Casey Redmon.

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