RASHOMON kicks off Kurosawa samurai festival at BAM
RASHOMON (Akira Kurosawa, 1950)
BAMcinématek
30 Lafayette Ave. between Ashland Pl. & St. Felix St.
Friday, October 29, 2:00, 4:30, 6:50, 9:15
Series continues through November 21
718-636-4100
www.bam.org
As part of its Next Wave Festival, BAM is presenting Ping Chong’s theatrical adaptation of Akira Kurosawa’s THRONE OF BLOOD, running at the Howard Gilman Opera House November 10-13. In conjunction with that highly anticipated event, BAMcinématek will be screening eight of Kurosawa’s period samurai dramas, including THRONE OF BLOOD on November 3-4. The series opens October 29 with one of the most influential films of all time, RASHOMON. The 1950 masterpiece stars Toshiro Mifune as a bandit accused of the brutal rape of a samurai’s wife (Machiko Kyo) and the murder of her husband (Masayuki Mori). However, four eyewitnesses tell a tribunal four different stories, each told in flashback as if the truth, forcing the characters — and the audience — to question the reality of what they see and experience. Kurosawa veteran and twi-ny fave Takashi Shimura — the Japanese Ward Bond — plays a local woodcutter, with Minoru Chiaka as the priest. The mesmerizing work, which won an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, is beautifully shot by Kazuo Miyagawa; RASHOMON is nothing short of unforgettable. The series also includes SEVEN SAMURAI on October 31, KAGEMUSHA on November 5, THE HIDDEN FORTRESS on November 6, YOJIMBO on November 7, SANJURO on November 14, and RAN on November 21.