Tag: Unreliable Narrator

May 15 2015

Episode 47 – Rashomon

, with special guest:

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RashomonOur exploration of the unreliable narrator brings us to the film that is, quite literally, all about unreliable narration.  Rashomon is the film that introduced the world to Akira Kurosawa and is easily one of the most influential films ever made.  It is also ever so much shorter than The Seven Samurai.  So that’s a bonus.  Enjoy the special musical interlude Tim selected because he couldn’t find an mp3 of the music online.

Our next episode will be recorded live at the Trylon theater.  We’ll be watching The Lady from Shanghai!

Rashomon (1950)
Rashomon poster Rating: 8.2/10 (183,832 votes)
Director: Akira Kurosawa
Writer: Ryûnosuke Akutagawa, Akira Kurosawa, Shinobu Hashimoto
Stars: Toshirô Mifune, Machiko Kyô, Masayuki Mori
Runtime: 88 min
Rated: Not Rated
Genre: Crime, Drama, Mystery
Released: 26 Dec 1951
Plot: The rape of a bride and the murder of her samurai husband are recalled from the perspectives of a bandit, the bride, the samurai's ghost and a woodcutter.

May 01 2015

Episode 46 – The Usual Suspects

, with special guest:

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The Usual SuspectsFor today’s episode, we explore the concept of the unreliable narrator as we watch The Usual Suspects.  Kevin Spacey won an Oscar for his portrayal of Verbal Kint (or did he???) in this twisty crime drama that managed to keep most audiences guessing even after the credits rolled.  We tried to decide how much of the movie actually happened as we saw but can you ever really know?

For our next episode, we will watch the seminal film about unreliable narrators, Rashomon!

The Usual Suspects (1995)
The Usual Suspects poster Rating: 8.5/10 (1,161,294 votes)
Director: Bryan Singer
Writer: Christopher McQuarrie
Stars: Kevin Spacey, Gabriel Byrne, Chazz Palminteri
Runtime: 106 min
Rated: R
Genre: Crime, Drama, Mystery
Released: 16 Aug 1995
Plot: The sole survivor of a pier shoot-out tells the story of how a notorious criminal influenced the events that began with five criminals meeting in a seemingly random police lineup.