Rashomon as Twin Peaks Cinema #20 - Disordered Stories (podcast)

When focusing on "disordered stories" - the theme of the Twin Peaks Cinema season/miniseries that closes this month after episodes on Back to the Future Part II and The Vanishing - it's hard to avoid the granddaddy of them all, Akira Kurosawa's gleaming prism Rashomon (1950). The investigation of a woodland rape/murder from the perspective of the three participants (even the one who diad) is capped by a surprise fourth point of view which throws all of the others into relief. Who is telling the truth? The bandit (Toshiro Mifune) who presents a boastful, fairly one-dimensional portrait of conflict? The dead husband (Masayuki Mori), conveyed through a medium in contact with the other side, who focuses almost entirely on his wife's "betrayal"? The wife (Machiko Kyō) whose version of events both condemns and exculpates herself by the standards of the day? Or the woodsmen (Takashi Shimura) who drags all of the self-mythologizing figures down to earth? Is even he implicated in the surrounding crimes? The first part of this podcast reads an older essay on the film to establish its narrative and themes before I offer newer reflections emphasizing the way this story, and particularly its telling, relate to Twin Peaks. There are certainly similarities within the world of the two works: setting, character, and particularly the way that this fragmented reality is rooted in the trauma of a woman victimized by powerful men (and determined to assert her presence despite their power). But the most striking connections may be how the storytelling elements *within* Rashomon are mirrored by meta elements *around* Twin Peaks. Just as the characters themselves in the Japanese film adjust, loop back on, and transform the story they're telling, so the creators of the American TV show would shift, reverse, and expand their perspectives over the course of years.

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LINKS FOR EPISODE 20

My essay on Rashomon

Recently on Twin Peaks Conversations - Vera Drew, director of The People's Joker (public part 1) & ($5/month tier part 2) + Craig & Vinny, hosts of Twin Peaks: Evangelion (public part 1) & ($5/month tier part 2)

Recently on Lost in Twin Peaks - Season 3 Part 12 / Part 13 / Part 14 / Part 15 / Part 16

Recently on Lost in the Movies podcast - Marie Antoinette (1938)

Recently on Lost in the Movies patron podcast ($1/month) - The 00s in November (& beyond) + 60s bonus & Concluding the 90s & 70s... Godard's Weekend & Southland Tales w/ guest Andrew Cook (w/ his feedback & my capsule on 300, more capsules on Bonnie & Clyde, The Graduate, Midnight Cowboy, The Swimmer, Dr. Strangelove, No Country for Old Men, There Will Be Blood, Zodiac, A History of Violence, Brokeback Mountain, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, The Darjeeling Limited, The Dark Knight, Gangs of New York, 500 Days of Summer, The Ring, Donnie Darko, The Box, Dog Day Afternoon, The Muppet Movie, The Muppet Christmas Carol, The Witches, Heat, The Blair Witch Project, Edward Scissorhands, Election, Groundhog Day, Total Recall, Dick Tracy, archive readings of my reflections on the 00s decade, To Kill a Mockingbird, Breathless & much, much more including feedback/media/work updates)