Play of the Week: Rashomon

Four people recount different versions of the story of a man's murder and the rape of his wife.

Art student Ian Jing impresses the realism-loving art teacher Mrs. Hui from the get-go. Following her advice, he draws exactly what he sees, straining his eyes in the process. To Mrs. Hui’s horror, Ian’s artwork gets progressively blurrier. In turn, his online fame skyrockets, as art critics on social media praise his unique style as an abstract artist. They ascribe deep, profound (pretentious) intentions and meanings to his stylistic choices, when all he's actually doing is drawing exactly what he sees.

A musical audiovisual journey in four parts. A young man finds himself unexpectedly taking an audiovisual odyssey into a world of surreality, slowly recounting his memories, revealing the puzzle pieces that led him to where he is, and maybe how he can get out.

A marquis' mistress becomes pregnant with fraternal twins. He keeps the boy, but sends his bodyguard to dispose of the mother and the girl. Years later…

Perception explores the breach of experience that divides us all by glancing into the lives of three individuals: Clarissa, a young idealistic photographer who chooses to live as a homeless person on the streets of New York, supporting herself meal by meal by selling her photography from a blanket in Central Park; Ralph, a successful real estate salesman who struggles for balance against the cut-throat nature of his business; and Tobias, a perpetual student who gets fired a lot. Perception journeys through the same season of time from each character's point of view, detailing how presumption and mistaken intention leads to great misunderstanding. A moment, revisited from another point of view, takes new dimension--and the line between protagonist and antagonist blurs.

A reflection on the fate of humanity in the Anthropocene epoch, White Noise is a roller-coaster of a film, a whirlwind of sounds and images. The fourth feature-length work by Simon Beaulieu, this film essay plunges viewers into a subjective sensory adventure—a direct physical encounter with the information overload of daily life. White Noise transforms the imminent collapse of our civilization into a visceral aesthetic experience.

Documentarians Andre Heller and Othmar Schmiderer turn their camera on 81-year-old Traudl Junge, who served as Adolf Hitler's secretary from 1942 to 1945, and allow her to speak about her experiences. Junge sheds light on life in the Third Reich and the days leading up to Hitler's death in the famed bunker, where Junge recorded Hitler's last will and testament. Her gripping account is nothing short of mesmerizing.

A glimpse into a visual representation of memory; A Christmas-time series of meals, coffees, and movies, with friends, lovers, and housemates. Faced with the compounding of faces and places, each moment begins to collide with one another: voices are muddled, and faces are broken. How is memory created? How are they separated from one another?

Forced to run from Texas Rangers after a heated misunderstanding leads to the death of a lawman, Mexican American farmer Gregorio Cortez sets off in desperate flight, evading a massive manhunt on horseback for days.

SOME COLORS

Abby is a pregnant woman with a curious new boarder in the apartment over her garage. Turns out he's heaven-sent and is speeding along the Apocalypse by bloodying rivers, egging on plagues and following scripture word for word.

Swedish efficiency researchers come to Norway for a study of Norwegian men, to optimize their use of their kitchen. Folke Nilsson (Tomas Norström) is assigned to study the habits of Isak Bjørvik (Joachim Calmeyer). By the rules of the research institute, Folke has to sit on an umpire's chair in Isak's kitchen and observe him from there, but never talk to him. Isak stops using his kitchen and observes Folke through a hole in the ceiling instead. However, the two lonely men slowly overcome the initial post-war Norwegian-Swede distrust and become friends.

The Bounty leaves Portsmouth in 1787. Its destination: to sail to Tahiti and load bread-fruit. Captain Bligh will do anything to get there as fast as possible, using any means to keep up a strict discipline. When they arrive at Tahiti, it is like a paradise for the crew, something completely different than the living hell aboard the ship. On the way back to England, officer Fletcher Christian becomes the leader of a mutiny.

Set in 1951, a blacklisted Hollywood writer gets into a car accident, loses his memory and settles down in a small town where he is mistaken for a long-lost son.

A suburban family chooses seemingly sweet Peyton Flanders as their newborn's nanny. Only much later does the infant's mother, Claire Bartel, realize Peyton's true intentions -- to destroy Claire and replace her in the family. The nail-biting suspense builds quickly in this chilling psychological thriller about deception and bitter revenge.