Plot summary

As heavy rain pours monotonously out of a dark sky, under Kyoto's once-glorious front gate, a poor woodcutter and a faithful priest gather around a feeble campfire to share with a wet commoner their take on the mysterious murder of a valiant samurai in a lush bamboo forest, and the brutal sexual assault of his wife by the notorious bandit, Tajomaru. Before court and through a series of uncomfortable flashbacks, strikingly different points-of-view inextricably interweave with half-truths, cover-ups, and the supernatural, to further blur the lines between memory and fact. However, who is the evil-doer behind this intricate conundrum? In the end, on the basis of personal perspective, can there be an absolute truth?—Nick Riganas