Review of As You Are

There is quite a good film here, from excellent cinematography to a brilliantly lo-key cast. The screenwriter and director should be commended for creating a film which is both a convincing coming-of-age drama (set around 1994), and a rumination on reality and truth. Whether it was influenced directly by Kurosawa's Rashomon is unclear, but the similarities are too striking to not be commented on. Formally, As You Are can be seen as a formal imitation of Rashomon, as it is structured upon a murder investigation, chapterized by the interrogations of the law official, and different flashbacks developing the story, but without ever coming to straight out answers to the mystery. A director could do worse than imitate and develop structures and themes first put on film by the great Japanese master. And this fine film results in a brilliant homage, rather than a plagiarized pastiche.