Watch it. The Japanese people on the hill video taping this are saying things like, "Here comes the tsunami. Look at those cars! Look at those houses!" "I can't believe it!"
You won't believe it either. At first these people are interested, almost jovial, but as the scope of the disaster comes upon them, they begin to grasp it and start to cry in horror. It is quickly apparent to these folks that this is not a jovial - nor pleasant - experience as their homes and lives are destroyed right in front of their eyes.
DOUBLE CLICK ON IMAGE FOR HIGH QUALITY FULL SCREEN VIDEO
DOUBLE CLICK ON IMAGE FOR HIGH QUALITY FULL SCREEN VIDEO
A lot of cinema fans in the west just love Japanese movie director Akira Kurosawa, but did you know that he is more famous in the west than he is in Japan? Actually, that happens a lot with artists and musicians from Japan; they are popular in the west, but not so much in Japan.
Many people believe that Seven Samurai is one of the ten greatest movies ever made and is the very first action movie.
Japanese poster for Seven Samurai
So, today, for your Sunday morning pleasure, I wanted to show you few things that I found that are very nice and I thought very culturally interesting for your enjoyment. The first is a one minute short film montage of Japanese posters of the films directed by Akira Kurosawa, played to the theme music of "Yojimbo." It is only one minute long and very fun!
Double click on video for full screen
Double click on video for full screen
Here is also a great Akira Kurosawa documentary (about 11 minutes) that talks about the director's life with much detail about Seven Samurai.
Double click on video for full screen
Double click on video for full screen
This material is from an Internet site that I often enjoy going to and searching around. It is called the Internet Archive - it is absolutely free - and it is full of rights free materials that can be used for student films and other non-profit uses. To show you what can be done using the materials here, I used one here for a Punk Rock and Horror video that I made with Ken Nishikawa a few years ago. It is for the Kyoto girl's punk band, The Soap. Watch it here:
Double click on video for full screen
Double click on video for full screen
Pretty cool, eh?
Anyway, I digress... The Internet Archive is full of great films, short and long and I highly recommend it.
------ Keywords: Japan, Akira Kurosawa, Eli Wallach, Mike Rogers, Seven Samurai, Marketing Japan, Mike in Tokyo Rogers, The Soap, Kyoto, Ken Nishikawa, Punk Rock, horror video, Yojimbo, Internet, Internet archive, cinema, Yul Brenner, Steve McQueen, Magnificent Seven
