Author Archive: Eric San Juan
Eric San Juan
November 6, 2018
Contributed Post We live in a consumerist society, and there is no denying there is something a little bit special about being able to purchase a brand new item and be the first person to use it. However, there are undeniable advantages to buying pre-owned, second-hand items, as we’ll discuss in more depth below… #1 – Less waste Pixabay – CC0 Licence Every time you choose to buy a second-hand item, you are effectively saving that item from landfill. Given that the world is rapidly running out of landfill space, this is an undeniable benefit that really can make a difference. Some people wonder if this is indeed a benefit; after all, when the item inevitably breaks at some point, it will just end up…
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Eric San Juan
November 5, 2018
To celebrate the upcoming release of my book, Akira Kurosawa: A Viewer’s Guide, due out Dec. 15 from Rowman & Littlefield — preorder here! — I’ll be doing capsule reviews all month covering every single Kurosawa film and posting (very) brief excerpts. These will be short impressions and recommendations, nothing more. For a full, detailed analysis of each, grab the book! No Regrets For Our Youth (1946) No Regrets For Our Youth was a post-war drama by Akira Kurosawa that mixes equal parts political protest, love triangle, and family drama. Kurosawa’s pictures are virtually always political in some way — he had a tremendous focus on social consciousness — but they were rarely overtly political. Rather, you often had to read between the lines to…
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Films
Akira Kurosawa, cinema, film, films, foreign film, gender, gender roles, Japan, Japanese cinema, Japanese film, Japanese movies, movies, Works By Eric
Eric San Juan
November 4, 2018
To celebrate the upcoming release of my book, Akira Kurosawa: A Viewer’s Guide, due out Dec. 15 from Rowman & Littlefield — preorder here! — I’ll be doing capsule reviews all month covering every single Kurosawa film and posting (very) brief excerpts. These will be short impressions and recommendations, nothing more. For a full, detailed analysis of each, grab the book! The Men Who Tread on the Tiger’s Tail (1945) Released in 1945, The Men Who Tread on the Tiger’s Tail is a slightly comedic retelling of a traditional Kabuki play (which is itself based on a Noh play). It’s also an overlooked little delight. At just an hour long, it’s a short, tight-drama about a group of warriors trying to flee a dangerous situation. It…
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Films
Akira Kurosawa, cinema, film, films, Japan, Japanese cinema, Japanese films, kabuki, movies, noh, samurai, Works By Eric
Eric San Juan
November 3, 2018
To celebrate the upcoming release of my book, Akira Kurosawa: A Viewer’s Guide, due out Dec. 15 from Rowman & Littlefield — preorder here! — I’ll be doing capsule reviews all month covering every single Kurosawa film and posting (very) brief excerpts. These will be short impressions and recommendations, nothing more. For a full, detailed analysis of each, grab the book! Sanshiro Sugata part 2 (1945) Sequels! One of two made by Kurosawa, and this one is like a 1940s version of the Rocky series, in which the titular character faces the brothers of the guy he defeated in the first movie. This is many ways a rehash of the first, though it does feature some rather sharp criticism on the brutality of American boxing (and the…
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Eric San Juan
November 2, 2018
To celebrate the upcoming release of my book, Akira Kurosawa: A Viewer’s Guide, due out Dec. 15 from Rowman & Littlefield — preorder here! — I’ll be doing capsule reviews all month covering every single Kurosawa film and posting (very) brief excerpts. These will be short impressions and recommendations, nothing more. For a full, detailed analysis of each, grab the book! The Most Beautiful (1944) The 2nd film by Akira Kurosawa was an unlikely one, given his anti-authoritarian nature: a WWII propaganda film focused on a group of women working in a wartime factory. Here, the young women face illness, crushing deadlines, and more, but through their indomitable spirit (and with the help of a caring leader) they come to find joy in giving themselves…
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Films, Works by Eric
Akira Kurosawa, classic films, classic movies, film, films, gender, gender issues, gender politics, Japan, Japanese films, Japanese movies, Works By Eric, world war ii, wwii
