Course Description:

A survey of major Japanese films and film directors from the "golden age" of Japanese cinema in the 1950s and 1960s to the present. Works by directors such as Ozu Yasujiro and Kurosawa Akira will be screened in order to give students an appreciation for some of the classic works of Japanese cinema. Contemporary films and anime will be examined as well. The work of the course consists of reading the two books on Ozu and Kurosawa respectively, viewing the films in the assigned time slots, coming to class prepared to discuss the films, and submitting the brief film critiques or "commentaries" electronically on the Discussion Board feeature of Blackboard.

Course Requirements:

1. Regular Attendance (no more than 2-3 absences)

2. Participation in class discussion and in OnLine (Blackboard) Discussion Group

3. Do the readings as assigned

4. View the films as scheduled

5. Complete the "Short Commentaries" or critiques on Blackboard due regularly on almost every film

5. Complete four (4) short papers for the class as assigned; Due Feb. 12, March 4, March 18 and May 1

Readings:

	David Desser, ed. Ozu's Tokyo Story
	Stephen Prince, The Warrior's Camera: The Cinema of Akira Kurosawa
Selected Articles, Handouts and Online Materials	Good websites to know about:   http://us.imdb.com/ http://pears.lib.ohio-state.edu/Markus/Welcome.html (Kinema Club)

Spring Break

No Classes

A final Paper, 5-6 pages, Due Thursday, May 1, on either the later Kurosawa films (Ikiru, Ran, and Rhaposody in August), and/or possibly pairing two films such as films Ikiru and Afterlife in order to have a discussion on divergent approaches to the themes of life and death.

Director Frank Capra wrote that only the morally courageous are worthy of speaking to their fellow human beings for two hours in the dark. Kurosawa possessed this courage. His cinema is deeply formalistic, yet those forms are simply his means to an end that he regarded as paramount. That end is the recognition of common humanity and of common suffering. Few filmmakers had the drive, the overpowering sense of responsibility,and the gifts necessary to take viewers on this journey. Kurosawa did and, in doing so, he showed what cinema might yet accomplish.

Stephen Prince, The Warrior's Camera, p. 358.