Magnificent Obsession: Frank Lloyd Wright's Buildings and Legacy in Japan

Nothing is as grand as to see two worlds connect through the artistry and creative endeavors of individuals that found a common ground to see one vision come to fruition. The life of renowned architect Frank Lloyd Wright is one example of a man that not only had a vision that first came from his individual ideas but became influenced and inspired by what he experienced from other architects and creations. The documentary “Magnificent Obsession: Frank Lloyd Wright’s Buildings and Legacy in Japan” centers on the life of Frank Lloyd Wright and how he arrived in Japan in 1905 as well his architectural designs built within the Japanese landscape beginning in 1913 and the influences reverberated decades later in the United States in the modern buildings and homes that he designed.Frank Lloyd Wright and many architects of the late nineteenth century became fascinated with Japanese artistry through woodblock prints and Ukiyo-e as a result of expositions and fairs that not only exposed the arts but Japanese architecture such as at the Chicago Exposition that included a reconstruction of a Japanese Pavilion. But it was Wright’s visit to Japan in 1903 that finally inspired and sparked his interest in the country’s architecture that shared similar qualities to the designs shown in his Prairie homes. From that point on Wright infused that inspiration into his designs and work where he traveled off and on for over a decade to Japan with the design and building of one of his most monumental buildings the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo. With collaborative efforts from his architects at Taliesin and Japan, especially Japanese architects Aisaka Hayashi and Wright enthusiast and kindred spirit Arata Endo “48th Samurai,” Wright’s stamp of design in the country was now in place. He would go on to design various homes and a new American embassy about the same time as the Imperial Hotel. For the curious, what did Wright have in his design of buildings that others may not have during the turn of the century? He set aside the Victorian designs and completely immersed his ideas and the appearance and structure of his buildings and homes within a natural setting, aesthetic interests, and materials closely aligned with nature. Emulating images in the woodblock prints that he so embraced, his designs showed nature at the forefront – hug the earth, geometrical shapes and low designs, and integrate the exterior and interior; this was represented in Wright’s approach to organic designs that meshed unity and harmony and philosophical interpretations.Beyond the history of Frank Lloyd Wright’s experience in Japan, the documentary contains much detail of other key contributors to Japan’s modern buildings after the Meiji era. With the beautiful soundtrack that backs the visual images of photographs, drawings, paintings, and film footage of the time period and a small portion of re-enactments, the DVD is visually interesting; one minor note, it may have been useful to have captions under the names of particular individuals that were not interviewed in the documentary and under the photographs of historic buildings that no longer exist. After watching this enormously informative documentary viewers may entice their interests in the artistry of Frank Lloyd Wright’s architectural designs or delve much deeper into the culture, history, and landscape of Japan.

In past publications,Mr.Wright's experience in Japan has been difficult to track and has remained mostly mysterious. This cd remedies this. Thorough and well researched,it is an excellent addition to the collection of the serious Wright fan. The footage and documentation about building the magnificent Imperial Hotel is extensive and it clearly shows how Wright set up his studio in Japan and who worked with him there. I was fascinated to find that many students and architects who assisted Mr.Wright during his time there were deeply affected by his design philosophy and have continued his explorations in their own work.I was also excited to hear about and see images of the numerous commissions he created while there of which I was not aware. I would have liked to see more photos or film footage of Wright during his stay.Wright and Mamah Bortwick visited there and while this visit is mentioned there are no photos to support it.Considering the renewed academic interest in Mamah and her inspiration and support of Wright I would have hoped some new documentation could have been flushed out of Japans' Wright archives.I learned a great deal and would definitely recommend this to individuals who wish to learn more about this excellent and endlessly fascinating architect.

I'm sure I'm as much of a Wright aficianado as anyone else here else we wouldn't have purchased this DVD. Therefore I can *not* understand all of these 4 & 5 star ratings. Yes the in-depth stories were interesting enough , but the material gathered would've been far more appropriate for a paperback book with photos and *not* a full blown DVD at $26. This production apes the Ken Burns style of hostoric storytelling without the quality in writing or casting of voiceover and the production looks little more than a college-level video term paper at best. ( I mistakenly gave it 2 stars and when I tried to correct my rating to 1 star Amazon's Edit page didn;t offer that option ) My main point should be *obvious*. One of the core value-added feature of *any* DVD on archiotecture is full use of the *visual* medium itself and there is *nothing* in the way of *digital video* shot of the actual remaining structure of this most beautiful work of architecture , as it stands totally accessible *today*, which was mercifully saved from the deconstruction in 1968 and lovingly reassembled in a park in Nagoya, Japan. Any authoritative production short of delivering a living walk-through tour hardly deserves production on aDVD and certainly *not* at the cost of $26. So , by all means, save your money and walk away from this piece of sub-standard production. Whom among any group of FLlWright lovers would argue that what made Ken Burns' *Frank Lloyd Wright* DVD such aquality DVD to own was in no small part due to the sumptuous video shoots actually *experiencing* the Wright structures themselves. Obviously there wasn't enouhg money in Ken Burns' budget covering *all* of Wright's work & life to send a crew to Nagoya , Japan. However you'd think a DVD devoted *exclusively* to the Imperial Hotel would've addresseded this gap or what's the point of a DVD. Bottomline: Short of that *no* DVD on this subject is worth a damn *without* such a living tour using the medium to its fullest ( I guess that would mean HD on BlueRay at this late date) . I mean you can get a taste of this in the form of an amateur's video tour on YouTube for crying out loud. So save your money for when someone actually does. Who among us Wright officianados wouldn't buy such a DVD even if it was a Japanese production *without subtitles* , but offered a translation as an accompanying booklet ( which the material of this DVD could serve as) . Knowing the reverence that Japanese culture has for living works of art right down to the subtlest detail *that* would be *the* loving view documentary that the Imperial Hotel deserves. Anything less is not worth preserving in the DVD medium. Case closed!

Too much about the other architects work but gives a good indication of what work FLLW did while in Japan. Not often written about or in video.