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

The career of Frank Lloyd Wright—the most famous American architect of the 20th century—included a sojourn in Japan that helped revive his reputation (after personal scandal at home) and led to a mutually reciprocal influential effect on both Wright and Japanese architectural tradition. Karen Severns and Koichi Mori's fine documentary Magnificent Obsession combines archival footage and stills together with plans and drawings to outline the years Wright (voiced here by Japanese film scholar Donald Richie) spent in Japan and examine the structures he designed, particularly the ambitious Imperial Hotel (1923) in Tokyo, which allowed him the opportunity to test innovative engineering ideas and helped revive his professional prospects back in the U.S. As the film illustrates, the Imperial Hotel also has an enormous impact on a whole generation of Japanese architects—Wright disciples, as it were—whose work is also discussed. Supplementing the narrative—which offers a solid summary of Wright's entire life as well as his specific work in Japan—are excerpts from interviews with scholars who analyze Wright's accomplishments in Japan and their influence on both Japanese architecture and Wright's later American designs. A poignant postscript recounts the history of the Imperial, which was renovated to meet modern demands, but eventually torn down to make way for new development, except for a portion of the structure preserved as a museum exhibit. Recommended. Aud: C, P. (F. Swietek)