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I've seen most of Kurosawa's films on the war

Kurosawa never really directly addressed the war, though. Obviously something like 'The Bad Sleep Well' involves the postwar atmosphere but to my knowledge Kurosawa never made a 'war movie'.

Check out Kinji ***asaku's Under the Flag of the Rising Sun and Kon Ichikawa's Nobi (Fires on the Plain) as well as Kobayashi's masterpiece, The Human Condition trilogy. These are for me the most devastating and masterful cinematic depictions of war anywhere, along with Wajda's Ashes and Diamonds and Kanal.

I know he never actually addressed the war specifically, I was more referring to the post-war films like Rhapsody in August and Ikiru, in which he shows how the Japanese people were affected by the war. Also in Madadayo, part of the film takes place during the war when the professor loses his house because of the American bombings. What I think I was trying to say in the previous post is I question Eastwood's ability to capture the Japanese mentality, kind of like how Rob Marshall couldn't do it in Memoirs of a Geisha (considering he cast Zhang Ziyi in the role who is Chinese). I trust Eastwood more than Marshall, but I still question his ability.

Thanks for the recommendations Evan, I'll have to take a look at those films.

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What I think I was trying to say in the previous post is I question Eastwood's ability to capture the Japanese mentality, kind of like how Rob Marshall couldn't do it in Memoirs of a Geisha (considering he cast Zhang Ziyi in the role who is Chinese)

Not just these two directors, but Hollywood in general. I wasn't surprised at all to see a cast of a movie set in 'Japan' full of Chinese and HK actors. Hollywood doesn't care at all about accurate depictions of other cultures or races. This should be immensely clear from seeing the type of films that are made.

I haven't liked any of the films Eastwood has directed. Honestly, I don't think he has that much to say as a filmmaker... is his latest WWII project going to be anything other than conventional? I hope so, but I doubt it. And it will likely receive heavy praise.

Also, why was the title of the 'Japanese' segment changed from "Red Sun, Black Sand" (good) to "Letters from Iwo Jima" (not good)?

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Also, why was the title of the 'Japanese' segment changed from "Red Sun, Black Sand" (good) to "Letters from Iwo Jima" (not good)?

Probably because the title couldn't speak to a regular audience what Red Sun, Black Sand was about. Because Hollywood's main purpose is to explain as much about the plot as possible in the title, poster, and trailer of the film. I think it was one of those stupid marketing decisions that Hollywood executives make.

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I wasn't surprised at all to see a cast of a movie set in 'Japan' full of Chinese and HK actors. Hollywood doesn't care at all about accurate depictions of other cultures or races.

See my avatar -- that's me (American, of Irish, Scottish and German descent) as a Chinese man, and for some reason, I have Shaolin incense burns on my forehead. Hollywood, here I come.

Did anybody see the other Crash? The one about sex and car crashes?

yes, but we've had much more fun talking about this Trash as you can see

yea i guess a films gotta win an oscar to garner any sort of debate on the forums ;]

well why wlse would people watch them in the first place

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Did anybody see the other Crash? The one about sex and car crashes?

Yes. It's amazing, and along with Videodrome and A History of Violence one of my favorite Cronenberg films. Actually, I love everything that I've seen from him.

'Crash' is one of the most mature and complex depictions of sexuality that North American cinema has produced (other than The Brown Bunny).