I Want to Destroy America
Encyclopedia
I Want to Destroy America is a documentary film
by Peter I. Chang
which traces the life of the Japanese musician Hisao Shinagawa
through his early years as a folk singer in Tokyo to his current occupation as a street performer in Los Angeles.
The film was shot from 2004 to 2006, and provides a unique insight into the influence of Western popular music on the teenage youth culture of 1960s Japan, as well as an inside look at Shinagawa's struggle to survive as a songwriter after losing his recording contract in the 1980s. The title of the film comes from an off-hand comment Shinagawa makes about wanting to destroy the U.S. system.
In his review of the DVD release, critic John Wallis notes, "I Want to Destroy America is formatted with Hisao speaking for himself. Interview audio and footage is placed over still and stock footage and the modern footage, some of it fly-on-the-wall, some of it atmospherically staged," and concludes that the film is an "interesting portrait of an outsider artist who has an amazing life. Hisao Shinagawa is strange, passionate, and one of those people who lives his life on his own offbeat terms."
in 2006.
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
by Peter I. Chang
Peter I. Chang
Peter I. Chang is a Taiwanese-born mixed-media artist, illustrator, and filmmaker. He has often collaborated with the author Mitch Cullin who is also his domestic partner....
which traces the life of the Japanese musician Hisao Shinagawa
Hisao Shinagawa
Hisao Shinagawa is a Japanese-born songwriter and performer who lives in Los Angeles, California. He is probably best known in his adopted home country for the satirical song "More Money, More War", which became an underground hit after the video aired on "Weird Al" Yankovic's Al TV on MTV in...
through his early years as a folk singer in Tokyo to his current occupation as a street performer in Los Angeles.
The film was shot from 2004 to 2006, and provides a unique insight into the influence of Western popular music on the teenage youth culture of 1960s Japan, as well as an inside look at Shinagawa's struggle to survive as a songwriter after losing his recording contract in the 1980s. The title of the film comes from an off-hand comment Shinagawa makes about wanting to destroy the U.S. system.
In his review of the DVD release, critic John Wallis notes, "I Want to Destroy America is formatted with Hisao speaking for himself. Interview audio and footage is placed over still and stock footage and the modern footage, some of it fly-on-the-wall, some of it atmospherically staged," and concludes that the film is an "interesting portrait of an outsider artist who has an amazing life. Hisao Shinagawa is strange, passionate, and one of those people who lives his life on his own offbeat terms."
Film Festival Screenings
Under its original title of Life in G-Chord, the film was submitted to and selected for the Atlanta Underground Film Festival and the Santa Fe Film FestivalSanta Fe Film Festival
The Santa Fe Film Festival is a Non-Profit Organization which presents important world cinema in a non-commercial context that represents aesthetic, critical and entertainment standards highlighting New Mexican film, new American and foreign film including revivals, retrospectives, independent...
in 2006.
DVD Specs
- Digital transfer, letterboxLetterboxLetterboxing is the practice of transferring film shot in a widescreen aspect ratio to standard-width video formats while preserving the film's original aspect ratio. The resulting videographic image has mattes above and below it; these mattes are part of the image...
presentation
- Scene Index
- Main Feature: I Want To Destroy America
- 1. Chapter 1 [8:47]
- 2. Chapter 2 [9:28]
- 3. Chapter 3 [10:07]
- 4. Chapter 4 [8:42]
- 5. Chapter 5 [5:43]
- 6. Chapter 6 [8:13]
- 7. Chapter 7 [12:10]
- 8. Chapter 8 [2:51]
- Main Feature: I Want To Destroy America
- Extras
- Outtakes
- Alternate Ending
- Jackson Browne
- Hisao Speaks
- That's What It Is
- Hisao Sings
- Soundtrack
- Lovin' You (2005)
- Yabara, Misumi, Nihon-kai (2002)
- Rai (Reasons For) (1972)
- Six Budda Statues (1979)
- Give Me Water Please (1979)
- What's Life For (1972)
- To The North (1979)
- Uta No Tame Ni Woody Guthrie (19720
- Oh My Love Yamato Nadeshiko (1979)
- The God Hisao Shinagawa (1996)
- Stray Dog (1979)
- I Wish I Could Yodel (1979)
- When The Roses Are Blooming (1979)
- Wires (1984)
- Happy Weirdo (1983)
- More Money More War (1981)
- Human Computer (1984)
- Lonesome Buddha Statue (1992)
- Baa Baa Baa (Me Me Me) (1999)
- Rock 'N' Roll (2006)
- Life In A G-Chord (1999)
- Biographies
- Director
- Producer
- Trailer
- Still Gallery (Slideshow)
- Outtakes