This is the 5th assignment of a program I am running to help myself and others improve Japanese writing skill. For details, see this post. Also see this post for a list of all assignments.
This time the topic will be “好きな映画” (suki na eiga). Write about your favorite movie, or just any movie you enjoyed. If you aren’t into movies much, feel free to use anything you’ve seen on TV (try to avoid using a novel or comic, as I may use those for future topics). Try to write a brief summary about it and what about the movie you enjoyed. Recommended length is a few sentences to a few paragraphs.
While doing this assignment myself I remembered how hard it can be to describe a movie plot in Japanese because many of these terms are things I don’t use or experience day-to-day. So part of this assignment (optional) will be to first find a webpage that describes your chosen move in Japanese. Read it through, looking up any words you don’t understand. Finally, try to use at least two or three of these words in your submission text.
If you are having any difficulty thinking of what or how to write it, feel free to check out my submission below for ideas. Remember this isn’t a contest, it’s more about each of us improving our respective writing abilities. If you don’t know much Kanji but still want to participate, it’s OK to use just Hiragana with some Katakana here and there if you know it. Beginners can even use Romaji, as long as you promise to learn Hiragana soon (:
Once you finish this writing assignment, please post it via one of the two following methods:
- For those who have a blog (WordPress or anywhere else is fine): post it on your blog, and post a comment on this article including a link to your post. I also suggest adding a link on your post back to this article, so people who find your post can follow it to read other people’s submissions.
- For those who don’t have a blog: simply post it as a comment to this article with the text you’ve written. [Note: creating a blog is pretty easy and free on many sites, so if you have a few minutes I’d just consider just trying to create a blog on somewhere like WordPress. Several people have already done this in order to participate in this program.]
Also, I will be tagging every one of these assignments with the tag “japanese_writing_lab“. I’d recommend you do the same for your entries, so others can easy read through all them.
I’ll be reading all the entries received and commenting, and other users are welcome to do the same.
My submission
僕は高校時代以来、「好きな映画は何ですか？」と聞かれたら大体「Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves」という映画だと答えることが多いです。
イギリスの伝説「ロビン・フッド」に基づいて作られ、1991年にリリースされた作品なので、けっこう前の映画です。ストーリーを大体知ってる人は多いかと思いますが、簡単に説明してみると、主人公のロビンが牢から出たら父が殺されてて、お城も燃やされ廃墟になってるのを知って、悪人の代官ジョージに復讐することを誓います。そして、街の人々を迫害するジョージから反乱軍と一緒に人をたくさん助けたり、税金をもらってる貴族からお金を奪い取って、貧乏人に分け与えます。幼なじみだった綺麗な貴族の女性に恋をして、最終的には悪人を倒して幼なじみと結婚するようなハッピーエンドです。
「正義の味方」というキャラクタは別に嫌いなわけじゃないんですけど、この映画のストーリーよりもやっぱりサウンドトラックがすごく印象的で、映画が出た当時はCDまで買って、しょっちゅう聞いていました。オーケストラの綺麗な弦楽器と迫力のある金属管楽器が、作曲家のマイケル・ケイメン氏によって上手く組み合わされた最高傑作です。20年間以上経った今でも、これが僕の最も好きなサントラです。オーケストラ好きな人 は是非一度聞いて欲しい作品です。
世間ではこの映画のストーリー、演技、演出などで不評な点は多かったみたいですが、僕はそれぞれのシーンにピッタリ合う音楽が一生忘れられません。
[Reference I used while I was writing this: https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/ロビン・フッド_(1991年のアメリカ映画)]