Monty Python – 1975 update

Posted by Maximum Fun on 27th February 2006

That not-seen-since-1975 Monty Python footage is on it’s way. I was up late last night with my good friend Tyler MacNiven, director of the film Kintaro Walks Japan, getting it ready. Expect iPod-ready video coming down the pipe tommorow or Wednesday, and web-ready video here around the same time.

In the meantime, check out Tyler’s film. It’s a feature-length travelogue about the six months he spent walking from one end of Japan to the other (the long way). He did it to impress his (Japanese-English) sweetheart, and to find the place where his father Jamis, founder of Buck’s of Woodside, was born. He was armed with only a sketch of shoreline his grandmother had made, but he found it.

It’s a pretty beautiful and inspirational story, full of humor and verve, with a dash of myth thrown in for good measure. Tyler is an amazing guy, the warmest person I’ve ever met, and he makes more friends along the way than you can imagine. He literally made the film himself — he used a consumer camera, and shot and edited the whole thing without help (except when he gave the camera over to folks along the road, so they could shoot him). It’s really a remarkable achievement.

Tyler recently completed CBS’ “The Amazing Race,” (it debuts Tuesday night) so I’m hoping that will bring some more light to the film. He sells it over the web, and you can also watch the whole thing on Google Video. He also told me you’ll be able to watch it on business-class American Airlines flights to Japan, so if you’ve got an extra couple grand, that’s a good way to see it, too.