LED ZEPPELIN - Official Video Trailer Released For "Mr. Jimmy" Documentary On AKIO SAKURAI, Guitarist Devoted To Honouring Music Of JIMMY PAGE

August 16, 2023, a year ago

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LED ZEPPELIN - Official Video Trailer Released For "Mr. Jimmy" Documentary On AKIO SAKURAI, Guitarist Devoted To Honouring Music Of JIMMY PAGE

Abramorama has released an official video trailer for Mr. Jimmy, a documentary on Japanese guitarist Akio Sakurai, who has dedicated his life to honouring the music of Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page. The film will hit theaters globally on September 1. Watch the trailer below.

The film is produced, directed and edited by filmmaker Peter Michael Dowd (The King Of Size), who spent nearly eight years and countless trips to Japan bringing Mr Jimmy’s story to life.

In snowbound Tokamachi, Japan, teenaged Akio Sakurai took refuge in his room, escaping to another world with a pair of headphones and a pile of Led Zeppelin records. Moving to Tokyo, Akio worked as a kimono salesman by day, but by night became "Mr. Jimmy," adopting the guitar chops and persona of Jimmy Page.

For 30 years, Akio recreated vintage Zeppelin concerts note-for-note in small Tokyo clubs, until the real Jimmy Page stopped by one night, and Akio’s life changed forever. Inspired by Mr. Page’s ovation, Akio quits his “salary man” job, leaving behind his family to move to Los Angeles and join “Led Zepagain.” Soon cultures clash, and Akio’s idyllic vision of America meets with reality. Until Jason Bonham (son of legendary Led Zeppelin drummer, John Bonham) calls and invites Akio to audition, and later join his touring show  “Jason Bonham’s Led Zeppelin Evening.”

The film additionally includes Mr. Page’s songwriting before Led Zeppelin, with the Yardbird’s “White Summer,” and after Led Zeppelin with The Firm’s “Midnight Moonlight,” both performed by Sakurai. Surrounding these extraordinary Page and Zeppelin compositions is a bevy of blues and rock n’ roll recordings by legendary artists including Eddie Cochran, Elvis Presley, John Lee Hooker, Jimmy Reed, The Miracles, Muddy Waters, and Otis Rush.


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