Even all through the ultimate years of his most cancers battle, Ryuichi Sakamoto was firm in his will to maintain creating. Hyper-aware of his personal mortality, the Oscar-winning composer and titan of digital music used his final albums to reckon along with his legacy, the passage of time, and his relationship with the piano, which he had performed since age three. As if expressing himself by means of the instrument was an involuntary muscle, he determined he wished to carry out for the world one final time. However since his situation left him too weak to play a complete set, Sakamoto needed to current his last live performance as a methodically compiled movie.
Sakamoto known as upon his son, Neo Sora, a budding filmmaker who’s primarily based between Tokyo and New York, to direct the undertaking, titled Opus. In dialog, the 32-year-old director curiously refers to his father as “Sakamoto” and avoids referencing their private relationship. But it surely’s clear that their closeness has allowed Sora distinctive entry and familiarity to seize the musician in his most weak state, simply six months earlier than his loss of life at age 71 in March 2023. Opus was filmed throughout eight days final September at 509 Studio at Tokyo’s NHK Broadcast Heart, the place Sakamoto hosted a radio present within the ’80s. Because of his worsening well being, he might solely play a mean of three songs per day, with one to 5 takes every.
Opus is an intimate portrait of an artist who spent a lifetime attempting to interrupt new musical floor. Throughout 102 meditative minutes, the black-and-white movie fastidiously research Sakamoto’s sleek fingers, furrowed eyebrows, and rounding lips as he performs 20 songs from all through his life. The journey encompasses a slowed-down model of “Tong Poo,” the primary of Sakamoto’s songs to be recorded by Yellow Magic Orchestra; key moments from his iconic movie scores, like Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence; and alternatives from his somber last album, 12. The movie begins solemnly, Sakamoto’s fingers trembling throughout the keys, however by its mid-point, he’s taking part in his classical epics with willpower, seemingly unaffected by the bodily ache he feels.
Impressed by his father’s fascination with time, Sora conceptualized the movie to take its course all through a whole day, which he expressed by means of lighting decisions. Forward of Opus’ current U.S. premiere at New York Movie Competition, Sora sat down with Pitchfork to debate Sakamoto’s power whereas filming, capturing his “errors,” and his difficult relationship with the piano.
