Before his death, Ryuichi Sakamoto planned one last performance knowing that the end was coming. Featuring a selection of pop music, film scores, and experimental and ambient compositions from throughout his career, the film rearranges many of his solo piano songs; demonstrating the power and variability of Sakamoto’s work. Sakamoto said in a press statement that the set list is much earlier than he usually plans. “Neo Sora, the director, was very strict,” he explained.
This is a bit of a joke. Neo Sora is Sakamoto’s 33-year-old son and the person the composer asked to film his final concert. Well, technically it was Sakamoto’s long-time manager Norika who made the request. (Norika is also Sora’s mother.)
Bad timing. Sora is in the pre-production process of his own debut feature. But family comes first. Sakamoto had been battling rectal cancer for years, and his health declined.
“Listen, if we miss this shooting window, I feel like we might not be able to do it anymore,” Sola recalled his mother saying. “‘So can you do it?'”
He agreed, shelved his film, and a few months later began filming the final film Ryuichi Sakamoto | Opusa lasting impression on one of the world’s most influential and famous musicians.
You might expect a career-spanning concert film to look like Taylor Swift’s maximalist commercial spectacle, or take notes from Talking Heads’ naughty stop making sense, which was re-released in theaters by A24 late last year.But the inspiration work Be more humble. Sola watched a performance by pianist Glenn Gould and conductor Leonard Bernstein in the 1960s called ” creative performerand dramatic Thirty-two short films about Glenn Gould. He learned that by simplifying the visual language of cinematography, he could force the audience to pay closer attention to the music. With that, Sora began storyboarding and forced Sakamoto to commit to a set list earlier than he’d hoped.
Is it difficult working with your father? Sora described their relationship on the set as professional: Sakamoto gave no account of the filmmaking, and Sora did not comment on the performances. “I guess I think the fact that he didn’t talk to me about anything about the filming was a sign of trust on his part,” he said.
Taken in September 2022, it took just over a week. work It is a leisurely and intimate film. In stark black and white, the concert is just one person performing behind a grand piano. However, off camera, a crew of more than 30 people was trying to keep things as quiet as possible in Studio 509, the famous NHK broadcast center in Tokyo.
As with many of the film’s decisions, location was Sakamoto’s choice. He believed the studio had “the best acoustics in Japan.” But it also brings specific challenges. The old wooden floors were squeaky, which meant the entire staff (both Japanese and English speakers) had to wear only socks and no shoes. Because the studio is located inside a broadcast tower, radio wave transmitting equipment is not allowed, meaning everything must be physically connected. (“There needs to be a lot of wire keepers,” and more people means more people making noise.)
And Sakamoto’s own physical limits. He could only take a few shots a day. Sora recalled: “He just couldn’t play some songs very well. His fingers weren’t very dexterous, and I think part of that was a side effect of the medication he was taking, which affected his limbs.” Sakamoto was smearing Vaseline on his fingers to relieve pain.
In the same statement written after filming, Sakamoto detailed how difficult the performance was on his body. “I felt completely empty afterwards and my condition worsened for about a month,” he wrote. “Even so, I am relieved that I was able to record a performance that satisfied me before my death.” He died in March 2023.
I met Sora in New York before the movie came out and nearly a year before Sakamoto died.He is finishing his first as-yet-untitled feature film, one he briefly shelved work. Sora told me that it’s about two friends who grow apart, one of whom becomes politically aware and the other willfully ignorant. He has been working on the project for ten years and hopes to submit it to film festivals this year.
“I do not want work Come out first, but those are things you can’t really help or control too much,” Sora said. “I’ve always just wanted people to know me, just for what I did separately from my dad. “
Despite being a director work, Sora is unwilling to claim authorship. “I try to be a conduit for anything he wants to do, and I think what he wants to do is a concert,” Sola said.
While many of the choices—concepts, locations, compositions—may be Sakamoto’s, it’s hard to ignore Sora’s subtle hand throughout work. While the film has long been considered the final performance of a distinguished artist, it doesn’t feel somber. Although Sakamoto struggled to complete certain pieces, his fingers no longer what they once were and energy draining from his ailing body, there was a sense of triumph every time a song reached its final note. The silence that follows conveys a lot—the ease of execution, the ecstasy of a glance.
That’s perhaps the magic of Neo Solar’s production: a concert film that’s not just a show, but more than that.
Ryuichi Sakamoto | Opus It’s out now and will eventually air on Criterion.