RYUICHI SAKAMOTO | OPUS

On March 28th, 2023, legendary composer Ryuichi Sakamoto passed away after his struggle against cancer. In the years leading up to his death, Sakamoto could no longer perform live. Despite this, in late 2022, Sakamoto mustered all of his energy to leave the world with one final performance: a concert film, featuring just him and his piano. Curated by Sakamoto himself and presented in his chosen order, the twenty pieces performed in the film wordlessly narrate his life through his music. The selection spans his entire career, from his popstar Yellow Magic Orchestra period, to his magnificent Bertolucci film scores, to music from his meditative final album, 12. Intimately filmed in a space he knew well, surrounded by his most trusted collaborators, Sakamoto bares his soul through his music, knowing this may be the last time that he can present his art.

NEO SARA

Raised in New York and Tokyo, Neo Sora is a filmmaker, artist, and translator living between the two cities. He directed feature-length concert film Ryuichi Sakamoto | Opus (2023, Venice International Film Festival), as well as writing and directing The Chicken (2020, Locarno and New York Film Festival). The short was critically praised in publications such as Variety and Cahiers Du Cinéma, and Neo was named one of Filmmaker Magazine’s 25 New Faces of Independent Film in 2021. An alumnus of the 2017 Berlinale Talents and the 2022 Sundance Lab programs, Neo is in post-production on his debut feature as a writer-director, Earthquake.

 

Reveiws:

The late Japanese genius says goodbye through an intimate performance documentary.

Sophie Monks Kaufman, IndieWire

 

To capture the breadth and depth of the musical career of Japanese composer and artist Ryuichi Sakamoto seems impossible, but somehow Ryuichi Sakamoto | Opus almost accomplishes this herculean challenge.

Todd Gilchrist, Variety