(MUSIC BY RYUICHI SAKAMOTO [series] September 11-12 at the Japan Society HQ [333 East 47th St., one block from the United Nations)
Admittedly, New York has much to offer. The Dream House (of the MELA Foundation), a one-of-a-kind destination, for instance. Or the High Line (and numerous other public spaces of merit). Or the Cloisters (and many more museums and galleries across the boroughs). Or the Maysles Documentary Center (along with other fine film exhibition establishments). Or even Scandinavia House, a personal favourite. Add to that, cultural institutions-wise, the Japan Society and every wonderous event they present.
Next on their agenda is a program devoted to the film-work of Japanese composer / songwriter / occasional singer Ryuichi Sakamoto, all interconnected with the forthcoming English translation publication of MUSIC SETS YOU FREE. Ever-so appropriate that the Japan Society would tackle this particular series since they were the instigators of bringing Elizabeth Lennard’s wonderful TOKYO MELODY back to the public consciousness, presenting an elusive 16mm print a handful of years ago (leading to its preservation and redistribution shortly thereafter).
Sakamoto, who left our earthly realm far too prematurely in 2023, was initially known (for those not in the know) as a co-founder of the Yellow Magic Orchestra with Yukihiro Takahashi and Haruomi Hosono, one of the few Japanese groups of its era to gain popularity world-wide. He parlayed his regional and international renown to do what every artist wants and few artists achieve: the ability to do precisely whatever he wished. As a solo artist, from 1978 to the year of his passing in 2023, Sakamoto released nearly two dozen albums of increasingly eclectic recordings with an astonishing assortment of collaborators—Hideki Matsutake, Robert Wyatt, Bootsy Collins, David Sylvian, Laurie Anderson, Youssou N’Dour, Andy Partridge, Christian Fennesz, Brian Wilson and Akiko Yano—although recordings of merely himself at the piano are sufficiently brilliant.
This being a Japan Society series, a few of the obvious choices of works-for-film / video—THE REVENANT, THE SHELTERING SKY, BABEL, THE LAST EMPEROR or MERRY CHRISTMAS, MR. LAWRENCE—are not included. Those (and others) are all readily available elsewhere! Instead, they’ve arranged to present one of his greatest scores from one of his least-seen efforts: ORITSU UCHUGUN: ONEAMISU NO TSUBASA [ROYAL SPACE FORCE: THE WINGS OF HONNÊAMISE] (1987), an alternate-universe anime about the first manned expedition into space. Hiroyuki Yamaga takes this first production from the Gainax animation studio and creates something of a masterpiece of revisionist history (granted, of a semi-fictional place). Sakamoto’s main-title theme is worth the price of admission alone! [I still have the double-CD release from Japan, fortunately.]
Writer / director Ryu Murakami’s notorious pinku eiga TOPAZU [TOKYO DECADENCE] (1992) was an uncompromising choice for Sakamoto at the time (considering that he’d won the Academy Award for Best Original Score a few years earlier). Characteristically, he finds a thread in a theme of interest to latch onto (not unlike his soundtrack for the WILD PALMS television series the following year). [Admittedly, given the subject-matter, my memory is relatively faulty on this score yet I recall that his involvement in the project was what initially persuaded me to watch the film way-back-when.]
In the mention of WILD-ness, the third announced film in the mix is perhaps the most idiosyncratic of all: the initially straight-to-video WILD SIDE (1995), Donald Cammell’s fourth and final feature-length (presented in its 111 minute Director’s Cut since the disavowed sexploitation edit was scored by Jon Hassell). Cammell’s career is a rife with could-have-beens, from co-directing PERFORMANCE (1970) with Nicolas Roeg to appearing (as Osiris) in Kenneth Anger’s LUCIFER RISING (1972) to directing a music video for Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason’s debut solo album. A rare opportunity to see this version of WILD SIDE with an audience (or at all)!
If none of these has yet persuaded you, the Saturday late-afternoon program is certain to provide otherwise unanticipated joys. A twofer:, no less: the roughly half-hour ADELIC PENGUINS (1986), a Sony-commissioned multi-colour JumboTRON extravaganza (screened in a smaller scale) featuring a composition by Sakamoto along with sequences of our star-of-the-weekend—along with the titular penguins—cutting a rug on-screen; paired with the similarly half-hour-ish DENSHI NO TAKUBON: ALL STAR VIDEO (1984), directed by Nam June Paik and featuring Sakamoto together with (or apart from) John Cage, Laurie Anderson (again) and Allen Ginsberg. A starry assortment of an eclectic variety!
All of this and a mystery screening Friday evening as well? If you’re on the opposite coast and you fail to attend even a lone program in this exceptional series, why live in New York at all?
— Jonathan Marlow
FRIDAY, 11-SEPTEMBER
7:00pm ROYAL SPACE FORCE: THE WINGS OF HONNÊAMISE]
9:15pm Mystery Screening
SATURDAY, 12-SEPTEMBER
4:00pm ALL STAR VIDEO / ADELIC PENGUINS
6:00pm TOKYO DECADENCE
8:30pm WILD SIDE
– Jonathan Marlow (@aliasMarlow)
