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Tokyo Melody: A Film about Ryuichi Sakamoto

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Tokyo Melody: A Film about Ryuichi Sakamoto (French: Tokyo melody: un film sur Ryuichi Sakamoto) is a 1985 French-Japanese documentary co-production of France's INA[1] and Yoroshita Music Inc. Shot in Tokyo and directed by Elizabeth Lennard, the film uses a "hands-off" nonlinear structure in which interviews with musician Ryuichi Sakamoto, concert footage of Yellow Magic Orchestra, and scenes of Sakamoto recording his 1984 studio album Illustrated Musical Encyclopedia [ja] are combined with stylized or naturalistic shots of traditional festivals, street dancers, the urban built environment, and city life in 1980s Tokyo.[2][3] Lennard has described the film as "the sounds of Tokyo—seen through the eyes of, and a portrait of, Sakamoto."[1]

Tokyo Melody:
A Film about Ryuichi Sakamoto
FrenchTokyo melody: un film sur Ryuichi Sakamoto
Directed byElizabeth Lennard
Starring
Cinematography
  • Jacques Pamart
  • Michel Bort
Edited byMakiko Suzuki
Music byRyuichi Sakamoto
Production
companies
  • INA
  • Yoroshita Music Inc.
Release date
  • 1985 (1985)
Running time
62 minutes
CountriesFrance, Japan
LanguagesJapanese, French, English

Synopsis

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The documentary opens with a shot of Sakamoto playing with an toy space gun in the park, reacting to the electronic sounds it makes, as a voiceover of his own voice quotes Debussy. This cuts to a scene of Sakamoto standing in front of an enormous scene in downtown Tokyo, which is playing footage from a YMO concert. Footage of Sakamoto recording in Onkio Haus studio[4] jumps to a head-on shot of Sakamoto in colorful eye makeup commenting on the nonlinear possibilities of music in a digital age.[5] Panning shots of urban Tokyo and Japanese trains and subways intercut with Sakamoto playing a piano riff in the studio over a multi-layered sample. Sakamoto in eye makeup speaks to the creative opportunities and challenges of living in Japan at a time when it has become an economic superpower. He speaks to people having a hunger for culture, as the film cuts to footage of people dancing to rock and roll or folk-inspired music in the street.

As the diagetic music of Sakamoto recording in the studio plays in the background, the camera cuts to blue-tinted footage of danchi apartment buildings, including shots of the tall central cavities equipped with nets to prevent fatal drops. Sakamoto relates his music philosophy to the camera, which then cuts to images of electronics superstores filled with televisions. Sakamoto plays the theme to the 1983 Nagisa Ōshima film Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence on a grand piano over an excerpt of the film in which a Sgt. Gengo Hara (Beat Takeshi), so drunk he claims he's Santa Claus, absolves prisoners Lt. Col. John Lawrence (Tom Conti) and Maj. Jack "Strafer" Celliers (David Bowie) of a death sentence.

The camera follows Sakamoto hand-transcribing music on paper and testing it on piano as he speaks to the challenges of composing for film.[6] He eats dinner in the studio and discusses the intensive selection process involved in assembling a track list for an album. Sakamoto demonstrates the use of a Fairlight CMI digital synthesizer loaded with floppy "memory discs" to create samples and loops which can also be rendered visually on a monitor.[6][7] He then returns to the giant screen, this time playing footage from commercials he appeared in. The camera cuts to short sequences of Japanese street festivals and groups of celebrants carrying an omikoshi, which segues to concert footage of YMO playing the song "Tong Poo" on stage. The live footage is interleaved with a scene filmed by Lennard in which Sakamoto and then-wife Akiko Yano play a duet of "Tong Poo" on their grand piano at home.[1][8]

Sakamoto answers a car phone and, in a mix of Japanese and French, explains that he's filmed "heaven" and that it was full of trees. He then enters the studio and performs his song "Self Portrait," which plays behind the closing credits.

Cast

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Production

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Aided by a French film crew from the Institut national de l'audiovisuel, Lennard shot the film in Tokyo over the course of seven days in May 1985, four of which she spent with Sakamoto.[1][6][4] Lennard, who does not speak Japanese,[9] relied on an interpreter during filming, the voice of whom can be heard during the scene with the Fairlight synthesizer. Japanese dialogue was later transcribed and translated into French by Ryoji Nakamura for the subtitles.[4]

Release and reception

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Original release

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Ad for one-day Shibuya Public Hall screening at 1985 Tokyo Film Festival

In 1985, Tokyo Melody was screened at the Rotterdam Film Festival, the Locarno Film Festival, and the São Paulo International Film Festival. The Japanese premiere coincided with the inaugural Tokyo International Film Festival,[1][10] screening at five times throughout the day on June 9, 1985, at Shibuya Public Hall.

The film played at Filmex in February 1985,[4] then made its New York debut at the Museum of Modern Art on April 9, 1985, as part of the New Directors/New Films series, where it shared a bill with the Carma Hinton and Richard Gordon documentary Small Happiness: Women of a Chinese Village.[11] Janet Maslin, writing for the New York Times, commented on the film's "naïve solemnity,"[12] while a full-page ad for the series in the Times described the film as a "jigsaw puzzle about Tokyo today."[13] The film aired on France 3 in 1986 and was also played on NHK.[14][6]

Screening history

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In the first three decades following its original release, Tokyo Melody was screened sporadically. In February 1996, the film was shown in Japan sharing a bill with Chris Marker's 1965 documentary Le Mystère Koumiko at BOX Higashi-Nakano [ja].[8][15] Following the MoMa screening, the documentary was not screened again in North America until 2019, when a Vancouver art space showed the film.[16]

Tokyo Melody returned to New York in February 2023 for four screenings at Spectacle Theater.[17] On July 29, 2023, director Elizabeth Lennard's personal 16mm print of the film was screened at Japan Society as part of the Japan Cuts festival,[18] the first time the print had been screened since it returned from São Paulo in 1985 missing frames that had been stolen and spliced over, Lennard speculated, as souvenirs.[1][19]

Media

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The documentary has been commercially released on VHS and DVD in Japan by Pony Canyon. Excerpts from Tokyo Melody, digitized from the original negative, appear in the 2017 Sakamoto documentary Coda to depict Sakamoto in his younger years.[1][4] An NHK documentary on Sakamoto called 坂本龍一 芸術は長く、人生は短し Sakamoto Ryuichi: Art is Long, Life is Short that premiered in July 2023, with narration from Sakamoto's longtime friend Koji Yakusho, also incorporates clips from Lennard's documentary.[6][20]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g Dahl, Nel (28 July 2023). "Tokyo Melody: An Interview with Elizabeth Lennard". Ultra Dogme. Archived from the original on 2 August 2023. Retrieved 2 August 2023. I ran into two producers whom I knew a little bit from an experimental part of French TV called INA, Institut national de l'audiovisuel.
  2. ^ Wilmot, Tom (1 August 2023). "Film Review: Tokyo Melody (1985) by Elizabeth Lennard". asianmoviepulse.com. Archived from the original on 5 August 2023. Retrieved 5 August 2023.
  3. ^ Hudson, David. "Japan Cuts 2023". Criterion. Archived from the original on 31 July 2023. Retrieved 5 August 2023. Lennard captures studio sessions, interviews, the sounds of Tokyo, and domestic scenes of Sakamoto playing a piano duet with his then-wife, pop and jazz artist Akiko Yano
  4. ^ a b c d e Douglas, Edward. "Tokyo Melody Director Elizabeth Lennard Discusses Reviving Her 1985 Film About Composer Ryuichi Sakamoto". Below the Line. Archived from the original on 5 August 2023. Retrieved 5 August 2023. In the United States, yes, it was shown at Filmex [in Los Angeles].
  5. ^ Balmain, Colette (30 July 2023). "Tokyo Melody: A Film about Ryuichi Sakamoto". easternkicks.com. Archived from the original on 5 August 2023. Retrieved 5 August 2023. The creative process is interspersed by clips from Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence for which Sakamoto composed the score, as well as acting in it, and his musings on music, technology and the possibilities of non-linear time.
  6. ^ a b c d e Hosoki, Nobuhiro (22 July 2023). "Japan Cuts / Tokyo Melody: A Film about Ryuichi Sakamoto : Exclusive Interview with Director Elizabeth Lennard". Cinema Daily US. Archived from the original on 5 August 2023. Retrieved 5 August 2023. ...Ryuichi in the studio with his Fairlight, which was this new, you know, brand new machine.
  7. ^ "Tokyo Melody: A film about Ryuichi Sakamoto (1985)". In Sheep's Clothing Hi-Fi. Archived from the original on 28 May 2023. Retrieved 5 August 2023. ...an incredible scene where he demonstrates the use of the Fairlight CMI synthesizer.
  8. ^ a b "Tōkyō merodī" トーキョー・メロディー [Tokyo Melody]. Eiga.com (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 28 May 2023. Retrieved 5 August 2023. Fusai ga jitaku no piano de YMO (ierō majikku ōkesutora) no `kochi (Tong - Poo)' o rendan de ensō suru kichōna eizō mo fukuma reru. 夫妻が自宅のピアノでＹＭＯ（イエロー・マジック・オーケストラ）の「東風（Tong-Poo）」を連弾で演奏する貴重な映像も含まれる。 [The film features rare footage of the couple playing the YMO (Yellow Magic Orchestra) song "Tong-Poo" on their piano at home.]
  9. ^ Schindel, Dan (26 July 2023). "Revisiting the Magic of Ryuichi Sakamoto". Hyperallergic. Archived from the original on 31 July 2023. Retrieved 19 August 2023. I don't speak Japanese.
  10. ^ "short takes//FILMS: French connection". The Daily Yomiuri. The Financial Times Limited. 22 February 1996. ProQuest 285601853. Retrieved 2 August 2023 – via ProQuest.
  11. ^ "FILM". New York Times. 7 April 1985. p. G19. ProQuest 111241724. Retrieved 4 August 2023 – via ProQuest. Tues., 8:30; Wed., 6: Carma Hinton and Richard Gordon's "Small Happiness: Women of a Chinese Village" and Elizabeth Lennard's "Tokyo Melody."
  12. ^ Maslin, Janet (10 April 1985). "View of Chinese Village And 'Tokyo Melody'". New York Times. ProQuest 111248370. Retrieved 4 August 2023 – via ProQuest.
  13. ^ "Display Ad 53". New York Times. 8 March 1985. p. C15. ProQuest 111203316. Retrieved 4 August 2023 – via ProQuest.
  14. ^ "Biography". ELIZABETH LENNARD. Archived from the original on 30 May 2023. Retrieved 4 August 2023.
  15. ^ Todoroki, Yukio (April 1996). "Gekijō kōkai eiga hihyō Tōkyō merodi fushigina Kumiko" 劇場公開映画批評 トーキョー・メロディ不思議なクミコ [Criticism on Recent Screenings: Tokyo Melody, Fushigi na Kumiko]. Kinema Junpo (1187): 187. Kono takuetsuna puroguramu o jitsugen sa seta kikaku-sha oyobi eigakan no BOX Higashinakano ni wa, mazu, kokoro kara keii o arawashitai to omou. この卓越なプログラムを実現させた企画者及び映画館のBox東中野には、まず、心から敬意を表したいと思う。 [First of all, I would like to express my sincere respect to the organizers and the movie theater BOX Higashi-Nakano who made this outstanding program a reality.]
  16. ^ "Tonight! Tokyo Melody: a film about Ryuichi Sakamoto". Facebook. 24 September 2019. Archived from the original on 5 August 2023. Retrieved 5 August 2023. This will be Tokyo Melody's first screening in North America in over 30 years. Tokyo Melody is screened with permission from the filmmaker herself.
  17. ^ "THE COMPOSERS CYCLE". Spectacle Theater. 15 January 2023. Archived from the original on 19 March 2023. Retrieved 5 August 2023. Special thanks to Courtney Muller, Karin Rõngelep at the Arvo Pärt Centre, Dorian Supin, Duncan Ward, Alfi Sinniger, Sarah Born at CatPics, Serrana Torres, Andrés Duque, and Elizabeth Lennard.
  18. ^ "Tokyo Melody: A Film about Ryuichi Sakamoto". Japan Society. Archived from the original on 20 June 2023. Retrieved 4 August 2023.
  19. ^ "TOKYO MELODY: A FILM ABOUT RYUICHI SAKAMOTO". MUBI. Archived from the original on 4 August 2023. Retrieved 4 August 2023.
  20. ^ "Sakamoto ryūichi geijutsu wa nagaku, jinsei wa mijikashi" 坂本龍一 芸術は長く、人生は短し [Sakamoto Ryuichi: Art is Long, Life is Short]. NHK.net (in Japanese). 4 April 2023. Archived from the original on 28 June 2023. Retrieved 5 August 2023.
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