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Sakamoto filmed the concert over a week in September 2022. He and the film\u2019s director, his son, Neo Sora, meticulously designed the look of the movie, including storyboards to show how the lighting would change. It is a kind of monochromatic take on the shifting of light as morning turns to afternoon, then evening. By the end, Sakamoto appears to be playing in inky blackness, with one light standing in for the moon shining over his left shoulder.<\/p>\n
The reason for this interest in invoking the passage of time is simple: Sakamoto knew his days were numbered. In 2014, he was diagnosed with throat cancer. His recovery was documented in the 2018 film \u201cRyuichi Sakamoto: Coda,\u201d<\/a> but in 2021 he was diagnosed with rectal cancer. He died in March 2023<\/a>, about six months after filming \u201cOpus,\u201d at age 71.<\/p>\n Sakamoto is, for the most part, not visibly affected in the film. Piano performance is more demanding than it might appear, but Sakamoto\u2019s face shows, for the most part, sheer joy \u2014 an invigorated happiness at the privilege of having put these notes together, of being able to enjoy them anew. Yet at one moment about halfway into the film, he struggles to recall a certain passage, and murmurs about being exhausted. It\u2019s briefly surprising, a sudden note of fallibility injected into what was appearing to be a perfect performance. This, we realize, is difficult, and draining \u2014 a life\u2019s work packed into a week.<\/p>\n Included in the musical selections are some numbers that Sakamoto hadn\u2019t previously performed as solo piano arrangements, like \u201cThe Wuthering Heights\u201d (composed as the theme for the 1992 film<\/a>). There are new arrangements of old songs, such as \u201cTong Poo,\u201d which was first released as a single from the 1978 synth-pop debut album of Sakamoto\u2019s band, Yellow Magic Orchestra. And there are familiar favorites, especially \u201cMerry Christmas Mr. Lawrence,\u201d composed for the 1983 film<\/a>, in which Sakamoto also starred alongside David Bowie.<\/p>\n But for me, the songs aren\u2019t the point of \u201cOpus.\u201d The camerawork, performance, lighting and music all add up to something larger than their individual parts. One audible element is Sakamoto\u2019s use of the pedals, which on a grand piano have different purposes, all designed to alter the life and timbre of the note.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n