Tokyo Melody: A Film about Ryuichi Sakamoto (1985)

Original title

Tokyo melody, un film sur Ryuichi Sakamoto

Directed by

Elizabeth Lennard

Genre

documentary, music

Country

France, Japan

Runtime

1h 02m

Rated

I

Rating

7.2 of 10 from 8 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

This documentary follows musician Ryuichi Sakamoto in 1980s Tokyo. It mixes concert footage, recording sessions, and city scenes to create an impression of the artist and his environment.

observationalstylizednonlinearatmosphericreflectiveurbannaturalisticlyricalpaced

What happens

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 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 are combined with stylized or naturalistic shots of traditional festivals, street dancers, the urban built environment, and city life in 1980s Tokyo. Lennard has described the film as "the sounds of Tokyo—seen through the eyes of, and a portrait of, Sakamoto." (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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