Ryuichi Sakamoto: Coda - English subtitled
Delicate documentary about the elusive Japanese composer Ryuichi Sakamoto and his search for perfect natural sounds and his fight for the conservation of our ecosystem.
"I want to make more music", was the reaction of Japanese composer and musician Ryuichi Sakamoto when he was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2014. In this documentary, Sakamoto is visibly reluctant to discuss his private life, including his illness, yet he is very eager to talk about his influences and ambitions. His priority is to fight for the conservation of our ecosystem. The documentary starts in early 2012, a year after the Fukushima nuclear disaster, and shows the modest and thoughtful Sakamoto as a critic of nuclear energy and weapons. His concern for the environment began 20 years earlier, after which he became increasingly political, also in his music.
This documentary, five years in the making, follows the musician in the process of making his album async. The album’s title refers to Sakamoto’s idea that 99% of music is in sync. Sounds and rhythms exist in harmony, as human beings generally tend to synchronize. As such, Sakamoto wanted to create unconventional music, or as he described it: “Creating this music is like talking in a language that doesn’t exist.” (wg)