Ryuichi Sakamoto – Opus review: a breathtaking final farewell

“I want a break,” sighs Ryuichi Sakamoto between takes on Opus, his hauntingly stunning ultimate efficiency that’s been immortalised as a feature-length movie. “That is powerful – I’m pushing myself.”

It’s the one signal all through the Neo Sora-directed movie that he could also be struggling. Earlier than the composer misplaced his battle with most cancers in March 2023, Sakamoto discovered himself too unwell to carry out. Every part he had left went into this – one final portrait of a person, his piano and his genius.

Sakamoto chosen these 20 songs, figuring out that this could be his final goodbye and swansong. “The challenge was conceived as a solution to report my performances – whereas I used to be nonetheless capable of carry out – in a approach that’s price preserving for the longer term,” he stated in a press release ready previous to his passing. “In some sense, whereas considering of this as my final alternative to carry out, I additionally felt that I used to be capable of break new grounds. Merely taking part in a couple of songs a day with plenty of focus was all I may muster at this level in my life.”

Pulling from his work with pop pioneers Yellow Magic Orchestra by means of to his many movie scores and ultimate album ‘12’, Sakamoto carves out a career-spanning setlist that not solely showcases his breathtaking catalogue, however the arc of a life effectively lived. Every bit was carried out at his own residence and – staggeringly – recorded on an iPhone. The digicam positions and lighting subtly change all through to indicate the transfer from morning to nighttime. If you happen to thought that Nick Cave’s Fool Prayer dwell movie of the Dangerous Seed alone in Alexandra Palace confirmed an artist stripped naked, you ain’t seen nothing but. It is a man inviting you into his eleventh hour, and providing you with all he has left.

You may see the dedication on his face as he squeezes out each ounce of feeling from every press of a piano key. Simply the sight of his iconic glasses resting on sheet music is sufficient to convey a tear to your eye, however the tenderness with which he performs ‘Andata’ and ‘Bibo No Aozora’ is much more affecting. Simply as they did for the movies they have been initially written for, ‘The Final Emperor’ and ‘Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence’ create entire new worlds on the suggestions of Sakamoto’s fingers – blockbusters in their very own proper.

It’s one gut-punch after one other while you realise what it means as Sakamoto lets each be aware breathe till it fades out. The work offered is an opus, and that is as intimate and human a live performance movie as you’ll ever see. As along with his current posthumous mixed-reality gigs in London and his ultimate movie rating on Monster, Opus is one more priceless reward from a once-in-a-lifetime expertise – and a reminder of what we’ve misplaced. Goodbye maestro – and thanks.