Ryuichi Sakamoto - Tokyo Melody Ryuichi Sakamoto

This documentary film traces the origins of it's production to 1983, when French director Elizabeth Lennard visited Ryuichi Sakamoto in Berlin during David Sylvian's recording sessions, leading to Sakamoto's invitation to participate in the project in Japan in May 1984, with filming taking place in Tokyo over just one week alongside the recording of his fourth solo album Ongaku Zukan, as Lennard and a small crew captured Japan, the city of Tokyo, and Sakamoto himself, culminating in the film's completion in 1985 and screenings at international film festivals in Rotterdam, Locarno, and São Paulo, as well as it's Japanese release at the first Tokyo International Film Festival that same year, followed by television broadcast in France in 1986 and subsequent VHS and DVD releases that remained difficult to obtain for decades until the recent discovery and restoration of a 16mm film print, now digitized and released as a long-awaited package version nearly 40 years later, featuring rare interviews with Sakamoto, studio recording scenes, commercials in which he appeared, footage from a YMO dispersal concert, memorable excerpts from Nagisa Oshima's Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence from 1983, vivid scenes of 1980s Tokyo including Shibuya Scramble Crossing, Shinjuku Alta, and Harajuku's Takenoko Zoku, and reflections from the then 32-year-old Sakamoto on his childhood memories, cultural and societal change, his creative process, and the music he pursued, offering an intimate portrait of his artistic origins and a documentary experience centered on the sound of Tokyo, with the film available on DVD.