For the movie version of The Handmaid's Tale, his music underlines the violence of Gilead, while 1992's Wuthering Heights saw the Japanese composer create some of his most romantic symphonies. The movie, which stars Debra Winger and John Malkovich, is a most ravishing bit of existential terror, so beautiful it hurts, and Sakamoto's score is a big part of that inebriating quality.ĭuring the 90s, Sakamoto would work on other prestigeous literary adaptations. Their second film was The Sheltering Sky, an adaptation of Paul Bowles' eponymous novel about two American travelers losing themselves in the Algerian landscape.
That work earned Sakamoto an Oscar and started a three-picture adventure between him and Bertolucci. Afterward, the producers contacted the composer – they wanted more. During the shooting of 1987's The Last Emperor where the composer played a small role, Bertolucci asked Sakamoto to compose some music to be played during a gala sequence. 1999's Taboo, which is also available on the Criterion Channel, is another masterpiece of cinema and music.Īs with Oshima, Ryuichi Sakamoto's collaboration with Bernardo Bertolucci started when the Italian auteur hired him as an actor. Years later, when Oshima was making his last film, another portrayal of militarism and homosexual desire, he contacted Sakamoto again. The result was a hypnotic dream of synth and piano which encompasses the concepts of brutality and gentleness that fight within the narrative. Still, the young musician would only act in the movie if Oshima let him compose the score. For the role of Captain Yonoi, who becomes enthralled with the South African officer played by David Bowie, Oshima wanted another Rockstar – Ryuichi Sakamoto. Based on the autobiographical books of Sir Laurens van der Post, it's a tragedy laced with homoerotic longing that portrays the going-ons of a Japanese prisoners camp during World War II. While not as graphic nor as shameless as the director's previous In the Realm of the Senses and Empire of Passion, the flick is no less invested in the breaking of taboos. Lawrence is a savage attack on the ideals of militaristic masculinity and wartime valor, both in the context of Japanese culture and Western society. He even won an Oscar.īecause of such excellence, the Criterion Channel has curated a selection of 10 Ryuichi Sakamoto scored pictures. Across the years, he's built an eclectic filmography that's rich in artistic brio and lacking in mediocre efforts. Sakamoto's also an avid cinephile and had been writing film scores since the 80s when Nagisa Oshima cast him in Merry Christmas, Mr. Since the 1970s, has never stopped composing, never stopped challenging himself, or dazzling his audience with music whose beauty transcends comprehension. His avant-garde sound is difficult to confuse with that of other composers, but he's not an artist predisposed to repetition or stagnation. Thanks to his work with the Yellow Magic Orchestra and solo experiments, Sakamoto has helped shape the evolution of electronic music like few other artists in the past decades. Ryuichi Sakamoto is a master of music that needs no introduction.
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