The Emotional Genius of Ryuichi Sakamoto
The late Japanese musician scored not only films but also the exquisite highs and distressing lows of life.
Ryuichi Sakamoto, the Japanese composer, producer, and actor who died last Tuesday, was a musician of sophisticated talent. For many, the way he intermingled cacophony with dense synth, and his interest in both silence and sound, made Sakamoto timeless and avant-garde. But for me, Sakamoto was first and foremost a conjurer of layered emotion, as exemplified in his many film compositions.
Sakamoto’s scores weren’t like Alexandre Desplat’s, nor were they like John Williams’s. Sakamoto and . Sakamoto’s music was interested in the intersection of beauty and terror, the way a soul can survive even as a body falters.
