Ryuichi Sakamoto: Last News

Legendary musician and composer Ryuichi Sakamoto died in March 2023 of cancer at the age of 71 and much of the world mourned. While perhaps not the most famous musician/composer on earth, the Japanese musician was a musical icon nonetheless.

A trio of moderate releases – One Life, The American Society Of Magical Negroes and Knox Goes Away join Janus Films’ celebration of master musician Ryuichi Sakamoto, and César award winning The Animal Kingdom as the next wave of 2024 indie films rolls out post-Oscars.

The Independent Iranian Filmmakers Association (IIFMA) has written to AMPAS to protest the omission of murdered director Dariush Mehrjui from the In Memoriam segment of the Academy Award on Sunday night.

Legendary composer Ryuichi Sakamoto passed away after a bout with cancer in 2023, but his legacy and presence are still being felt and celebrated. The new concert film, “Ryuichi Sakamoto | Opus,” which features his final Performance, is directed by his son, Neo Sora, and is coming out in March.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor Kore-eda Hirokazu returns to Japan for his latest film “Monster,” which poses this question to audiences: “Who really is the monster?” While location scouting, the filmmaker was looking down at a lake, dark and almost black, and “I thought of Sakamoto Ryuichi music. He was the only person who could do the music for this film.” It would mark the first time in years that the legendary composer behind “The Last Emperor” and “The Revenant” had worked on a Japanese title The film opens with Minato, played by Kurokawa Soya, an 11-year-old fifth grader who watches a burning building from afar. Kore-eda returns to this sequence three times, each from a different perspective.

Late Oscar-winning Japanese composer Ryuichi Sakamoto was celebrated at the Venice Film Festival on Tuesday with the Out Of Competition premiere of concert film Opus.

Ryuichi Sakamoto gave his final performance for the new film Opus, and a first teaser has now been released – check it out below.The pioneering composer died on March 28, aged 71 after being diagnosed with colon cancer in 2021 and throat cancer in 2014.In late December last year, the lauded composer and founder of the Yellow Magic Orchestra played his final show, a livestreamed concert titled ‘Ryuichi Sakamoto: Playing the Piano 2022’.A further performance did follow though, recorded for concert film Opus, which is being premiered at the Venice Film Festival on September 5.Now, a clip of the performance is streaming at Deadline.In a posthumous statement about the project, Sakamoto said: “The project was conceived as a way to record my performances – while I was still able to perform – in a way that is worth preserving for the future. We borrowed the NHK Broadcast Center’s 509 Studio to record in, which is a place that I think offers the finest acoustics in Japan.”He added: “I played every piece at home which we recorded on an iPhone to construct the overall composition of the concert that will express the progression of time from morning into night.

EXCLUSIVE: Blockbuster animated feature The First Slam Dunk will open Japan Cuts, a festival of Japanese cinema in New York, which will also feature a special tribute to late Oscar-winning composer Ryuichi Sakamoto. 

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Well Go USA Entertainment has acquired North American rights to Kore-eda Hirokazu’s film “Monster” which world premiered in competition at the Cannes Film Festival and and won best screenplay (for Yuji Sakamoto). A critically acclaimed Japanese master, Kore-eda previously won Cannes’ Palme d’Or with “Shoplifters” in 2018 and returned to the competition last year with “Broker” which won best actor for Song Kang-ho. Well Go USA Entertainment plans to release “Monster” in North American theaters in late 2023 or early 2024. Scored by late Oscar-winning composer Ryuichi Sakamoto (“The Last Emperor”) and lensed by Ryoto Kondo (“Shoplifters”), “Monster” tells the story of a widowed mother (Ando Sakura, “Shoplifters) who notices that her young son (Kurokawa Soya) has begun exhibiting strange behaviors. When she brings her concerns to the staff at his school, she discovers that a teacher (Nagayama Eita, “Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai”) is responsible and demands an explanation. Told through the multilayered perspectives of mother, teacher and child, the film gradually unveils the truth which proves much more complex than anyone expects.

Japanese filmmaker Hirokazu Kore-eda’s latest gem, “Monster,” begins on an enormous inferno. The facade of a hostess club is engulfed in flames of mysterious origin, attracting everyone from curious neighbors to squealing children chasing down roaring fire engines to witness the chaos.

Japanese filmmaker Hirokazu Kore-Eda’s seventh go-round in Cannes competition, Monster, received a six-minute standing ovation Wednesday in the Grand Theatre Lumiere. He won the Palme d’Or back in 2018 for Shoplifters. Can he do it again?

Hirokazu Kore-Eda is back in Cannes Competition after winning the Palme d’Or for Shoplifters in 2018 and last year presenting Korean-language Broker, which won best actor for Song Kang-ho. His new title, Monster, reteams him with Shoplifters actress Sakura Ando and is the last film to be scored by Oscar-winning composer Ryuichi Sakamoto, who Ryuichi Sakamoto Dies: Oscar-Winning Composer Was 71 at 71 following a battle with cancer. 

Ryuichi Sakamoto's management have shared a playlist he compiled to be played at his funeral. Sakamoto died earlier this year and, per a statement released alongside the funeral playlist, "lived with music until the very end." The playlist was created privately but has now been shared with the public.

Ryuichi Sakamoto‘s management has shared a playlist curated by the late musician and composer, titled ‘Funeral’.Released today (May 15), his management wrote on social media: “We would like to share the playlist Ryuichi has been privately compiling to be played at his own funeral to accompany his passing. He truly was with music until the very end.”Check out the post below.Ryuichi’s Last Playlist.

Ryuichi Sakamoto have been gathered on a new Milan Records compilation, ‘Travesía’.The album — which is available to listen to now — has been curated by Oscar-winning Mexican director Alejandro González Iñárritu, with the album’s title translating to ‘journey’ in Spanish.Sakamoto collaborated with the acclaimed director alongside alva noto for the soundtrack of Iñárritu’s 2015 film The Revenant starring Leonardo DiCaprio.Originally intended to be a surprise project celebrating the Japanese composer’s 70th birthday, the new compilation is a result of nearly two years of planning and six months of Iñárritu listening to more than 1000 pieces.“When Jean Christophe Chamboredon from Milan Records, and Norika Sora, Ryuichi’s manager, invited me to this project, my first instinct was to resist,” Iñárritu said in a press statement. “Sakamoto’s musical universe is so vast that the responsibility to honor him by choosing only 20 stars from his complex galaxy would be practically impossible.

Suga has dropped a music video for ‘Amygdala’.‘Amygdala’ is a song from Suga’s debut studio album ‘D-DAY’, which was released last Friday (April 21). The new music video, which released April 25, follows the BTS member as he relives a traumatic car accident, while trying to escape a room that seems to be a representation of his own mind.“So, is all countless suffering for my own good? /What didn’t kill me only made me stronger / And I begin to bloom like a lotus flower once again,” Suga raps on the song.On the same day, talk show host Jimmy Fallon also teased Suga’s upcoming appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.

Suga from K-pop boyband BTS has released his first studio album, ‘D-Day’.The record was released today (April 21), alongside a music video for lead single ‘Haegeum’. The thrilling clip follows two versions of Suga – one a cop, the other a gangster – as they prepare to face off against one another.“This song’s a haegeum, get on board now / The lively rhythm, perhaps this could be a new kind of haegeum,” he raps on the song’s chorus, in reference to the traditional Korean string instrument haegeum.Suga’s new studio album ‘D-Day’ also featured collaborations with his BTS bandmate J-hope on ‘HUH?!’, as well as Woosung of The Rose and late Japanese composer Ryuichi Sakamoto on ‘Snooze’.

Japanese director Hirokazu Kore-eda is a Cannes Film Festival regular at this point, with five of his last nine features premiering on the Croisette. Moreover, Kore-eda’s film do well at the fest, too: 2013’s “Like Father, Like Son” won the Jury Prize that year, while “Shoplifters” won the coveted Palme d’Or in 2018.

IU and BTS member Suga have performed their 2020 collaboration ‘eight’ together for the first time since its release.Yesterday (April 10), IU released a new episode of her YouTube talk show IU’s Palette with Suga as a guest. Between discussions about Suga’s upcoming solo album ‘D-Day’, the pair took time to perform their 2020 single ‘eight’ together for the first time.For the performance, the pair trade the track’s upbeat pop instrumental for a live acoustic accompaniment.

On April 21, BTS' Suga will release D-DAY, his new album and third full-length project under his rap alias of Agust D. The tracklist emerged this weekend, and an unexpected featured artist pops up on "Snooze," the ninth song: Ryuichi Sakamoto, the Japanese composer who died on March 28.

Suga has discussed his thoughts on his 2016 debut mixtape ‘Agust D’.The BTS member recently spoke to Billboard where he reflected on some of his past releases, such as the mixtapes ‘Agust D’ and ‘D-2’. The interview came shortly after the release of Suga latest single ‘People Pt.