Months before Ryuichi Sakamoto succumbed to cancer in March 2023, he recorded one final performance at NHK’s 509 Studio in Tokyo. The result is OPUS, a black-and-white concert film featuring twenty songs across an illustrious career. Directed by Neo Sora, who happens to be Sakamoto’s son, OPUS is wholly focused on the musician and the piano, with multiple cameras mindfully and gently capturing his movements, gestures, and emotions. In this intimate setting, Sakamoto musters his final strength to play one last time, to immerse himself in what he enjoys above all. Despite its sleek appearance, Sora’s film embraces the ‘imperfections’ that would normally be edited out from a crystal-clear concert recording. Like some of pianist Glenn Gould’s most famous recordings, OPUS captures Sakamoto’s breathing and the piano’s mechanical noise. It stands as a humanist portrait of a musical innovator going back to the fundamentals.

Neo Sora (b. 1991, United States) spent his childhood in New York and Tokyo. He directed several music videos and short films, including The Chicken (2020), which premiered at the Locarno Film Festival. While he was preparing for his first feature-length fiction film, he shot the music documentary Ryuichi Sakamoto: OPUS (2023). In 2024, his debut feature Happyend premiered at the Venice International Film Festival.