Directed by his son Neo Sora and filmed in lyrical black and white by cinematographer Bill Kirstein over a week at the end of 2022, Ryuichi Sakamoto ‘Opus’ is more elegy than recital. I didn’t manage to catch Kamagi, the mixed-reality tribute event which ran at The Roundhouse in January, but I imagine despite the parallels (study of Sakamoto at the ebony and ivory), the stark simplicity of Sora’s 103 minute production generates a completely different experience. There’s no audience, lighting mimics the passing of time across one day, and although the hits are there, stripped back to the bare essentials, the intimacy and emotion of each 2D moment creates a narrative more akin to a classic melodrama than a concert.

The stage in Tokyo’s 509 Studio at NHK is sparse – an artificial sun rises and sets against a backdrop of white acoustic tiles, a forest of masts and mics stand on duty around the curves of a mirrored, black piano. They pick up minute details – breaths, creaks and subtle taps of the keys – which are woven into the soundscape. These sonic touches coupled with stillness in the surroundings, amplify Sakamoto’s movements. Consumed deep in concentration, filled with pleasure as every molecule in his body feels the chord, or raising his hands to savour the final, lingering moments of a note, he might be playing to a future he’ll no longer be present in, but this is how he wants to be remembered – full of vigour and very much alive.

At one point in ‘Bibo no Aozora’, Sakamoto struggles through a section of improvisation. He pauses to consider the dissonant harmony. It’s not quite right and watching his attempt to find a clearer path, we’re given a rare glimpse into the method behind genius. At other times elegant fingers fly over the keys with such ease, the complexity behind the compositions melts away. From Yellow Magic Orchestra, through the Oscar winning scores and his final album, 12, Sakamoto bares his soul. He knows this may be the last time that he can present his craft and by the end, so do we.

If music is the purest art form, cinema comes close second. Sakamoto had a profound understanding of both, stemming back to his childhood. His first musical memory occurred in the movie theatre, watching Fellini’s ‘La Strada’ from his mother’s lap. The melody never left him. Although fingers do the talking in Ryuichi Sakamoto ‘Opus’, it’s camera movements and film production that really tell the story, in a carefully orchestrated, fitting farewell to a much-loved master.

Ryuichi Sakamoto | Opus will be released in the UK and Ireland by Modern Films on 29 March 2024. UK release details & trailer.