In early ’16 I had the honor of shaking hands and briefly speaking with genius composter Ryuichi Sakamoto (The Revenant, Call Me By Your Name, The Last Emperor, The Sheltering Sky, Little Buddha, Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence and a Guadagnino short film, The Staggering Girl).
I met Sakamoto at a Revenant Oscar party; I said emphatically that I regarded his Revenant score as the best of the year, and that despite the Academy’s petty refusal to nominate the score he and collaborator Alva Noto should have won an Oscar for it.
Three days ago Sakamoto, 70, announced that he’s battling stage 4 cancer.
I had heard in ’14 or ’15 that he had been afflicted with throat cancer. Writing for the Japanese literary magazine Shincho, the legendary composer and Yellow Magic Orchestra member wrote that he’s undergone surgery late last year to remove cancer that had spread to both lungs. Stage 4 generally means that the patient should get his/her affairs in order.
My deepest sympathies to Sakamoto and his family, and to his many creative collaborators including Alejandro G. Inarritu and Luca Guadagnino and everyone else who has known or worked with him. One of the all-time greats. The Mr. Lawrence theme still sets my heart aflutter.