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Toru Takemitsu was arguably the greatest twentieth century composer from Japan. With his Western and traditional Japanese styles, he scoored nearly 100 films throughout his career. “TAKEMITSU,” a 2-week, 19-film festival celebrating the great Japanese composer Toru Takemitsu (1930-1996), will run at Film Forum from Friday, December 3 through Thursday, December 16. Film Forum’s Takemitsu tribute is part of JapanNYC, a two-part festival (beginning in December 2010, and continuing in March-April 2011) celebrating Japanese arts and culture with more than 65 events at Carnegie Hall and partnering venues throughout the city.
Perhaps Japan’s greatest twentieth-century composer, Toru Takemitsu (1930-1996) was almost completely self-taught, composing mostly Western-style music while still in his teens, and then, under the influence of John Cage, turning to traditional Japanese styles in the 1960s. Takemitsu scored nearly 100 films between 1952 and1995, in styles as radically different as cheery waltzes, orchestrated natural sounds, the big Hollywood sound, works solely for Japanese instruments, and the most elegiac of dirges.
Takemitsu’s music added enormously to the acclaimed work of directors Hiroshi Teshigahara (Woman in the Dunes, Antonio Gaudi), Masaki Kobayashi (Hara Kiri, Kwaidan), Masahiro Shindo (Pale Flower), Nagisa Oshima (The Ceremony, Empire of Passion), Kon Ichikawa (Alone on the Pacific), and Akira Kurosawa (Dodes’ka-den, Ran), though the composer had a much-publicized stormy relationship with the latter.
Unlike most film composers who add music to the finished image, Takemitsu preferred total involvement in the creative process, often participating in script revisions and making appearances on the set when permitted. Takemitsu felt that the role of music in a film was to enhance the emotional force of a scene — never to tell the story, or obviously participate in the narrative. Japanese scholar Peter Grilli has written of Takemitsu that, “he used music sparingly in his films, adhering always to the truth that less is more, and never adding a musical sound that might intrude on the impact of a scene. The ‘music’ of his films might be the sound of gravel crunching under footsteps, the wind in the branches of trees, or a silence made audible by the chirp of an insect.”
A certifiable movie nut in private life (reportedly screening 300 films in an average year), as death loomed, Takemitsu lamented of his previously bed-ridden months, “In all that time I haven’t seen a single movie.”
“TAKEMITSU” opens on Friday and Saturday December 3/4, with Teshigahara’s Woman in the Dunes, the story of an entomologist schoolteacher (Eiji Okada), who climbs to the bottom of a sandpit, where he finds widow Kyoko Kishida living in a shack — then can’t get out. The sand dunes, essentially another character in the film, are given life through Takemitsu’s score, a string ensemble re-arranged and electronically distorted: “the sounds, alternately shrill, harsh, and menacing, form a perfect soundscape… The soft, barely audible, sizzle or hiss or patter of sand – dripping, shifting, and constantly in motion – inhabits every moment of the film, as it does every moment of the protagonists’ terrifying existence” (Peter Grilli). Woman in the Dunes was the winner of a Special Jury Prize at Cannes.
The vast scope of Takemitsu’s music can be heard throughout the festival: for his pioneering use of Japanese classical music in Kobayashi’s tense Harakiri, Takemitsu utilized the lute- like biwa; for Shinoda’s Chinmoku (Silence), he mixed a mock Renaissance score, the sound of the koto (a traditional stringed instrument) and classical guitar; for Teshigahara’s Pitfall, he used improvised piano music; for Kobyashi’s Kwaidan, four ghost tales, he created an eerie compilation of electronically manipulated natural sounds (wind, water and crickets), and an array of Japanese instruments traditionally used in Buddhist and Shinto rituals; for Teshigahara’s Antonio Gaudi, the director’s impressionistic portrait of the legendary architect, he utilized four Catalon folk pieces; and for Kurosawa’s epic Ran, he created a full-blown Mahleresque score (though against his own wishes).
Prints of rare films by important directors have been imported from Japan especially for the festival: Kobayashi’s Youth of Japan (Hymn To A Tired Man), in which flashbacks tell of brutalities witnessed by an inventor during WWII and the reason for his deafness; Ichikawa’s Alone On The Pacific, a Scope depiction of a true-life cross-ocean trek: a 94- day voyage on a 19-foot yacht, from Osaka to San Francisco, featuring “Toru’s ‘Hollywood sound’ – à la Dimitri Tiomkin” (Peter Grilli); Shinoda’s Ballad of Orin (Melody In Grey), with an army deserter befriending blind samisen player Shima Iwashita (wife of the director); and two films by Susumu Hani: Bad Boys, the first feature from documentarist Hani, with actual juvenile ex-cons reliving their own situations (it was one of Takemitsu’s favorites, though the score comprises a single song); and the Antonioniesque She and Me, with Sachiko Hidari as a happily-married wife looking for a new sense of herself as husband Eiji Okada (Woman in the Dunes) immerses himself in his work. (Note: all of these prints will have limited screenings at Film Forum before returning to Japan – they will not be screened at any other U.S. venue). See below for complete schedule & showtimes.
Peter Grilli, President of Japan Society, Boston, will introduce the 6:30 show of Youth of Japan (Hymn to a Tired Man) on Saturday, December 4. A friend of Takemitsu’s, Mr. Grilli was also co-producer of a 1994 documentary on the composer. Following the screening, Mr. Grilli will present a 15-minute excerpt from the film, featuring film clips and an interview with the composer.
Mr. Grilli will also introduce the 7:50 showing of Hani’s rarely-seen Bad Boys, on Thursday, December 16.
The Takemitsu retrospective has been programmed by Bruce Goldstein, Film Forum’s Director of Repertory Programming, with Mr. Grilli and Michael Jeck as advisors.
Three concerts pay tribute to Takemitsu: November Steps—perhaps his most renowned work for orchestra— will be performed at Carnegie Hall by his close friend Seiji Ozawa, conducting the Saito Kinen Orchestra, on Wednesday, December 15; a concert in honor of Takemitsu’s interest in traditional Japanese music will be presented at Columbia University’s Miller Theatre on Thursday, December 16; and a concert at Carnegie Hall curated by Maki Takemitsu, the composer’s daughter, will combine two of her father’s great passions: jazz and movie music (Friday, December 17). More information is available at carnegiehall.org/japannyc
FILM FORUM’S TAKEMITSU FESTIVAL IS BEING PRESENTED IN ASSOCIATION WITH THE JAPAN FOUNDATION & JAPAN NYC
“He offers his directors a blank page of music and upon this he transcribes their mutual intentions. In doing so, Takemitsu shows as much diversity in his film scores as in his other music, while also exhibiting a similar unity in composition.”
– Donald Richie
“He gave me much more than just music. He gave me ideas and energy and a kind of trust that never failed. He was always more than a composer. He involved himself so thoroughly in every aspect of a film—script, casting, location shooting, editing, and total sound design—that a willing director can rely totally on his instincts.”
– Hiroshi Teshigahara on Takemitsu
TWO-WEEK FESTIVAL CELEBRATING LEGENDARY COMPOSER
TORU TAKEMITSU RUNS AT FILM FORUM, DECEMBER 3-16
TAKEMITSU ALSO TO BE HONORED WITH CONCERTS OF HIS WORK AT
CARNEGIE HALL & COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY (DECEMBER 15, 16, 17)
Public Screening Schedule
DECEMBER 3/4 Fri/Sat
WOMAN IN THE DUNES (1964, Hiroshi Teshigahara)
Kyoko Kishida, Eiji Okada
FRI 1:00, 3:45, 6:30, 9:15
SAT 1:00, 3:45, 9:30
DECEMBER 4 Sat (Separate Admission)
YOUTH OF JAPAN (HYMN TO A TIRED MAN) (1968, Masaki Kobayashi)
Makoto Fujita, Michiyo Aratama
6:30 ONLY
Print courtesy Japan Foundation, Tokyo.
DECEMBER 5/6 Sun/Mon
ANTONIO GAUDI (1984, Hiroshi Teshigahara)
SUN 1:00, 2:35, 4:10, 5:45, 9:45
MON 1:00, 2:35, 4:10, 5:45
DECEMBER 5 Sun (Separate Admission)
THE CEREMONY (1971, Nagisa Oshima) Kenzô Kawarasaki, Atsuko Kaku
6:20 ONLY
Print courtesy Japan Foundation, Tokyo.
DECEMBER 7 Tue
THE FACE OF ANOTHER (1966, Hiroshi Teshigahara)
Tatsuya Nakadai, Machiko Kyo
1:00, 3:30, 8:35
DECEMBER 7 Tue (Separate Admission)
CHINMOKU (SILENCE) (1971, Mashiro Shinoda)
Shima Iwashita, David Lampson
6:00 ONLY
DECEMBER 8 Wed
PITFALL (1962, Hiroshi Teshigahara) Hisashi Igawa, Kunie Tanaka
3:30, 7:50
DECEMBER 8 Wed (Separate Admission)
PALE FLOWER (1964, Masahiro Shinoda) New 35mm Print
Ryo Ikebe, Mariko Kaga
1:30, 5:40, 10:00
DECEMBER 9 Thu
HIMATSURI (1985, Mitsuo Yanagimachi) Kinya Kitaoji, Kiwako Taichi
1:30, 3:50, 8:30
DECEMBER 9 Thu (Separate Admission)
ALONE ON THE PACIFIC (1963, Kon Ichikawa)
Yujiro Ishihara, Masayuki Mori
6:30 ONLY
Print courtesy Japan Foundation, Tokyo.
DECEMBER 10 Fri
KWAIDAN (1964, Masaki Kobayashi) Rentaro Mikuni, Tatsuya Nakadai
1:00, 6:30
DECEMBER 10 Fri (Separate Admission)
SAMURAI REBELLION (1967, Masaki Kobayashi)
Toshiro Mifune, Tatsuya Nakadai
4:00, 9:30
DECEMBER 11 Sat
HARAKIRI (1962, Masaki Kobayashi) Tatsuya Nakadai, Akira Ishihama
1:00, 3:35, 6:10, 8:45
DECEMBER 12/13 Sun/Mon
RAN (1985, Akira Kurosawa) Tatsuya Nakadai, Akira Terao
SUN 1:00, 4:00, 7:00
MON 1:00, 4:00
DECEMBER 14 Tue
DODES’KA-DEN (1970, Akira Kurosawa)
Yoshitaka Zushi, Kin Sugai
2:00, 7:00
DECEMBER 14 Tue (Separate Admission)
EMPIRE OF PASSION (1978, Nagisa Oshima)
Takahiro Tamura, Kazuko Yoshiyuki, Tatsuya Fuji
4:40, 9:40
DECEMBER 15/16 Wed/Thu
BALLAD OF ORIN (MELODY IN GREY) (1977, Masahiro Shinoda)
Yoshio Harada, Shima Iwashita
WED 1:00, 3:10, 5:20, 7:30, 9:45
THU 1:00, 3:10
Print courtesy Japan Foundation, Tokyo.
DECEMBER 16 Thu
BAD BOYS (1961, Susumu Hani) Yukio Yamada
7:50 ONLY
Print courtesy Japan Foundation, Tokyo.
DECEMBER 16 Thu (Separate Admission)
SHE AND HE (1963, Susumu Hani) Sachiko Hidari, Eiji Okada
5:40, 9:40
Print courtesy Japan Foundation, Tokyo.
Repertory calendar programmed by Bruce Goldstein
For more information, links and showtimes, visit www.filmforum.org