TOKYO MELODY: A FILM ABOUT RYUICHI SAKAMOTO

An Iconic Artist and His City, 40 Years On

Venue(s): 20 domestic theaters. Check the website: https://bit.ly/4jwwxez
From January 16, 2026.
Language: Japanese, French, English with English, Japanese subtitles
Official website: tokyomelody.com
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMtdQwlsOBc
Tariff: Check the theater site.
Advance tickets: Check the theater site.
Talk event: Check the theater site.

Title: Tokyo melody: un film sur Ryuichi Sakamoto Director: Elizabeth Lennard (エリザベス・レナード)
Duration: 62 min, 4K Restored Version (from 16mm film)

This 1985 French–Japanese co-production is a rarely screened documentary portrait of beloved musician, Ryuichi Sakamoto, captured by American multimedia artist Elizabeth Lennard at the age of 32, during a formative moment in both his artistic life and the cultural life of Tokyo. It has now received a 4K restoration and is screening with English subtitles. If you’re a Sakamoto completist, this is sure to be nirvana.

Shot over the course of just one week in Tokyo in May 1984, the film coincides with Sakamoto’s early work on his fourth solo album, “Ongaku Zukan” (Illustrated Musical Encyclopedia). Lennard follows Sakamoto through recording studios and city streets, interweaving candid interviews with scenes of musical creation. Speaking with rare openness, Sakamoto reflects on his upbringing, personal values, cultural identity and musical philosophy—thoughts shaped by a rapidly globalizing Japan and his own expanding international presence.

The documentary also assembles a rich archive of images: behind-the-scenes footage from Sakamoto’s scoring of Bernardo Bertolucci’s The Last Emperor, sequences from Nagisa Oshima’s Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence (1983)—in which Sakamoto both starred and composed the music—and moments from the Yellow Magic Orchestra’s legendary “disbandment” concerts during their final Japanese tour. Promotional videos, TV appearances, and everyday urban scenes further situate Sakamoto within the media-saturated Tokyo of the 1980s.

The film’s portrait of the city itself is equally compelling. Shibuya’s scramble crossing, the now-lost Shinjuku Alta Studio, Harajuku’s Takeshita Dori, and other familiar landmarks appear alive with the energy of the era, turning Tokyo Melody into a vivid document of Tokyo at a cultural crossroads.

Originally made for French television, the film was screened at major international festivals including Rotterdam, Locarno and São Paulo, and shown in Japan only once — at the very first Tokyo International Film Festival in 1985. After years of scarcity on VHS and DVD, the rediscovery of the original 16mm elements enabled a full 4K digital restoration, drawing renewed attention following a special screening in early 2025. Now, nearly 40 years later, Tokyo Melody: A Film About Ryuichi Sakamoto finally receives its long-awaited theatrical release in Japan — an essential cinematic record of an artist listening closely to his city, his time and his own evolving sound.