february 27 - march 12, 1998

photo: KWAIDAN

Toru Takemitsu’s music is known for its preoccupation with timbre, texture and carefully placed silences. His film scores have an infinite breadth ranging from symphonic, choral, chamber ensemble, Japanese gagaku (traditional court music), harmonica and guitar and electronics. An artist in the studio, he masterfully manipulated recorded sounds from nature, and his arrangements embrace all styles: jazz, classical and experimental.

Takemitsu’s "unabashed appreciation for natural phenomena" is always present. Calling himself "a gardener of music," he viewed his music as a Japanese garden--circular, not linear: "Beethoven is the gate to a beautiful garden but my music is the vine that entwines it." When this wonderful composer died of cancer two years ago, flutist Paula Robison may have uttered his best epitaph: "He is hearing the water dreaming....He is feeling the rain coming."

The Film Society of Lincoln Center thanks Kyoko Hirano of The Japan Society for her generous assistance and invaluable advice. Thanks also to Peter Grilli, Hanako Yamaguchi and Charlotte Zwerin.

The Film Music of Toru Takemitsu was curated by Genevieve Villaflor & Sharon Bahus.

Note: all films are subtitled in English except as noted below.

program notes and times

ANTONIO GAUDI
NY Theatrical Premiere
Hiroshi Teshigahara, 1985, 72 minutes
One of Teshigahara's least seen films is a documentary on the great Catalan architect Antonio Gaudi. With no dialogue except for a brief interview at the end with Gaudi's assistant, the film is visual poetry made more stunning by Takemitsu's score and sound effects. "With the sound paralleling the images," Takemitsu wrote, "it looses...[Gaudi's] unique art ...born of Catalonian culture. In the film, there are four arranged Catalonian folk pieces, all of which have been electronically altered or combined with other sounds." Teshigahara and Takemitsu create a joyful, elegant, and enchanting film that has a rare ability to capture an artist's genius while achieving great artistry in its own right.
Friday, February 27: 2 and 6:15 pm
Saturday, February 28: 6:30 pm
Sunday, March 1: 9:30 pm
Tuesday, March 3: 7:30 pm
Wednesday, March 4: 6:20 pm
Thursday, March 5: 5 pm
Tuesday, March 10: 4:30 pm
Wednesday, March 11: 2 pm
Thursday, March 12: 5 pm

WOMAN IN THE DUNES
Hiroshi Teshigahara, 1964; 123 minutes
Influenced by Luis Buñuel, Teshigahara created a highly original mix of eroticism, structure and especially texture in WOMAN OF THE DUNES. He credited Takemitsu's score for helping to establish the relationship between the man, the woman, and the all important third character, the sand. The extremely tactile feel of the cinematography and score caused audiences to actually brush imaginary sand off their clothes as they left the theater. (Nominated for Best Foreign Film of 1964, with Teshigahara nominated as Best Director the following year--the first Asian director to earn that distinction.)
Friday, February 27: 3:30 pm
Saturday, February 28: 8 pm

SHARAKU
Masahiro Shinoda, Japan, 1995; 139m, 35mm
(in Japanese, with subtitles)
A fictional biography of the famous Japanese woodblock artist known as "Sharaku": Set in 18th-century Edo, Sharaku tantalizes the viewer with lavish scenes from Kabuki theater and the pleasure houses of the Yoshiwara district. Though Takemitsu's signature style moves effortlessly between Eastern and Western traditions, this final score, like the film itself, is firmly rooted in Japanese culture. Director Masahiro Shinoda will introduce SHARAKU.
Friday, February 27: 7:45 pm
Sunday, March 1: 3:45 pm
(introduction, with Q&A after screening)
Tuesday, March 3:

MUSIC FOR THE MOVIES: TORU TAKEMITSU
with Panel Discussion
Charlotte Zwerin, 1994; 58m, 35mm
A fascinating behind-the-scenes look at one of the world's most innovative and celebrated contemporary composers. Focusing on his achievements as a composer of film music, this award-winning documentary intercuts excerpts from many of his films with interviews with Takemitsu and many of the Japanese directors he worked with (including Masaki Kobayashi, Nagisa Oshima, Masahiro Shinoda and Hiroshi Teshigahara). A one-hour panel discussion will follow the screening: Moderator: Peter Grilli and guests David Raksin, film composer; Masahiro Shinoda, film director; and director Charlotte Zwerin.
Saturday, February 28: 4-6 pm

SILENCE / CHINMOKU
Masahiro Shinoda, 1971; 129 minutes, color, 35mm
"A Portuguese missionary is sent to Japan in the 17th century to propagate Roman Catholic doctrine banned by the Tokugawa shogunate. He must grapple with a crisis in faith when he sees Japanese Christians bravely accept torture rather than apostatize. Endo’s well-known novel and Shinoda’s dramatic film adaptation portray extreme confrontations between two radically different cultures. Takemitsu’s music brilliantly conveys this theme in its discordant juxtaposition of koto and classical guitar." --David Owens, Japan Society
Sunday, March 1: 7 pm
Tuesday, March 3: 5 pm

CRAZED FRUIT/ KURUTTA KAJITSU
Ko Nakahara, 1956; 86 minutes, 16mm
Composing his first film score, Takemitsu caused a sensation when he used an Hawaiian jazz band to perform FRUIT’s main theme. The film falls into a 1950s genre dubbed the "Sun Tribe," portraying the aimless lifestyles of teenaged delinquents who hang out at the beach. Featuring two brothers sexually involved with the same girl, the film outraged many Japanese audiences, but impressed French New Wave directors with its raw energy and innovative style. (Information provided by the Japan Society, which screened CRAZED FRUIT in its "Sex and Sensuality in Japanese Cinema" series.)
Tuesday, March 3: 9 pm
Wednesday, March 4: 2 pm

HARAKIRI / SEPPUKU
Masaki Kobayashi, 1962; 135 minutes,
black-and-white, 35mm
Special Jury Prize, Cannes Film Festival 1963
HARAKIRI is a chilling record of a masterless samurai’s (Tatsuya Nakadai) futile vengeance against the rigid samurai code of honor, a system--often abused by those in power--that discounted the value of the individual. Seppuku (ritual suicide), performed under the most brutal of circumstances, is viscerally portrayed in widescreen cinematography. Takemitsu initiated the first use of Japanese instruments in the film HARAKIRI. One of the primary instruments used in the film, the biwa, differs from Western instruments in its active inclusion of noise in its sound. Takemitsu referred to the sound as sawari, or "beautiful noise."
Wednesday, March 4: 3:45 and 7:50 pm
Thursday, March 5: 6:30 pm

RAN
Akira Kurosawa, 1985;
161 minutes color, 35mm
Best Film of 1985, National Society of Film Critics
U.S. Premiere:1985 New York Film Festival
Kurosawa earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Director in 1985 for this gorgeous epic which blends Japanese history with Shakespeare’s tragedy "King Lear." Noh drama, the oldest and most traditional form of Japanese theater, strongly influenced the style of RAN’s symbolic use of colors, makeup and costumes (Academy Award winner: Best Costume Design in 1985). The story is about the warlord Hidetori (Tatsuya Nakadai), who turns over his domain to his eldest son, inducing a power struggle by his two younger sons. Takemitsu once said "...the better the movie the greater number of contradictions. They are the contradictions of reality. As long as those contradictions exist...I feel it is my duty to strengthen them." This philosophy is expressed by a Mahleresque score that accompanies barbaric wartime carnage. His music for RAN won him the 1987 Los Angeles Film Critics Award.
Thursday, March 5: 2 and 9 pm
Tuesday, March 10: 6 pm

THE CEREMONY / GISHIKI
Nagisa Oshima, 1971; 122 minutes, 35mm
By means of haunting flutes, wind, wind instruments, and silence Takemitsu captures all the emotional complexities and ceremonial vicissitudes dramatized in one of Oshima’s favorite films. Much is revealed when the large and influential Sakurada clan gathers for important ceremonies--marriage, funerals, anniversaries, etc.--and Oshima is relentless in his exploration of these ritual passages. With strange stylistic devices and bizarre humor, he traces the 25-year post-war history of this family through the eyes of its younger generation: Tadashi, Terimuchi, Ritsuko, and Masuo, heir to the family seat. Relationships are pointedly uncovered through flashbacks, songs, and ambitions. THE CEREMONY is a film in which baseball signifies hope and democracy--the first family baseball game clings most to memory . Tuesday, March 10: 2 and 9 pm

KWAIDAN
Masaki Kobayashi, 1964; 164 minutes, color, 35mm
Special Jury Prize, Cannes Film Festival 1965
KWAIDAN was Kobayashi’s first independent film, designed to introduce Western audiences to Japanese traditions and folktales. The theatrical lighting and sets (authentic period artifacts) emphasize the supernatural aura of each tale. The film is based on four ghost stories (adapted by Lafcadio Hearn): Black Hair, The Woman of the Snow, Hoichi the Earless and In a Cup of Tea. Takemitsu employed a full complement of Japanese instruments traditionally used in Buddhist and Shinto rituals, including the overtones of Buddhist chant, gongs and cymbals, kodo drums and shakuhachi flute. He electronically manipulated natural sounds such as wind, water and crickets to enhance the eeriness of the scenes.
Wednesday, March 11: 6 pm
Thursday, March 12: 2 and 9 pm

TORU TAKEMITSU SHORTS
Program: Wednesday, March 11: 3:30 & 9 pm
I. AI / LOVE (Yoji Kuri, 6 minutes)
A very funny animated film in which Takemitsu electronically alters two human voices repeating the word "ai" ("love") over and over again, so that it echoes in a snowy landscape. II. JOSE TORRES (Hiroshi Teshigahara, 10 minutes; unsubtitled, but this very visual work of art does not rely on language for its impact)
Shot in New York training gyms, boxing rings, and city streets, this semi-documentary about a boxer offered Takemitsu his first opportunity to compose a film score for Teshigahara. In a score suggestive of urban jazz, Takemitsu offers "Music of Training and Rest." Subtly drawn from the Hollywood musical, his soaring romantic strain is underscored by a strong bass riff.
III. KYOTO (Kon Ichikawa, 1968, 30 minutes)
With a superb score by Takemitsu, this documentary by Ichikawa (THE BURMA HARP) captures the elusive spirit of Japan in its most treasured city. Shot in painstaking detail and photographing for the first time the Imperial villa of Katsura, KYOTO examines the images, symbols, and traditions of an ancient city as they are challenged and pressured by the encroachments of modern civilization.
IV. DREAM WINDOW: REFLECTIONS ON THE JAPANESE GARDEN
(John Junkerman, 1992, 58m) Filmed on location in Japan, this beautiful documentary reveals the secrets of both classical and contemporary Japanese gardens and features interviews with an artist, a poet, an architect, a stage designer, an abbot and an innkeeper, in addition to Takemitsu and filmmaker Hiroshi Teshigahara.