This Golden Globe and Grammy-nominated work is back with an encore pressing!
This masterpiece will surely be remembered for generations to come, with an atmospheric soundtrack that is different from traditional film music, including operatic leitmotifs and synth sound effects.
This 2016 film, directed by Iñárritu, won Academy Awards for Best Director and Best Actor. Sakamoto accepted the commission despite being in poor health, recovering from oropharyngeal cancer he had been diagnosed with in 2014. The resulting soundtrack is a masterpiece that will go down in film music history. To capture the atmosphere of the frigid Northwest, Sakamoto created a breathy composition with long intervals between phrases and almost no metrical structure. The lingering chords of the strings fade, and then, amidst a period of silence, the chords emerge again. Unlike short beats, the sound captures the rhythm of nature. It is also noteworthy that this structured sound was performed by a live orchestra rather than a computer. To achieve this metrical structure, Sakamoto wrote a unique score with a peculiar beat that changes every measure, successfully expressing the "space" he envisioned. Electronic sounds are also skillfully incorporated, with Sakamoto himself playing cello and electric guitar. Due to poor health, he sought the assistance of Alva Noto and Bryce Dessner towards the end of production, and was therefore not considered for the Academy Award for Best Original Score. However, his achievements in creating an atmospheric soundtrack that differed from conventional film scores, including operatic leitmotifs and synth sound effects, will be remembered for generations to come.
