INCREDIBLE MUSIC COMPOSED by TORU TAKEMITSU for JIM JARMUSCH's film, "NIGHT ON EARTH" (ナイト・オン・ザ・プラネット) (1991).
It was unused in the film because Jim Jarmusch wrote back saying he thought the music may overwhelm the movie itself. Although it's been some time since I saw this film, just by listening to the music, one can imagine the scenes in your mind.
I can't think of a single composer in Japan after Takemitsu, who can combine sounds in such an extraordinary manner. These days most films and dramas made here in Tokyo are like long TV commercials, and the music is often used to force people to feel emotions instead of allowing the viewers to have an objective point of view.
I like the arrangements and the orchestrations of many of Takemitsu's later work for the movies, such as the soundtrack he composed for "Rikyu" and "Go Hime". This soundtrack was included on the box set "The Complete Takemitsu" released by Shogakukukan in the mid-2000s. I am also on 4 of the tracks on the box set doing arrangements and playing.
There are still very few books written about Takemitsu in English and only one translation of a book consisting of essays of Takemitsu himself. I was surprised by this since he has influenced so many musicians in the English speaking world. I once interviewed Alex Cox (the film director known for works like "Sid & Nancy"), who said that he and Joe Strummer (of The Clash) spent days studying how Takemitsu scored films.
After writing the above article, Toru Takemitsu's daughter wrote a comment on my Facebook page about Jim Jarmusch's reaction to the music Takemitsu composed for this film. Here is the comment and my own reaction:
Maki Takemitsu:
Toru was so proud and completely satisfied with his work at the recording studio, which is quite rare of course. But on the contrary, I could tell Jim felt right away “this is not something I expected from the composer who wrote music for Woman in the dune. Toru was of course quite disappointed with Jim’s decision, yet he respected that as he always felt that the film belongs to the director.
Thank you for your very informative comment. This is something that few people would know. "Woman of the Dunes" is really a classic in world cinema, and the music set to the movements of the sands was perfect to convey the philosophical meaning in Kobe Abe's novel. The 1960s in Japan must have had a really interesting art scene. The 1980s and the 90s were a completely different age. Perhaps Jim Jarmusch was looking for something more experimental and Avant-Garde like the noise guitar provided by Neil Young for his film, "Dead Man". I think the music Toru Takemitsu composed for this film is great on its own because it lets you visualize scenes in your own mind. The different textures of sounds help the listener to do this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBYd6b_7O58&t=27s
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