The Last Emperor

Sakamoto: the emperor, the snow, the room after. I put the score from The Last Emperor on when I don’t want a story. I want a temperature. A century of ceremony, and still it sounds like someone thinking in the next room with the door half-open.

I don’t put it on for the Oscars story. The themes move like memory: clear, a little distant, hard to rush. Sakamoto, Byrne, Cong Su wrote a score that actually listens. You can hear the space around the notes, the same space a good night needs, and the same space a Sunday needs when you are still wearing last night.

Play it away from the movie once. Let the yellow banner on the sleeve be enough image. If it makes you sit down without meaning to, leave it on. I always do.