Ryuichi Sakamoto's Soundtrack for Luca Guadagnino Short The Staggering Girl to Receive Wide Release

Genius composer Ryuichi Sakamoto recently scored Call Me by Your Name and Suspiria director Luca Guadagnino’s short fashion-obsessed film The Staggering Girl. The film stars Julianne Moore and several haute couture pieces from Italian fashion house Valentino, currently being creatively directed by Pierepaolo Piccioli. The film also features Suspiria’s Mia Goth and Twin Peaks’ Kyle MacLachlan. The Staggering Girl had a May 2019 release at the 72nd Annual Cannes Film Festival. Sakamoto says in a statement he approached his work on The Staggering Girl sensitively, considering the score from an aesthetic and tangible perspective:

When approaching the score for The Staggering Girl, I wanted to incorporate the tactile sound of Valentino’s fabrics. So I asked them to send me some samples and utilizing special sensitive microphones, I experimented “playing” the fabrics. I love the sound and how it forces one’s attention to a sound all around us, yet almost entirely ignored.

Sakamoto has made a lasting impression on the worlds of pop music, ambient and film composition with his decades-spanning work. He was a seminal member of Japanese synth-pop group Yellow Magic Orchestra and has received acclaim for his work scoring films, including an Oscar win for his work on 1987’s The Last Emperor. In 2015 he, alongside Alva Noto, scored Alejandro González Iñárritu’s film The Revenant, and just last year he provided the soundtrack for the rideshare horror episode of Black Mirror, “Smithereens.”

Ryuichi Sakamoto’s Soundtrack for Luca Guadagnino Short The Staggering Girl to Receive Wide Release