There are not many Japanese pop musicians that can sell out concert venues outside of their home country. Recently, a younger generation of listeners gets hooked on the hedonistic vibe of the so-called “City pop”-genre, whose catchy 80s melodies spread throughout the internet and gathered a viral fellowship. But there is more to the Japanese music industry than just flashy neon lights and songs about heartbreaks.
No Smoking is screening at Japan Cuts
In “No Smoking” director Taketoshi Sado introduces the legendary producer, singer, actor, and bass player Haruomi Hosono, who gained international success as part of the electro band “Yellow Music Orchestra” and through his work on the soundtrack for Koreeda's Academy-Award nominated film “Shoplifters” (2018).
Proceeding from a video and picture archive-based retelling of Haruomi's upbringing in postwar Japan, the documentary increasingly connects stages of his past with the present by showing concert clips from the latest US tour. This is where Haruomi's popularity is underlined. After 50 years in the business, he is still able to draw a, mostly younger, crowd to his shows. An audience of which probably most of them weren't even born when “Yellow Music Orchestra” was around in the 70s and 80s.
In many interview sessions, Sado paints a picture of a person that comes from a matriarchy family and is heavily influenced by American singer-songwriters. As the roughly 90-minute film continues, the biographical aspects are interwoven with a lot of performances, mainly from the current tour. Therefore, “No Smoking” is not a retrospect of a musical dinosaur but locates Haruomi in the context of a global modern music scene. Different from Stephen Schible's documentary “Coda” (2017), centering around former band colleague Ryuichi Sakamoto, Sado shows a more natural and less myth-making view on his subject. This can be sobering for some since the real “larger than life” aspect of Haruomi's work is kind of downplayed and not portrayed philosophically nor artistically.
Overall, “No Smoking” only hints at the big influence that the musical talent of Haruomi Hosono brought to the world. Ambient, jazz, world music, soundtracks. The variety of his doings is impressive and worth discovering. Director Taketoshi Sado may spark your interest with a low-key documentary that gives prospect to a little-known legend, that somehow fits the character of Haruomi and continues the cultural dialogue between Japan and the Western world.
