Film

FAKE

2016 · 1h 49m · Documentary

IMDb

7.4

Born to atomic bomb survivors in Hiroshima, Mamoru Samuragochi, a self-taught classical composer with a degenerative condition causing deafness, was celebrated as a "Japanese Beethoven" for the digital age. However, just prior to the 2014 Winter Olympics, where Samuragochi's "Sonatina for Violin" was to accompany figure skater Daisuke Takahashi, part-time university lecturer Takashi Niigaki revealed that he had served as the composer's ghostwriter for 18 years, that Samuragochi couldn't notate music and, in fact, could hear perfectly. As Samuragochi's recordings were pulled and performances cancelled, Niigaki enjoyed success on TV talk shows. Filmmaker Tatsuya Mori finds Samuragochi in his small Yokohama apartment with his wife and cat, ready to tell his side of the story. A mesmerizing character study skewering media duplicity and constructions of ability/disability, in which Samuragochi's career has collapsed, taking fact and fiction with it.

Mamoru Samuragochi

Tatsuya Mori

Takashi Niigaki

• Tatsuya MoriDirector
• Yoshiko HashimotoProducer
• Keita SuzuoEditor

Release date

June 4, 2016

Status

Released

Original language

Japanese

Runtime

1h 49m

Genres

Documentary