We Are X

Dir: Stephen Kijak

2016

***

I would hazard a guess that long-time fans of X Japan probably won’t get much out of Stephen Kijak’s 2016 documentary. The big pull for western audiences is that Japan X are virtually unknown to them, even though they are one of the biggest and most influential bands in the world. I was shocked that I’d never heard of them before the film, I liked quite a few of their songs and their influence on the sort of stuff I have listened to over the last thirty years is glaringly obvious to me now. In this sense I’m thankful for Kijak’s film. However, I think it’s rather odd that he himself knew nothing of the band before he was asked to direct. I know that this is often the way things go but a film made by a fan might just have been a little more authentic feeling. It’s not that I didn’t learn anything, indeed, I was the target audience, but I feel there is something of a lack of passion that such a music documentary should have. The questions asked of the band were pretty inane, understandable given that the people asking them hadn’t heard of them before but it would have been nice for someone who understood them and knew something of their history to have asked them something. The band was formed by Yoshiki, who is the bands drummer, pianist and chief writer. Classically trained, Yoshiki is the heart of the band, their leader and spokesperson. Throughout the film, he explains that he is somewhat surrounded by death. At first I thought this was all part of his Visual Kei persona but it isn’t at all. While many western bands appeal to emotional youth through emotional manipulation (celebration of misery), Yoshiki was always vocal about the need to support the young and depressed, his message was very anti-suicide and he wanted the music to be a positive that helped the youth. In this he was successful. In the documentary he talks of his father’s suicide and how it still affects him. X Japan is a way for them to force out their demons and a way for their fans to force out theirs. Yoshiki explains that he firmly believes that the band and the audience are one, and while a lot of it sounds incredibly righteous, it actually rings true when you see the archive footage of the band embracing their fans and speaking to them in interviews. They’re like the Beatles in Japan, with crowds still following them, screaming, in tears, with all the girls at the front collapsing one by one. Yoshiki understands the influence he has on them and is incredibly careful not to cross any lines and to remain responsible – even when the pressure gets a little too much for his health. He’s always been a sickly man but somehow the music has always helped him, while his pain is the main driving force behind his creativity. The band split in 1997 after the vocalist, Yoshiki’s childhood friend Toshi, was brainwashed by a cult and convinced that rock music was the work of all evil. Toshi later reveals that it was his wife who indoctrinated him after the cult hatched a plan that was basically after his money. They would beat him if he didn’t comply. For the, rather emotional fans, it was a disaster. For the band it was even more so, five months later their guitarist Hide supposedly committed suicide. The rest of the band believe it was a mistake but some fans didn’t and they committed suicide as a result. Hide was a big part of the band, perhaps the closest to the fans and a huge style icon in Japan in the 80s and 90s. The bands original bassist – who was kicked out of the band for unknown reasons – then killed himself a few months after that, and Yoshiki feared he was cursed. The film is structured much like LCD Soundsystem’s Shut Up and Play the Hits – that takes place days before a big gig at New York’s Madison Square Garden but is thankfully less pretentious than that, although a little more of their music would have been nice. It’s a very quick glance of their history before a big come-back gig and the first time they will play properly to a western audience. Their ambition to break the English-speaking west was noted as being one of the reasons the band broke down in the first place, so emotions are high. Suicide, fighting, big hair, hard drinking, being brainwashed by a cult….it’s the stuff of rock and roll cliché but with We Are X it only ever feels authentic. Many famous fans make themselves known and confirm as much. It’s nice to hear an honest interview with a huge rockstar without any pretence at all. I’m a fairly cynical guy, I don’t think the structure of the film or the way it was directed was anything amazing but I liked the story and wanted to learn more. I believe it all, I don’t think it’s for show and I think there is more depth to X Japan than there is in most of the west’s super groups combined. I’m seriously thinking of seeing them next time they’re in town and I’m a bit gutted I didn’t see the original line up all those years ago.