**I was able to catch this when it was shown at this year's London Film Festival**
We Are X is a documentary that narrates the story of veteran Japanese rock band X Japan along with other footage leading up to the Madison Square Garden concert in 2014.
For approximately an hour and forty-five or so minutes the viewer dives into the busy, hectic and adrenaline-driven world of X Japan, how the original line up came about but also the sharp roots to the past moments that defined the band. The main narration is by co-founder/leader Hayashi Yoshiki but you also hear and see other people who have shaped the band's history. Aside from the band members, people such as former managers, producers and while you do not see her, you hear the voice of Yoshiki's mother.
Yoshiki was reluctant to participate in this documentary due to many memories deemed too painful to talk about. Perfectly understandable and there is no denying that X Japan has been through A LOT over their career from the deaths of two original band members, to Yoshiki's father committing suicide and leading vocalist Deyama Toshimitsu aka Toshi joining the cult. There are situations from the past that would normally be better off untouched to avoid further agony. This is undoubtedly something I myself identify with and you cannot simply solve something with a mere "Get over it". There are things which need to be dealt with slowly and that could take months or many, many years to work through.
Yoshiki and Toshi often go down memory lane while in the recording studio and preparing for the band's upcoming concerts. Their childhood friendship truly evident as they reminisce over their school years, how the band rose and fell and when they both started talking to each other again since the band split. Of course there were some untold stories that would never be fully revealed in this feature and fans could only continue to speculate what went wrong e.g. why bassist Sawada Taiji left the band. No matter how much the interviewer pressed for an answer, Yoshiki wouldn't give it to him.
Another thing which I never really had the chance to find out from research was Yoshiki's father. All I knew was he killed himself when Yoshiki was very young yet I was often never able to find any photos of him. I only found out while watching We Are X that Yoshiki's mother got rid of anything related to her husband after his suicide because she felt the family had been cursed.
Yoshiki said in interviews how We Are X could save lives, encouraging people to be strong, move on and that in some way music can save them. Rock music saved him. X Japan's music certainly saved me. There is no doubt that this 'rockumentary' has certainly reminded me of how X Japan has changed my life, shaped my thinking towards music genres and much, much more. Long story about ethnicity but let's not get into that.
For both fans and non-fans alike, I feel the director Stephen Kijak has done well in providing a balanced insight to what X Japan has gone through and what they are currently challenging themselves with (especially in regards to health). You see how much influence the band has on fans (how local fans were strongly affected by the death of guitarist Matsumoto "hide" Hideto - you see that footage of the devastated fans and think wow), as well as other musicians who are well-acquainted with them like former Extasy Record labelmates Luna Sea and Glay, Taiwanese rock band Mayday, KISS bassist Gene Simmons, Marilyn Manson, plus much more. There is also focus on the cynicism about a Japanese Visual Kei band trying to break into the West, namely USA, from the early 90s and how things are starting to evolve bit by bit in more recent years.
As a long term fan, albeit not a hardcore fan/stan who knows every single detail to date from past and present about each member, there were a few things I had already been familiar with in regards to the band, but was surprised with extra tidbits I never knew about. Toshi's darkest moments when he was in the cult. I didn't go that far in finding out more on this back then, though I think I will start reading translations of his book to see what went on. Even finding out how hide was the motherly figure of the band, I chuckled over how Yoshiki explained the moment when they were out eating and hide easily took out the bones of a fish when he saw Yoshiki struggling to pick them out.
Does We Are X do the job? Yes it does. If anybody unfamiliar with Asian music asks who X Japan are, aside from saying they sang the Saw theme tune "I.V." point them to this documentary and if you managed to see it at a local film festival, mention this as well.
Here is the trailer for We Are X. There are subtitles throughout the documentary.
Outside Prince Charles Cinema in Leicester Square where the first We Are X screening took place. Thanks for showing this for London Film Festival, BFI
Banners being signed by fans
Yoshiki after We Are X screening on 08 October 2016. He was a surprise guest that took part in a Q&A with Stephen Kijak
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