SA-DA-TO SLICK (Short Film)

This is a low-fi short film about a "slick" solo performance by the Iranian musician Sadato at a coffee shop in Harajuku/Tokyo on July 7th, 1990 when he still lived and performed regularly in Tokyo. (Sadato moved from Tokyo to New York in 2008 and since then has been performing in New York and in the US under the artist name of SoSaLa.)

In fact, July 7th was Sadato's girlfriend's birthday which he wanted to celebrate with her, his friends, and fans at a coffee shop that didn't mind a "walk-in musician" performing there. Because of its small space, Sadato decided to do a solo performance using different kinds of instruments, tools, tapes, videos, and a rhythm machine. Most of the music which was a mix of pre-recorded noise, industrial, free jazz music with sax and guitar solos on top of it was improvised. The stage acting had a touch of Butoh, pantomime, and performance art. All done with the "D.I.Y." spirit.

Sadato acted on stage like a madman, interacting provocatively and straightforwardly with his audience bombarding it with strong "dada-like" messages. Without any reason, he interrupted his show taking his audience out of the coffee shop to a beauty salon on the opposite side of the street to move his performance space out of the venue and draw people from "outside" to see his show "inside."

Of course, Sadato surprised the staff and customers of the salon with his "visit" starting a provocative conversation which, of course, made the salon people feel uncomfortable. He did that on purpose because he knew beforehand that the Japanese couldn't handle unexpected situations. Especially when Japanese-speaking foreigners were involved, they got easily confused. Something they don't expect to happen. To cover their insecurity they often started smiling or laughing at the foreigner. You saw that in the film.

When Sadato realized that he upset the salon people a little he left the salon joking with them. Luckily, the salon people didn't make a complaint call to the police.

Director: Christophe Charles
Writer: Sadato
Cast (including roles): Sadato (the musician) and his fans (audience)
Producer: Sadato
Director of Photography: Christophe Charles
Website: https://www.Sohrab.info