The Toronto International Film Festival is wrapping up today after about ten days of movies and glitz downtown. It's run its course like any other festival lasting some days here; a lot of giddy excitement in the beginning with all of the stars coming out to do their meet-and-greets with fans but the ending has gotten a lot quieter and slowly fading into the rest of the news in the city. Mind you, this year's TIFF is a bit more special since for all intents and purposes, this has been the first year since before the pandemic that the festival has returned to its old semblance of movies, fans and thespians happily getting together since before that, we all had to deal with COVID lockdowns and then the Hollywood strikes last year.
TIFF has gotten me to write about this ballad by crooner-songwriter Takao Kisugi（来生たかお）. His August 1984 10th album "Romantic Cinematic" was created with the air of the old movies in mind, and so I bring you this track "Itsuka Tsukiyo de" (Sometime on a Moonlit Night). Written by his sister Etsuko（来生えつこ）with Takao handling the melody, Kazuo Shiina（椎名和夫）arranged "Itsuka Tsukiyo de" as this straight pop love song about an ideal time to fall head-over-heels, with the singer describing over how he first saw his beloved one moony evening.
I can certainly imagine a scene out of old Hollywood whether it involved Spencer and Kate, Humphrey and Lauren or Fred and Ginger. As for the album, it managed to hit No. 18 on Oricon. And I really like that stylized image of what could look like a typical Beverly Hills mansion as the cover for "Romantic Cinematic".
I like it and to me it sounds like it could be a good song for the love boat!
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