Fake

Deaf composer Samuragochi Mamoru was known for years in Japan as ‘today’s Beethoven’. That changed in 2014 when a music teacher called Niigaki Takashi turned up, alleging he had written almost all of Samuragochi’s compositions. He had served for no less than eighteen years as ghost writer for a man who couldn’t even read notes and on top of that wasn’t actually deaf at all. The revelation resulted in a major scandal revolving around Samuragochi, who continues to maintain he was the main composer of all the works and really is hard of hearing.

Samuragochi was not believed, however, after which he locked himself up in his apartment for two years together with his faithful wife. In this claustrophobic setting, he was followed for months in Fake by filmmaker Mori Tatsuya, who is less interested in the truth than in the subtleties lost in the media circus.

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