"We Are X" Trailer

X JAPAN is irrefutably the revolution behind the visual kei scene and arguably the most well-known Japanese band, inside and outside of their native country. It comes then as no surprise that a documentary featuring the band’s exhaustive and colorful history was produced. “We are X” the title of their documentary and the name comes from the call and response performed by X JAPAN with the audience during live performances of their self-title song “X”. During a lull in the song, a band member (usually Toshi) will yell, “We are…” and the audience shouts back “X!”. Filmmaker Stephen Kijak was a natural choice as director given his already expert background in creating documentaries on musicians (Rolling Stones “Stones in Exile” and Backstreet Boys’ “Backstreet Boys: Show ‘Em What You’re Made Of”). The movie is a Passion Pictures production with Drafthouse Films distributing in the United States.
 
“We are X” premiered on January 23, 2016 at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival. It went on to receive a Special Jury Award for Best Editing in the Sundance’s World Cinema Documentary Competition and is an official selection of the SXSW Film Festival. “We are X” also snagged a Audience Award for Excellence in Title Design at South by Southwest and is currently nominated for the inaugural Critics’ Choice Documentary Award for “Best Music Documentary”. With all these renowned accolades pouring in, it is no wonder that director Stephen Kijak was quoted saying “I might have to quit music films after this one. The story is so unreal, I don't know where else I could go after this."

We Are X Trailer

"Psychedelic Violence Crime of Visual Shock" has been X JAPAN’s slogan and it comes across distinctly in the documentary trailer. Startling images of everything to Kabuki demons to hallucinatory abstract snapshots of X JAPAN in the prime of their visual kei years coupled with Yoshiki’s voice revealing melancholy statements brings this mantra home to viewers. The trailer opens to Yoshiki questioning, “Why am I here?” “Why am I in this world?” and he concludes with “I almost feel like I was looking for a way to...die”. Timeless inquiries into the meaning of purpose highlight not only Yoshiki and X JAPAN’s search in the documentary but also pose the question to the audience.
 
Pain is another motif in the trailer, especially the pain from losing someone to suicide. Yoshiki’s father killed himself when he was only 10 years old and 23 years later in 1998 he would lose hide (lead guitarist of X JAPAN) to suicide as well. Yoshiki’s voice is heard in the trailer stating that “Pain has been my friend, my enemy” and leads to viewer to ponder if pain in creating musical art is inevitable.

Yoshiki has said that he has two personalities, his public persona and a man wounded by the tragedies in his life. This dichotomy is hinted to be the reason why Yoshiki is so driven to give music his all. “If you put everything into something, you don’t lose. Worst comes to worst, you die”. His struggle to give his fans, his band, his music everything is stressed by subsequent footage of Yoshiki collapsing after every live show and staff literally carrying him off the stage. This culmination of this zeal underscores how much Yoshiki and X JAPAN value their fans, how they depend on them for support, for life, and how Yoshiki has come to find the stage as his home.
 
While death appears to be the main theme of the trailer, the ending line of “A swan sings only one time, before they die” leaves the viewer wondering what and when will X JAPAN’s final performance be. Certainly the October 21st screening of “We are X” will not disappoint fans in discovering this and more about their beloved X JAPAN.

-Christina (JRockInLA)