'Smithereens' is the second episode of the fifth series of the anthology series Black Mirror. It was written by Charlie Brooker and directed by James Hawes. The episode first aired on Netflix, along with the rest of series five, on 5 June 2019.1 It stars Andrew Scott, Damson Idris, and Topher Grace.In the episode, a rideshare driver takes an employee of Smithereen, a large social media company, hostage. Unlike most other episodes, Brooker wanted 'Smithereens' to not rely on near-future technology as a reminder that Black Mirror is not solely a science fiction show. It is largely a parable on the overactive usage of social media sites like Twitter, and how they distract society from the real world.Although he is not exactly a household name, Japanese composer Ryuichi Sakamoto's work has been both widely heard and appreciated by a diverse, sophisticated audience. Sakamoto is best known in the West as a composer of film music and has demonstrated especial success scoring films of epic scale like Bernardo Bertolucci's The Sheltering Sky (1990) and The Last Emperor (1987); the latter received the Academy Award for Best Original Score. While remaining in demand as a film composer — he also provided the scores for Bertolucci's Little Buddha (1994) and Brian De Palma's Snake Eyes (1998) — Sakamoto has eschewed a Hollywood-centered film career, instead maintaining a busy and surprisingly eclectic schedule of projects —i ncluding, in addition to musical activities, work as an actor and a fashion model.
