Customer Reviews

Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters. Directed by Paul Schrader. Produced by Francis Ford Coppola and George Lucas. Made in 1985. Cost $4.5million to make, filmed entirely in Japanese with all Japanese actors, never released in Japan. Grossed $500,000. Beautiful film that tells three separate stories. One is a black and white re-telling of Mishima's life. Another is a color re-telling of Mishima's last day. And the third consists of three re-tellings of Mishima's novels. The novel re-tellings are shot like very elaborate stage plays in lavish colors and designed by Eiko Ishioka, who designed costumes for Dracula, The Cell, and the new Houston Rockets jersey.

Long story short, I bought this film sight unseen and I cannot stop thinking about it. The music haunts me (in a pleasant way), and the images and the ideas of Mishima have been playing in my mind. I had read two novels of Mishima's, so I was familiar with him and his work.

Here is a man, arguably the greatest postwar author Japan has had, who wrote 35 novels, over a dozen plays, several operas, a ballet, over 400 short stories and essays, directed and starred in a movie he wrote, and starred in a few more. And in 1970, at the age of 45, after creating his own army, committed suicide after a vein attempt to incite revolution in the Army. Oh, he was also a body builder.

Just like the deafness in Beethoven, it is the army building and suicide that everybody obsesses about when they study Mishima. It is true for the last decade of his life he tipped to the right in political views to the point of fervent fanaticism, but he still managed to balance his passion with his desire for beauty and existence. In the end he hoped to unify it all in one swift moment that is death.

Known to go out on the town or host cocktail parties with the who's who of Tokyo and the literary world of the 50's and 60's, Mishima never drank and rarely took to debauchery that personifies the tragic novelist. Instead he possessed a phenomenal work ethic. At 11:00pm, whether on the town, or the host of a party, people knew it was time for Mishima to head home, or for the party end. He had work to do.

Even while cramming for exams as a teenager, Mishima would stay up until dawn writing. His one passion at that age. And for the last twenty years of his life, at midnight, he would go to his study and write. No distractions, silence would guide his thoughts.

Most of this I got from reading a biography I just read of him, but the film touches upon it very nicely. And it is the quotes about his personal development that make some of the best lines from the film (in an optional English narration on the DVD.)

"Every night at precisely midnight I would return to my desk and write. I would analyze why I was attracted to a particular theme. I would boil it into abstraction until I was ready to put it down on the page." I think I just miss quoted (as I will again later), but I got it close enough. Even on the last night of his life he followed this work ethic. In his entire writing career, he never missed a deadline.

He was a weak kid. Pale, young looking for his age. Sheltered by his grandmother. His one release was writing. In a scene that was objected to by his widow, the film shows him at a gay bar. He is criticized by a man for being "flabby". This scene and the implied homosexuality resulted in his widow preventing the release if the film in Japan.

The following scene concludes with Mishima thinking: "All my life I had suffered under a monstrous sensitivity." And that, "What I lacked was a healthy body; a sense of self."

"I saw that beauty and ethics are one in the same. Creating a beautiful work of art and being beautiful oneself are inseparable"

Mishima took up body building in the mid 1950's and kept it up until the end of his life. Unlike the average tale of the forlorn, drunk, self-hating author, Mishima was obsessed with health and the prevention of the decay of the body.

The reputation of famous authors of Japan are that of chain smokers who drink and write. It is this lifestyle that gives them their writing will. I have found two Japanese authors who buck this trend. One is Mishima and the other is Murakami Haruki, who is in his fifties right now and is possibly the most popular author in contemporary Japan. He too follows a strict ethic of exercise and writing.

I will point out some other aspects of the film I find interesting. Apparently Lucas and Coppola were miffed that Yoko, Mishima's widow, would only allow scenes that were documented as happening. Seems fair to me when making a biopic. All quotes in the movie spoken by Mishima are actual words Mishima wrote.

Though one issue I do have is that Ogata Ken, the actor who plays Mishima, doesn't really look like him. Mishima was just more handsome. His face was tough, but the eyes were the eyes of a poet. And he was more muscular for the last 15 years of his life. But considering the controversial nature of Mishima and his reputation, it was hard to find an actor as willing as Ogata, so I should not be so upset.

Plus Paul Schrader made a comentary track for the DVD release that is full of good tidbits.

A beautifully filmed true story of a writer caught in a sword vs pen dilemma, and his ideologically intense but doomed attempt at action.

Well acted, well written, well directed and beautifully shot.

It struck me whilst watching Mishima that the film has a very clear, but perhaps unintentional, interpretation of his behaviour in his final years. Mishima's decision to re-focus his life away from what he came to see as an artificial world of words to the real world of action and was, in fact, simply replacing one artistic activity with another. His final actions were performance art. Assesed objectively they served no genuine policital or social purpose at all. A film worth watching for anybody interested in Mishima's work or Japanese culture.

Reading the reviews of "Mishima - A Life in Four Chapters" on this site got me interested enough to finally rent the movie, despite its goofy-looking cover and a general sense that it might prove to be dull.

As it turns out, this is one of the most powerful films I've ever seen.

Mishima was a famous Japanese writer who tried to live his beliefs. In the end, he became a character from his own novels, merging art with life.

The film is told by inter-cutting scenes from his life (filmed in black and white, like an old Japanese film), scenes from three of his novels (brightly colored, very theatrically performed) and the final day of his life. The transitions from scene to scene are thematically and cinematically chosen, so that you see how the events of his life were reflected in his stories, and how the ideas in his stories later found expression in his life.

The only movie I can compare this to is Fellini's 8 1/2, although it's quite different from that, of course. But both films are about the thin line separating one's art from one's actual life and both films utilize thematic transitions from the past, fantasy, and "reality."

When you're done watching this movie, be sure to watch it a second time with the director's commentary. His stories about the making of the film and why it was never shown in Japan are fascinating. In the end, as he says, it was a film financed by nobody, made to be seen by nobody.

Damn good flick!

With its multiple timeframes, minimalist aesthetic, and intercut dramatized extracts from Mishima's novels, on paper this film sounds like a disaster waiting to happen. But in the hands of Paul Schrader, this ambitious fusion of literature and cinema is nothing less than a joy. Few films cover so much ground, philosophically or biographically, let alone with such economy and flair. Paul and Leonard Schrader's screenplay is perfect, Ken Ogata is masterful as Mishima, and Philip Glass's now-classic score lends everything a powerfully tragic tone. Ironically, in the end this most complex of projects plays like a very simple story, and succeeds in not only in making us feel for Mishima but also has us understanding the personal and ideological forces which drove him. In a bio-pic, you can't ask for more than that. (NOTE: Roy Scheider's narration has been replaced in the DVD edition, so fans of the VHS be warned.)

A stunning film about the great Japanese writer whose spectacular suicide at the Japanese Defense Headquarters shocked the world.

If you haven't read Mishima's novels, I suggest that to get to the heart of the man you read his " The Way of the Samurai: Yukio Mishima on Hagakure in Modern Life " it's a working through of the ancient samurai classic, which poses the question of how to live like one--in a modern Japan inhabited by businessman and golfers.

The answer, though not fully admitted by Mishima, is that there's no way in hell.

Nor is there much hope for artists, romantics, knights or anyone else who follows the dictates of his soul on this planet. Go to college, have kids and be grateful if Sony hires you.

Even though Mishima is not explicit the reader will see this is a suicide waiting to happen. "Why live on and be despised as a bungler or a fool?" (Hagakure)

What this film captures brilliantly in its theme is the essence of a man who suffers through the knowledge that not only has his youth has gone and with it, the hope for better days, but more importantly, the realization that his life has been ultimately irrelevent.

Why?

Because, quite simply, it is a mistake to survive the death of one's country. . .

Predictably, as with Mishima's writings, this film has garnered tons of awards but has not proven a tremendous draw among the golfers and businessmen.

They need to dismiss him as a crank: A repressed bisexual with an over inflated view of masculinity, a political radical, a crazy artist, someone in dire need of medication.

In short, anything but a mirror to the world we live in.

I find it hard to praise this film highly enough, from the use of "theater sets " for the 'fictional' segments---taken from Mishima's novels and short stories, that are interspersed between the biographical sections of his life. To Phillip Glass's outstanding musical score.

The saddest moment in the film is not his doomed and impassioned speech to the Japanese Defense Ministry soldiers--who shout him down as he bows to the emperor, nor his subsequent ritual seppuku.

Far more poignant is an earlier scene in which Mishima, on the small stage of a hotel convention floor, stands with a handfull of followers, attired in dress uniforms looking like something out of a Japanese Loyola Military Boy's Academy--addressing a few, scattered reporters as to how they should not be dismissed as "toy soldiers" as his Japanese critics contend, but should be viewed instead for what they are, a "spiritual army".

The incongruity of the carpeted floor, the waiters clankingly removing the dishes to make way for the next convention, the bored reporters---I mean where does this guy think he is anyway?

Among Samurai?

What a wonderful film. I initally picked it up because, as a fan of George Lucas, I own every film that Lucasfilm put out. Lucas' involvement with this particular film was pretty minimal -- he funded it and provided the studio support -- but the reasons for his attraction to the project are obvious. The film makes wonderful use of color, black-and-white, and early technicolor, as well as imaginative, minimalist sets to (abstractly) tell the story of Yukio Mishima, one of the most important Japanese writers and gay men of the twentieth century.

As a gay man, a student of gay history, and a person interested in biographical history in general, I wish the film would've spent a bit more time on Mishima's homosexuality, but resistance from his wife (largely of convenience) made this difficult. Nonetheless the film is a tremendously underrated masterpiece and should not be missed.

but I thoroughly enjoyed the film. Many of the reviews given about this film (on dvd) seem to be highly disappointing. While I have not seen it in its original narration (on vhs) I would still highly suggest seeing this film. I was quite taken by the imagery provided with Schrader's direction. I watched this film on a whim. I wasn't at all educated about the man Mishima from which the film was created. It added new insight in my quest for new knowledge of the world. After watching this documentary style film I am intrigued to know more about Mishima and his writings.

Schrader does an excellent job of keeping the viewer visually entertained. Even though I was watching it from the viewpoint of English subtitling I was able to feel the emotions portrayed through the actors. I must admit, however, that at times I became lost in where the 'plot' was taking place. (Scenes of his life were played out in black and white while his literary works were played out in color.)

I felt it was a wonderfully developed film. In addition, I should comment about the life of Mishima being caught in an unsual inner turmoil with the schizophrenic disorder (as mentioned in the dvd's special features section). With that, it makes for a perfect blending of the scenes (his real life vs. his work) played out in this film. It's almost as if you can 'see' what Mishima might have 'seen' in his life. The chaotic mixed with variances of a seemingly normal life of a writer.

There is much more to be learned about this man's life. It is a great introduction which helps an outsider discover a new culture within the literary world. I know in my discovery of the film I am going to research more into Mishima's life. Take a gamble and watch the film. You may be pleasantly surprised at how much it pulls you in and keeps your attention.

I had never heard of Mishima before seeing this movie on videotape in the mid-1980's. Since that time I have read many of Mishima's books and have enjoyed some of them thoroughly. The movie, a masterpiece, featuring some of the finest music ever recorded by Phillip Glass along with beautifully stylized and award-winning cinema photography and the most provocative words that could be culled from works by Mishima was narrated perfectly by Roy Scheider. When I read Mishima's books, I had a very difficult time separating Roy Scheider's voice from that of Mishima and, in a strange way, Mishima's works were better for that voice.

In the transfer to DVD, another narrator replaced Roy Scheider's contribution and, the masterpiece virtually destroyed. To me this is a lesson in how delicate the creative elements comprising a film can be. Change one element and the entire work can be altered beyond artistic recognition.

The behind the scenes documentary "Inside Mishima" is a nice addition but the main feature is not worth seeing in this form. What were the producers of this DVD thinking? I hope they rethink this release someday so film buffs can re-discover, what may very well be, Paul Schrader's finest film to date.

I had never heard of the writer Mishima before seeing this movie on videotape in the mid-1980's. Since that time I have read many of Mishima's books and have enjoyed most of them throughly. The movie Mishima--a masterpiece--features some of the finest music ever recorded by Phillip Glass (he won more than one award for this score). The beautifully stylized, award-winning cinema photography and set design heighten the most provocative phrases and ideas that could be culled from Mishima's own writing. And all of these separate elements came together with the flawless naration by Roy Scheider. When I read Mishima's books, I had a very difficult time separating Roy Scheider's voice from that of Mishima and, in a strange way, Mishima's works were better for that voice.

In the transfer to DVD, another actor replaced Roy Scheider's contribution, and the masterpiece virtually destroyed. To me this is a lesson in how delicate a film's creative elements can be. Change one part and the entire work can be altered beyond artistic recognition.

The behind the scenes documentary "Inside Mishima" is a nice addition--but the main feature is not worth seeing in this form. What were the producers of this DVD thinking? I hope they rethink this release someday so film buffs can re-discover, what may very well be, Paul Schrader's finest film to date.