Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (1985) User Reviews

Like A Boy At A Window Or A Sword In A Sheath

[loganx-2 · 8/10 · 11 August 2008]

The only pure life, is one that ends with a signature in blood.

So says Mishima anyway, a young sheltered boy who becomes a celebrity author. The life of one of Japans most celebrated literary voices, is told from three perspectives, his life just before he and four members of his private army take over a Japanese military base and commit ritual suicide(shown in color), flashbacks(shown in black and white), and scenes from his novels(shown in a kind of dreamy Technicolor set design somewhere between traditional Noh Theater and "the Wizard Of Oz". These stories are often told at the same time, but are edited to reinforce, the slow fusing of Mishima's life with his fictions, until the end(or the beginning) when like the ancient samurai he so admires, he will be at a balance of pen and sword (when his words and actions are the same, and he is a full and "pure" being).

Paul Schrader wrote the screen play for "Taxi Driver", and directed "Cat People"(a bizarre erotic horror film, which left strange impressions on me as a boy), and in Mishima, he comes closest to making a really excellent film.

Whats interesting is to watch the poet, the homosexual, the shy and awkward man with a low body image who overstates his Tuberculosis to get of of WW2 (of which he seems forever ashamed), become a body building, samurai obsessed, a-sexual, media phenomena, all the while still writing prolific amounts of novels, plays, and short stories.

A short and sweet version is to say Mishima has no father, and becomes obsessed with masculinity, beauty, sex and self destruction, in some tragic attempt to feel connected to something bigger than himself, that he was always missing. Watching him with his fellow suicidal cadets, you see him happy, delivering his big paternal speech, giving orders, and loving the control...until the speech itself, the point where pen and sword meet? Of course, this ignores the subtlety of the story telling craft here which makes this transformation so natural and remarkable.

Though the story, fascinating at times, really isn't this movies greatest success. The cinematography, performances, editing,music(by Philip Glass), and set designs, are really what make this worth seeing, and more than a traditional bio-pic.

One day I will pick, up a Mishima book, he does seem to have an ear for prose, and for staging ideas, but for now I'm satisfied with the film.

Those interested in Japanese Literature, and post-war culture, should check out. Fans of inventive combinations of facts and fictions, should enjoy as well.

Amazing

[Reel07 · 9/10 · 4 July 1999]

Mishima is one of the greatest films ever made. Now I think Paul Schrader is the greatest screenwriter of all time, but I don't really like the films he's directed of what I've seen (with the exception of this and Affliction), but this is an amazing, disturbing, and highly 3-dimensional character study. It follows the life of Yukio Mishima, Japan's most celebrated writer, combining the last day of his life with flashbacks and his stories. I don't know how, but Paul Schrader manages to combine all of those in a very artistic way. The acting is great, so is the photography, and a perfect score by Philip Glass. Although confusing the first viewing, this is one of the few films that becomes richer with each viewing. Truly an underrated gem of a film.

Highly stylized, rewarding film for thoughtful viewers.

[ags123 · 9/10 · 12 January 2007]

It has taken several viewings for me to fully appreciate this film. Initially, I was struck by the stylized sets, but found the rest slow going and dull. I thought that such a sensational subject needed the Ken Russell treatment to take it way over the top. I now find the enforced restraint (placed on the production by Mishima's widow) to be an asset. Some of the more lurid aspects of Mishima's life are reiterated and dramatized by corresponding themes from his novels. I think it helps to be familiar with the novels - that's what finally made the difference for me. Still feel the film overall could be a little tighter and warmer, but it's genuinely unique, and deserves serious attention. Love the fact that the Japanese characters speak Japanese - not English. The Philip Glass score is mesmerizing.

MISHIMA: A Troubled Life in Four Chapters

[irajoel · 10/10 · 3 April 2001]

One would think that a film based on the life of the Japanese author Yukio Mishima would be a daunting if not impossible task. However Paul Schrader has indeed made a film "about" Mishima that is both superb & complex. While it is not a literal biography, Schrader & his co-screenwriter Leonard Scharder (his brother) have taken several incidents from his life, including his sucide and crafted what can best be described as incidental tableaus that are visually sparse and stunning. Mishima's homosexuality is almost not there, due to legal threats from his widow, but in spite of this, the film is still terrific, and one of the best films I saw in 1985. I should also mention the important contribution of Philip Glass who did the score, which adds an additional texture to the film, and is superior to the one he did for Scorsese's Kundun. Also notable is John Bailey's fine crisp beautifully colored cinematography and the great production design & costumes by Eiko Ishioka who went on to do the memorable costumes for Coppola's Dracula for which she received a well deserved Oscar. Hopefully this film will soon be available on DVD.

Magnificent

[Baroque · 21 February 2003]

A story told in four chapters and in three levels. Flashbacks of Yukio Mishima's life, dramatizations of his written works, and the events of his final day of life.

If Mishima was a fictional character, I doubt if anyone would believe or accept such a creation. But he was a real, flesh and blood, human being, which makes the film all the more incredible. Granted that some of the facts have been dramatized or "enhanced" for the screen, but the story is quite factual.

A man of many contrasts: A devoted family man who kept a gay lover. A writer who saw his words being "not enough". A patriotic man at home in the present who yearned for a return to Imperial Japan's past glory. A man who struggled to unite movement with action, and saw everything he strove for fall apart at the most critical moment.

The film is lovingly made, magnificently acted, painstakingly edited and the musical soundtrack by Philip Glass will stay with you for days. The film's tight budget doesn't show at all.

Now available on DVD, this film is a worthy addition to the collections of true cinemaphiles.

My rating: 10/10

A beautiful work of art

[david-345 · 10/10 · 22 October 1999]

Movies are something you see on Saturday night and forget by Sunday morning. Motion pictures are works of art that stick with you forever. Mishima falls into the latter category. This is the type of thing that should win Academy Awards, a brilliant, visual peice of film that is both depressing and uplifting. Instead of doing a straightforward look at the life of Yukio Mishima, director Paul Schrader interweaves three adaptations of the author's stories into a look at his past and final day on Earth, the day he tried to lead the Japanese military into rebellion in the name of the Emperor. Failing to do that, he commits ritual suicide in an ending that hits you like a ton of bricks. The three short story adaptations allow a look into what led him to this and are presented in an experimental way that makes them appear to be filmed stage plays. Ken Ogata is magnificent as Mishima. Despite his eccentricities, he comes off as very sympathetic, a man who is quite willing to die for his beliefs and does. This makes the ending that much more devastating and the sense of loss more meaningful. Of the three story adaptations, Temple of the Golden Pavilion, Kyoko's House and Runaway Horses, it is the last that is the strongest and most emotional. It also is the story that most closely matches Mishima's mood in his final years and illustrates what truly led him to the events of November 1970. This review cannot be complete without a mention of Philip Glass' striking musical score. Not since 2001 has a film score been such a perfect compliment to it's visuals. Paul Schrader crafted one of the most beautiful movies of the 1980s or any other decade for that matter. Have the hankies at the ready because the ending will leave you in tears. Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters reminds you that sometimes film can still be an art form and as art it is brilliant.

Complicated but still easy to watch

[xexses · 9/10 · 17 May 2002]

There are very few films that are able to tell such a complicated story on so many levels as well as Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters. One of the most difficult aspects of story telling is the ability to flashback and forward without losing the pace of the film. This film not only flashes back and fourth with the greatest of easy, but it also flows through some of Yukio Mishima greatest stories. This film exceeds in every aspect and is a joy to watch. Not to mention the incredible Philip Glass Soundtrack.

My favourite film

[simonbasso · 10/10 · 2 February 2001]

This is my favourite film and I think it is perfect. Unlike virtually any other film I can name, I never watch this film and think it would have been better if they'd changed this or that or whatever. Is this the definition of a work of art? I think so. Every brushstroke in Mishima is perfect and it all flows from the Schrader's script. I've always sort of liked Paul Schrader's work (you can't argue with Taxi Driver and Light Sleeper is an amazing film), but while his writing often seems to border on the bombastic, his directing style is usually non-existent. This is deliberate, I think, because his films usually deal with a search for redemption and are set in the real world; ugly and harsh. His style suits his themes as he presents his characters in a simple and realistic way, and lets them show the audience the truth of the situation. Imagine if Schrader had directed Taxi Driver or Bringing Out The Dead, instead of Scorsese. But like the protagonists of those two films, while Mishima the man was ideal Schrader material, right-wing, vain and at odds with society, his works were subtle and beautiful. In fact he had a secondary writing career as a woman's writer, churning out what can reasonably be described as romantic potboilers. So you wouldn't necessarily imagine that Schrader was the ideal man to capture that subtlety and beauty on film. I think the film shows that he was. The script he helped fashion splits Mishima the man into three parts; his life, his death and his mind. His life is represented in black and white, still camera, formal compositions. His death, for which he will always be best remembered, is handheld documentary style. And his mind is represented by the dramatised extracts from his novels, each one revealing the thought processes of this complex man, who hardly ever wrote a character that wasn't a reflection of himself. These dramatisations are beautiful to look at, thanks to Eiko Ishioka's remarkable production design and Schrader's imaginative staging. In all parts, the acting is superb, especially from Ken Ogata as Mishima, who captures the essential charm, arrogance and narcissism of the man. The photography is excellent throughout and contains images that the viewer will retain forever. Finally, the music is simply superb, perfectly matching the images, although written and recorded before shooting, adjusted during the editorial process and then re-recorded. How much the music influenced the shoot I do not know, but it bonds perfectly to the image. I have seen many ideas of what various people think the theme of the film is, what Schrader is trying to say. You know, the big stuff about life, death etc. But I do not think the film is saying anything. Mishima has already said it, the film simply repeats.

A Great But Little Known Life

[gavin6942 · 7/10 · 15 April 2014]

A fictionalized account in four segments of the life of Japan's celebrated twentieth-century author Yukio Mishima. Three of the segments parallel events in Mishima's life with his novels.

This is a great film. I confess I really never heard of Yukio Mishima, and probably never read a single thing he wrote. But here he is brought to life and tells a story larger than life itself. Is it completely historically accurate? You know, probably not. But the details are not so much important here as the art itself.

What is perhaps most strange is who brought this tale to life: Paul Schrader. Brilliant, artistic, but not the first name you would expect when it comes to Japanese history and literature...

A true gem!

[computerkathryn · 10/10 · 8 August 2006]

This movie is a haunting telling of the life of the author and poet, Mishima. It jumps around through his past, through his last day, and through some of his stories but is expertly constructed as it moves from section to section. It captures the flavor of the man, his work and of his times...the difficult 1960s.

I think the most wonderful parts (literally, full of "wonder") are the excerpts from his works. The sets (especially designed to work with the camera) are amazing....stylized, beautiful and effective. They could be used as exemplars for any set designer. I woke up at night dreaming of the Golden Pagoda.

The stories were powerful explorations of the nature of man and of art. After watching this film, I wanted to learn more about the works of this artist.

I highly recommend this movie for anyone interested in art, poetry, theater, politics, or Japanese history.

Technically strong

[gbill-74877 · 6/10 · 12 September 2021]

"In my earliest years, I realized that life consisted of two contradictory elements. One was words, which could change the world. The other was the world itself, which had nothing to do with words."

This dramatization of the life of author/actor/nationalist Yukio Mishima (1925-1970) is told in a creative way by Paul Schrader, with the flashbacks of his life intertwined with enactments of a few of his stories. The visuals are dramatic and there is a certain poetry to it all, but ultimately it wasn't something I cared for because the man was a right-wing nationalist, and the stories which mirrored his fanaticism weren't at all of interest to me. He was a complex guy to be sure - a man who believed in traditional values but was also gay, a man of letters who also took up bodybuilding, and a man who believed in dying for his ideals but who was declared unfit to serve in WWII (though this latter bit was apparently skewed in the telling here as him faking the illness, which I'm sure the real Mishima would have hated). I don't know though, to make such a film about a guy who killed himself after trying to overthrow the Constitution and whose last words were "Long Live the Emperor!" ... it was tough for me to find stirring. Great filmmaking by Schrader, but poor subject, at least for my taste.

Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters

[quinimdb · 10/10 · 20 August 2016]

Mishima seemed to be a person constantly trying to grasp (or become) his vision of ultimate beauty. Early in life, he saw beauty in women (Beauty chapter, weaved in with "The Temple of the Golden Pavilon"). Then he had sex, which made him realize true beauty didn't lie in women. Then he began to think that dying for a cause ("exploding like a firework") would be the only way he could reach this beauty. He was too cowardly, however, and didn't truly want to die. He then began to think that achieving a perfect body is the true form of beauty. Then finally, by training his army which he tried to make as pure as his art (by practicing samurai beliefs) and devising a plan to unite art and action, so that he could finally achieve "harmony of pen and sword", something he had always striven for.

The way the film is structured is utterly genius. It is a wholly unique film. It is obviously cut into four chapters (all of which I've just described), Beauty, Art, Action, and Harmony of Pen and Sword. The film delves into each of Mishima's attempts to find true beauty, showing his real life past in black and white, and dramatizations of his novels in vibrant color with extravagant stage-like sets and lighting, cutting both his life and segments from his novel together to show how his life mirrored his art and vice versa, and finally, cuts between the very end of his life in color, leading up to his final "harmony of pen and sword" through his impassioned speech after kidnapping a military general, before finally freeing himself through death. The structure of the film in four chapters also represents how Mishima himself viewed his life: as a constant struggle to transcend mere superficial and materialistic forms of art and to free himself from his constant search to find beauty (which included his own body and novels, which were both ways to attempt to find true beauty). The style of the film is perfect for the subject, and this is one of the only films I've seen which could truly tell the complete tale of the life of an eccentric genius, and show us how he thought. The urgency of the constant score of the film also fits perfectly with the urgency of Mishima's search for beauty and the urgency at which he wrote.

A pretty spectacular film at times, but I am not sure if it does really justice to the man it is all about

[Horst_In_Translation · 6/10 · 25 July 2022]

"Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters" is a co-production between the United States and Japan as you maybe guessed already from the film's international title. The dominant language here is Japanese as this film is all about a significant figure from 20th century Japan, so unless you are Asian yourself or really fluent, you will need subtitles. English language is virtually not existent here. The international aspect comes from the involvement of the people who made this. The cast is all-Asian too, but the ones in charge behind the camera are not. The director is Paul Schrader, who will always be most known for his contribution to Taxi Driver I suppose and not too long ago he finally scored his first Oscar nomination. He also directed many films throughout his career, to this day even, and this one here is one of his earlier, but not earliest efforts. The screenplay for Mishima was a family project as he worked together with his older brother Leonard. The latter was slightly above 40 at that point and Paul slightly under. For Leonard, it was already one of his later career efforts because he did not get too old sadly, even if he lived on for over 20 years after this was made. But his most prolific days were already over by the mid-1980s. And finally, the third and last writing credit is Yukio Mishima himself. He was also a really prolific and successful writer, maybe that is what he is remembered for the most nowadays. I must admit I knew nothing about the character, so it is good this got made and directed some attention to the man quite some time after his untimely death, also at the absolutely spectacular way he died. But I will get to his life a little later. Now with the basics, it can still be said that the cast I am not familiar with too much. Huge fans of Asian cinema and Asian films buffs themselves of course will maybe recognize some faces. I see that Ken Ogata, who played Mishima in the final segment, is also no longer with us unfortunately. But he was not that young anymore when this film got made, to it is not a huge surprise. May he rest in peace just like Mishima. Finally, it can also be mentioned that Francis Ford Coppola and George Lucas were part of this project, so major Hollywood involvement and as for Asian-American films, it is among the more, if not most, known.

This is a long film we have here, not like an epic, but still slightly over two hours. The title already gives away that there are four chapters and they are all about the same length I think or at least not like it is sometimes handled in new movies with episodes that one sequence runs for 45 minutes and another for 5 minutes. Here it is pretty balanced. It's a good thing. I must still say that, maybe also because of the Asian background of the actors and characters, I sometimes had a really hard time to see who is who and even who is Mishima. For example in this final segment, for quite a while, I was not sure if he is really the guy who kills himself in the end or if he is one of the man's soldiers, like the one who says he is ready to go with Mishima when they are in the car. The story is here and there a bit all over the place. Maybe you will understand it all effortlessly if you are an expert on Mishima, but if you know nothing about him, then you will also struggle with the plot here and there and with understanding not necessarily what is going on, but who is who. The sequence when we see one character kill an old politician it was I think set against the scene in which they are all caught while making their plans was also a bit confusing because reality seemed to collide with fiction. Maybe some parts of the movie are also not directly about Mishima, but about his books. I see that now reading the list of cast members or the names of their characters. For example when we have this lengthy sequence with the two guys that have different disabilities, I thought the one who was stuttering was Mishima, but apparently not. He was also not the other character. Please forgive me for my confusion. It was still a good sequence let me say that and I was pretty entertained there. One of the highlights from the movie, also the idea how the self-confident character shows the other guy how to get the girl. That was like pick-up artistry from the 1980s or actually much older with when this was set. Of course, it is easier to accuse somebody of hurting your foot than being responsible for your stutter.

There are a few really explicit scenes in here in terms of sexuality and the depiction thereof. I could imagine even some people wanting this film banned because of it. One character takes the advice to lose his virginity to a prostitute and there we see the two in bed together. I actually thought that when the prostitute mocks him a bit, not his qualities as a lover, but the way he behaves and how he maybe overestimates himself, that this was a scene in which a character could have become a prostitute killer, but this is not the case here. There is not really any murder or violence going on here. Yes, there is a kidnapping scene, but this is also not too severe or intimidating to watch. There are even one or two funny moments in there maybe. However, with the comedy aspect, it is not a factor at all in this film. As serious as the young guy character. Maybe there were one or two moments during which I laughed a bit (like the cripple comment from the girl on one occasion that they are all there now with their different disabilities or what a soldier responds to his mentor), but in retrospective they are also not that funny, so this was never a goal Schrader wanted to achieve. Anyway, I was talking about the sexuality. There is also the scene in which he finally managed to make a girl slightly fall for him or make her curious at least and she lies there topless, but she only wants to much weakness or can only deal with a certain quantity before it is too much and she covers herself again and leaves. This segment was completely in color, but we also have a few black-and-white scenes, especially in the first half. Those were flashbacks. I liked them. They were not truly great, but when we have one character do nothing but look out of a window and say something poetic (voice-over narration) or his older self does, then it did feel artistic. I also liked the little fight sequence between the two guys with how it ended pretty abruptly. Somehow it fit in very nicely in terms of drama and tone. I just wish there could have been a little more structure to this film. Sometimes, it felt all over the place. I mean it did not have to be 100% chronological, but maybe a bit more than it ended up being. Then I would have at least briefly considered giving 4 stars out of 5 here.

I guess the high imdb rating can also be explained a bit through the last segment when the title character and a few young recruits take push through with the kidnapping. It was interesting, also how they harmlessly entered the place and showed a really old sword to the man and he is visibly impressed and you can see how they have doubts if he knows what is on their minds, but not one bit. This was good, but also when Mishima steps out and talks to the soldiers and there are many photographers taking pictures of the situation. A situation so sobering for Mishima for he realizes quickly that the army will not support him. So this was a radical act we had there for sure, but it was not violence in the sense that they planned to kill the hostage. They were 100% dedicated to releasing him and not harming him one bit. At least Mishima was. You cannot say the same thing 100% about the young men there. With the suicide (common theme throughout), the film ends pretty much right after, so when Mishima's life is over, so is this movie. That was alright. No need to stretch it any further and what I was saying is that this final sequence of course stays in the mind and maybe some forgot about more mediocre moments in the middle of the film when they gave this film a (too) high rating. Not sure.

Overall, Mishima's books and literature are still really famous enough to this day and as far as I know he did not get ousted because of what he did. He may not have been a peaceful revolutionary and he was clearly also a bit of an enfant terrible, but he is no man that Japan is ashamed of and would have preferred to come from another country and do what he did in another country. His art is appreciated to this day and his works are also still read by many. Nobody is trying to erase him from Japanese history. I am not surprised that it was rather Americans who made a film about him because perhaps Japanese weren't ready yet 15 years after his death, but I am a bit surprised that I did not come across any other films/documentaries about the man with all the drama his life had to offer. Maybe there would be more if he was American and had a remotely similar life. Some stuff of course would not have been possible. There are quite a few films from the late 1970s to 1980s that have a lot to do with Asia like The Deer Hunter, The Killing Fields, Apocalypse Now, but all of these have Americans at the center of the story, so this one here is in a way completely different. If you care about this era, then go watch. I got to watch this this one on the big screen as part of a retrospective on Asian cinema, but I think it is not necessary to do so to appreciate it. Home cinema or your television works just as well. I myself give this film a thumbs-up and that was never really in doubt. I have had some issues here and there with it, but I think the strong was far more frequent than the weak with these two hours. Go see them if you can. Oh and by the way, the screen time for females is limited here, but they are all stunning for sure. Maybe one of the most artistic and memorable shots was how a female character projects her breast to the breast of a male character with the help of a mirror. That's really all now.

A blurred portrait of an artist similar to D'Annunzio (Italy)

[Chinesevil · 4/10 · 8 October 2021]

Strange, artistic film, but neither beautiful nor profound.

Stunning

[ametaphysicalshark · 9 July 2008]

"Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters" is one of those films which is extremely hard to write about simply because it hit me on such an emotional level and stunned me with its artistry to the point where writing a review or comment on the film seems trivial and useless. Hence, this will be rambling and poorly-written, but I'll give it a shot anyway.

The easiest thing to talk about when discussing "Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters" is the technical elements of the film. The narrative is superb and fairly original with a fine script by Chieko, Leonard, and Paul Schrader and Schrader's decisions as director are pretty much faultless. Every stylistic turn the film took, every sequence which took a risk, and pretty much the whole time the camera was in motion I was utterly enthralled and fascinated with how well the film works as a film. Paul Schrader may not be as great a storyteller as some of the great directors are but in "Mishima" he proves that he is more than capable of being a wonderful storyteller if necessary. The film moves at an extraordinarily fast pace and one barely notices the passing of the two hours.

I have to say, despite being a literature buff to an extent, I have never read anything by Mishima. I knew one or two things about Mishima, including the big ending to his story (which I won't reveal, to keep this spoiler-free) prior to seeing the film, but not much else. Perhaps this is why I felt, contrary to some others, that the film got progressively stronger and ended with a breathtakingly brilliant final act. I also found it completely refreshing how this biopic took no position on Mishima or the final act of his life- it is simply a portrait of a man, not a comment on his life.

The Phillip Glass score is utterly brilliant. There is very little of this film that doesn't prominently feature it, which can come off as the result of a lack of confidence from the director, but in this case it is used superbly well in the film. The score is original, vibrant, interesting, and memorable- much like the film itself.

"Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters" is a film that is certainly ripe for interpretation and analysis. I am not going to attempt to provide either of those, mostly because I'm not really in a position to, and also because I found this a profoundly emotional experience, a film of such artistry that it is a film that everyone should experience without preconceived notions of quality or content and one that everyone should attempt their own analysis of. It's that special. It's that good.

10/10

My favorite movie of all time.

[Liam_Trump · 10/10 · 8 May 2020]

(This is the only movie I'll rate on IMDb and the only review I'll right)

One of the best movies I've ever seen. Mishima: A Life in four Chapters (1985) is a beautiful, unique, and interesting telling of the life of Mishima. With vibrant colors, some great blocking and staging, and Philip Glass's amazing score Mishima: A Life in four Chapters (1985) manages to become one of my favorite movies of all time and I can't wait to see again. 10/10.

Fascinating

[mim-8 · 10/10 · 9 May 2008]

Mishima - a life in four chapters is in my opinion the best Paul Schrader film to this day. Mesmerizing cinematography, accompanied with Philip Glass mystical musical score added a completely magical aura to the story of one of Japan's greatest novelists, whose originality and picturesque narrative are beautifully portrayed in this film. As any gifted character, Mishima was troubled with severe self conflicts, the main of them being conflict between a "pen and a sword" as the director puts it in his final chapter, or the struggle between the sensitive poet with homosexual feelings, living in a notoriously masculine society with centuries long warrior traditions, thus widening the gap between the sensitive and the militantly traditional side of Mishima himself.

All Schrader's films (and the ones he wrote scripts for) are basically stories of inside conflict within a man that doesn't belong in an environment he lives in. That also goes for Mishima, who, apart from Japanese military school upbringing is brought up with love for theater and words. His demise consisted of both of these key points in his life, it was about words and theatrical ending in a life long play. Film like this comes along once in a long while, and most will have to wait a lifetime to reach this beauty. 20 out of 10!!

A beautiful masterpiece

[allar100 · 10/10 · 28 February 2003]

This is a movie that should be viewed and treated as a piece of art. This is an oblivious labour of love by the Schrader brothers about the life of Yukio Mishima that is full truly artistic elements. The movie jumps from color to black and white, past to present, fictional works by Mishima to him. All without being confusing in the least bit. The only thing that gets me is that the entire movie, with the exception of the narrator's spoken parts is in Japanese. Still a masterpiece that deserves an audience but hasn't found won. Criterion, if you are reading this, this is a film that should be released under your imprint with as much extras as possible. This film truley deserves more. 10/10

Stories within stories

[poc-1 · 8/10 · 4 September 2003]

I never heard of Mishima before I watched this film and although parts of it are a little tedious, I still find myself drawn to watch it when it is repeated on the box. At the beginning of the film, we are told about a celebrated Japanese writer behaves like a lunatic and commits seppuku in public. As the film progresses you are gently inducted into twisted logic of Mishima's mind. The stages of his life are are presented in four chapters. Each chapter itself is a blend of two contrasting narratives, the first continues the story with scenes from Mishima's life and appear in black and white. The second narrative is an adaptation of scenes from a novel and these are staged like a play and filmed in vivid colours. There is a different novel staged in each chapter. Between each chapter, the narrative returns to the present, as Mishima proceeds towards his eventual ritual suicide. This means that the drama and tension is maintained until the end.

I suspect that many people will find this film to be boring pretentious and art-house. I respect that, this is not a film for people who want action and a strong story line. If on the other hand you are the kind of person who relishes the opportunity to penetrate the mind a bizarre man while watching his life story told in collage of beautiful pictures set to music by Philip Glass, you will love it. I loved it.

The Art of Subversion.

[net_orders · 7/10 · 7 October 2018]

MISHIMA: A LIFE IN FOUR CHAPTERS / MISHIMA. Viewed on DVD. Director and script co-author Paul Schrader's fictionalized biographical film of Yukio Mishima who was a well-known, multi-talented, and mentally unhinged Japanese artist from the middle of the last Century. Apparently little known in the West, Mishima seems to have caused quite a stir in his homeland some 50 years ago (the effects of which may still be lingering on) by publically committing seppuku after a failed attempt to convince members of Japan's Self-Defense Forces to mutiny and join his small private army to overthrow the government and reinstate the Emperor as the nation's sovereign. Schrader recreates events that occurred on the last day in the writer's life (in November, 1970) and inserts stunning vignettes based on scenes from some of Mishima's novels (three of which are defined by unique color compositions) as well as longish flash-backs (in black and white). The result is well worth repeat viewing (see below). Shot (with mostly a Japanese cast and crew) entirely in Japan, apparently the movie has never been released there (due to family legal action, studio timidity and/or political pressure--take your pick of rumors!). Schrader relies extensively on voice-over (often the mark of an impoverished script and/or production under financing) to help the viewer make sense of what's been distilled on screen. This time out, however, extensive voice-over is really needed for those unfamiliar with Mishima monogatari (which is likely to be most viewers in the West) to catch a multitude of nuance and add a richness of depth. The DVD offered end-to-end narrations in Japanese (the speaker's identity remains in dispute) and English (one is co-hosted by Schrader). Although it rambles a fair amount, the Director's input will really help the viewer struggling to make heads-or-tails out of the movie (the struggle is well worth it, so turn on the narration with your second viewing). There are two de facto stars in this picture: lead actor Ken Ogata (always as pleasure to see in action); and the cinematography (with a very significant assist from the set designer and color-coordinator specialists, it is simply outstanding!). Other performances are mostly workman like as is the direction. Score by Philip Glass delivers a symphonic knockout! Subtitles fail to catch sets of symbols and lines of dialog here and there. Opening credits are translated and all closing credits are presented in English. Recommended. WILLIAM FLANIGAN, PhD. Details: cinematography (wide screen, color, black and white) = 9/10 stars; set design = 9/10 stars; score = 8 stars; sound = 8 stars; subtitles/translations = 7/8 stars; direction = 7 stars; performances = 7 stars; editing = 6 stars; DVD/print (Criterion, 2008) = 5 stars.

Schrader's Mishima A Daring Risk

[CitizenCaine · 8/10 · 19 October 2009]

Paul Schrader and his brother Leonard wrote Mishima, and in so doing, clearly drew parallels between the life of Yukio Mishima and his work. The film is divided into four sections: beauty, art, action, and the fateful day when Mishima held an army general hostage and spoke to the garrison, only to have it ridicule him and his Bushido ideals of the samurai code. Mishima committed ritual seppuku on November 25, 1970, and he planned it as a meshing of beauty, art, and action. Schrader edits scenes recreating that day with three different scenarios from Mishima's novels: Temple of the Golden Pavilion, Kyoko's House, and Runaway Horses. The moment of seppuku is perfectly realized in relation to its shocking climax via pulling back the camera while simultaneously zooming in.

Black and white sequences are intermingled with the colorful moments depicted in Mishima's novels. The black and white scenes represent memories from Mishima's childhood and youth. Schrader correlates some of these autobiographical moments with scenes from the novels that often parallel Mishima's real life, such as his stammer, development of his bodybuilding obsession, and his fostering of the samurai code. Each of the three themes of beauty, art, and action is exemplified in the chosen depictions from the respective novels. The color sequences are reminiscent of early, stagy Technicolor films, giving the film, perhaps, an intended surreal quality considering the subject matter.

Ken Ogata plays the real Mishima with unfailing determination, headed to the general's office on that fateful day and resembles the real Mishima. Schrader took tremendous risks with this film in focusing on the novels he did and with tying them thematically to both Mishima's personal life and his literary ambitions. The editing of the film between the three main sections of November 25, 1970, the black and white growing up segments, and the colorful novel scenes clearly point to the deliberate intersection of these elements of beauty, art, and action in Mishima's life. At times, it is difficult to follow, and there may be little to recommend for the uninitiated viewer. *** of 4 stars.

25-WR

[25WR · 8/10 · 19 May 2019]

The tsunami-ing intensity of Japanese culture in a "fissional" example that polishes every single shard coming out of its smashed mirror of a portrait.

Thought to be a documentary, turns out to be a visual cinematography biopic.

[piyapongboss · 6/10 · 18 March 2024]

A visually pleasing Biographical film about the life, art, and ideals of Yukio Mishima, Japan's most celebrated author and actor, directed by Paul Schrader.

Centered around the character of Yukio Mishima, the film features the life story in four main chapters titled Beauty, Art, Action, and the Harmony of Pen and Sword. The main timeline took place on November 25, 1970, the last day of Mishima's life, when Mishima and his four cadets from his private army entered the army headquarters, forcibly detained the commander, and addressed the garrison. While it has stories of his memories and novel adaptation scenes in the progression.

What sets this film apart is the storyline segments from the adaptations of three novels throughout the personal story of Mishima and reflect his personality with similar parallels between reality and fiction. Paul Schrader chose to use those events from novels' stories parallel with the real-life events of Mishima. It reflects how similar those traits are in every three characters from when he was young to the last moment of his life.

The best part of this film is the phenomenon of cinematography work.

The Director, Paul Schrader , uses distinct cinematography choices for each timeline in the story to differentiate each one of them. In a realistic full-color frame, it represents the present timeline known as the last day of his life. In black and white frames show recollective memories of his prior moments. In vibrant-toned colors with decorated color palettes frames are events that happened in his three novels adaptation.

Moreover, almost every frame from this movie is full of aesthetics with Paul Schrader's artistic choice. Which is prominent the most in the scenes adaptations from three novels. The music score is immersing but the same main theme might get overplayed.

Mishima's character is portrayed as a confident man who holds on to his beliefs and ideals in an extreme way. He is obsessed with art and beauty. Which made him like bodybuilding as a result of wanting himself to be a work of art himself and to impress other people. He has a leadership that can convince his subordinates to be in the same boat as him, to the point of settling for death with him. He also has a way of thinking of a Samurai.

But I found the overall story to be not as enjoyable. In other words, I found the pacing to be bland and dull. Even though the novel adaptation adds depth to the story, the rest of the story doesn't make me learn anything valuable or inspiring about Mishima's accomplishments as much as his skills as a novelist. The rest of it is mostly all about the political stances of Mishima. I also find Mishima's action to be pointless in the end as how does he accomplish anything as he kills himself to stand by his point of ideal?

In conclusion, it was a fresh experience for me despite not understanding all the plot points or getting any valuable ideas from this film. This film still has stunning cinematography and production. It would be worth a try for anyone who is interested in watching this film to learn more about Yukio Mishima's life.

O.k.

[Cosmoeticadotcom · 5/10 · 7 June 2012]

Overall, the DVD package is quite good, excepting Criterion's usual decision to go with white only subtitles for its black and white sections. And given Schrader's choice to use an English language voice-over in non-Japanese versions of the film (to avoid double subtitles in some shots), one wonders why the main body of action was not filmed in English, or at least dubbed? Schrader briefly tackles this in his audio commentary, and the main reason seems to have been financial.

The same is not true for the actual film, which devolves into a stylized melodramatic mess that recalls much of Akira Kurosawa's late film, Dreams, as well as being filled with the most mind-numbing platitudes about art imaginable. Yet, equally bad is what is missing, above and beyond any portrait of Mishima's family life; such as his manifest Napoleon Complex. Mishima was only 5'1" tall and severely lacking in macho confidence, so much so that he insisted on only marrying a woman shorter than he was. Yet, any connection between these elements and those depicted is left for only the curious- and that likely will not be most people who watch this film. Thus, since the film fails on most artistic fronts, and does not generate any real further interest for its audience in its main subject matter, the very reason for the film is a puzzle, unless one feels Schrader is positing himself into a Mishima-like role. Not that it would matter, since Mishima: A Life In Four Chapters portrays its lead as a rather unsympathetic and idiotic character, albeit one with likely more talent than Schrader has.

If only someone like an Ingmar Bergman, or even Michelangelo Antonioni, who started out as a documentarian, would have tackled this subject matter, the film would likely have been shorter, tighter, more purposive, and coherent, for if there was one thing that even his biggest critics could not hold against Mishima it was that he was driven and almost monomaniacal. Schrader is the opposite, desperately larding his film with almost everything that plays up his vision of the writer as madman and ignoring all that went into the artist as a man, something Schrader seems not to really get, which reaffirms my idea that his great screenplay for Taxi Driver was a fluke, that blindfolded, over the back toss of a dart that somehow hits the bull's-eye. Yet it was that lucky moment which doomed the rest of us to decades of profoundly dull and vapid films churned out on the strength of that one toss. Lucky Schrader. Unlucky us. As for Mishima? The real man's somewhere around, just as he must be in the film, right? Right?

Brilliant, Magnificent -- But Not Flawless

[Dan1863Sickles · 24 June 2004]

Someone else put his finger on where this magnificent film falls short when he said, "Mishima has already said it all, the film simply repeats." Ultimately, Schrader has made a movie which refuses to comment on Mishima one way or another, and which becomes somewhat lifeless and stilted in the final segment as a result. Because he is bending over backwards not to criticize Mishima, Schrader simply refuses to examine the uglier implications of his public suicide.

Ironically, this approach hurts the film precisely because Mishima himself was capable of much more perceptive self-criticism. In the first two chapters -- "Beauty" (THE GOLDEN PAVILION) and "Art" (KYOKO'S HOUSE) Schrader's work is nothing short of brilliant. With great subtlety, he interweaves black and white scenes from Mishima's early life with lush full-color scenes from his early novels. What makes these sections so haunting are the subtle, suggestive differences between Mishima and the people he is writing about. For example, Mizoguchi, the acolyte who destroys the Golden Temple, is not a homosexual, nor is he a talented writer. His stammering could be a metaphor for those things, or it could be a metaphor for nothing at all. The mystery of creation and imagination, wordless and inexpressible, really seems to come to life here -- particularly in the dissolve where the schoolboy Mishima "morphs" into the slightly older Mizoguchi.

The problems start in the third chapter, "Action." Here Schrader films scenes from Mishima's RUNAWAY HORSES (one of my personal favorites) as if they are not just similar, but absolutely interchangeable with Mishima's militarist activities with the Shield Society. Schrader seems to assume that the hero of the novel, Isao, is simply a stand in for Mishima. How can you tell? Because Schrader cuts out precisely those sections of the novel in which Mishima actually analyzes Isao's emotions and his illusions. The Isao of this movie is merely a straw man who spouts platitudes about the emperor and Japan's greatness. The Isao of the book is a courageous, unselfish, but very human teenage boy, whose callous and narrow-minded parents are unable to love and who plainly have had a crushing effect on his psyche. Mishima, whether consciously or not, included some truly vile scenes of parental cruelty and manipulation in this book precisely because he understood on some level that Isao's decision to end his own life was not entirely unselfish. The connection between the sordid ugliness of Isao's loveless home and his desire to die a violent death is clear enough in the book. But it is absent from the movie. Oddly enough, Schrader thinks he is protecting Mishima in the last section, by not moralizing about the suicide, but he is actually diminishing him as an author.

The RUNAWAY HORSES section is by far the weakest of the movie. The final scenes, in which Mishima at the moment of death attains "oneness" with his heroes, really are quite exhilarating. But they would have been still richer if Schrader had taken a more nuanced approach to RUNAWAY HORSES, instead of just viewing it as a "blueprint" for the last events in Mishima's life.

This is unquestionably a brilliant, inspiring film, but it's not quite flawless.