Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters
AMG AllMovie Guide:
Top
Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters
Plot
In Paul Schrader's unusual biopic, Ken Ogata stars as Yukio Mishima, perhaps the most celebrated Japanese novelist of the last five decades. The film begins with Mishima's youth, then moves forward in episodic fashion to his 1970 suicide, symbolically committed at a military site. Originally titled Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters, the film is neatly divided into a quartet of acts, and the screenplay does not flinch in its depiction of Mishima's hyperactive sex life. Among the many neat directorial touches is the decision to offer the narrative in black-and-white, while depicting scenes from Mishima's novels in vibrant color. Written off as self-indulgent by those impatient with Schrader's fragmentary technique, Mishima was produced in Japan by Francis Ford Coppola and George Lucas, an offshoot of Coppola's involvement with Japanese director Akira Kurosawa's Kagemusha. ~ Hal Erickson, RoviReview
Divided into four sections titled "Beauty," "Art," "Action" and "Harmony of Pen and Sword," Mishima is based -- in a fascinating creative choice -- not only on Mishima's life and scandalous death, but also on his work. Schrader uses three of Mishima's semi-autobiographical novels as the basis for exploring the author's obsessions and ideas. Cutting back and forth between these tales and Mishima's real-life move toward a final, desperate act meant to inspire national unity, the film comes to a startling conclusion as all four tales end in bloody self-destruction. The liberal blend of fact and fact-based fiction allows Schrader to compose hauntingly symbolic, dream-like images, set against a moody score from avant-garde composer Philip Glass, although the dividing line between literary adaptation and biographical material is made clear by the use of black and white for the film's flashbacks. The end result stands as one of Schrader's best films. ~ Karl Williams, RoviCast
- Ken Ogata - Yukio Mishima
- Masayuki Shionoya - Morita
- Yasosuke Bando - Mizoguchi
- Hiroshi Mikami - Cadet No. 1
- Junya Fukuda - Cadet No. 2
- Toshiyuki Nagashima - Isao [Runaway Horses]
- Shigeto Tachihara - Cadet No. 3
Credit
Kazuo Takenaka - Art Director, Eiko Ishioka - Costume Designer, Etsuko Yagyu - Costume Designer, Paul Schrader - Director, Michael Chandler - Editor, Tomoyo Oshima - Editor, Philip Glass - Composer (Music Score), Noriyo Ida - Makeup, Yashuhiro Kawaguchi - Makeup, Masayuki Okubi - Makeup, Eiko Ishioka - Production Designer, John Bailey - Cinematographer, Francis Ford Coppola - Producer, George Lucas - Producer, Tom Luddy - Producer, Mata Yamamoto - Producer, Mataichiro - Producer, Kyoji Sasaki - Set Designer, Chieko Schrader - Screenwriter, Leonard Schrader - Screenwriter, Paul Schrader - Screenwriter| Misha Dacic: In Recital (2009 Film), Misfits of Science (1985 Film) | |
| Mision Sangrienta (1990 Film), Mision Suicida (1987 Film) |
Related Videos:
Top
Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters
Wikipedia on Answers.com:
Top
Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters
| Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster |
|
| Directed by | Paul Schrader |
| Produced by | Mataichiro Yamamoto Francis Ford Coppola George Lucas Tom Luddy Leonard Schrader Mata Yamamoto |
| Written by | Leonard Schrader Paul Schrader Chieko Schrader |
| Starring | Ken Ogata Masayuki Shionoya Junkichi Orimoto Kenji Sawada |
| Music by | Philip Glass |
| Cinematography | John Bailey |
| Editing by | Michael Chandler |
| Studio | American Zoetrope Lucasfilm Ltd. M Company Tristone Entertainment Inc. |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
| Release date(s) |
|
| Running time | 120 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | Japanese |
| Budget | $5,000,000 (estimated) |
Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters is an American/Japanese film co-written and directed by Paul Schrader in 1985. It was co-produced by Francis Ford Coppola and George Lucas.
The film is based on the life and work of Japanese writer Yukio Mishima, interweaving episodes from his life with dramatizations of segments from his books The Temple of the Golden Pavilion, Kyoko's House, and Runaway Horses.
|
Contents
|
Plot
The film sets in on November 25 1970, the last day in Mishima's life. He is shown finishing a manuscript. Then, he puts on a uniform he designed for himself and meets with four of his most loyal followers from his private army.
In flashbacks highlighting episodes from his past life, the viewer sees Mishima's progression from a sickly young boy to one of Japan's most acclaimed writers of the post-war era (who keeps himself in perfect physical shape, owed to a narcissistic body cult). His loathing for the materialism of modern Japan has him turn towards an extremist traditionalism. He sets up his own private army and proclaims the reinstating of the emperor as head of state.
The biographical parts are interwoven with short dramatizations of three of Mishima's novels: In The Temple of the Golden Pavilion, a stuttering aspirant sets fire to the famous Zen Buddhist temple because he feels inferior at the sight of its beauty. Kyoko's House depicts the sadomasochistic (and ultimately fatal) relationship between an elderly woman and her young lover, who is in her financial debt. In Runaway Horses, a group of young fanatic nationalists fails to overthrow the government, with its leader subsequently committing suicide. Frame story, flashbacks and dramatizations are segmented into the four chapters of the film's title, named Beauty, Art, Action, and Harmony of Pen and Sword.
The film culminates in Mishima and his followers taking a General of the Japanese armed forces as hostage. He addresses the garrison's soldiers, asking them to join him in his struggle to reinstate the emperor as the nation's sovereign. Faced with his proclamation being largely ignored and ridiculed, Mishima commits seppuku.
Background info
The film was withdrawn from the Tokyo International Film Festival and never officially released in Japan, mostly due to threats by far right wing groups opposed to Mishima's portrayal as a homosexual.[1]
Although Mishima only visualizes three of the writer's novels by name, the film also uses segments from his autobiographical novel Confessions of a Mask. At least two scenes, showing the young Mishima being aroused by a painting of the Christian martyr Sebastian, and his secret love for a fellow pupil at school, also appear in this book. The use of one further Mishima novel, Forbidden Colors, which describes the marriage of a homosexual man to a woman, was denied by Mishima's widow.[2]
The novel Kyoko's House contains four equally ranking storylines, featuring four different protagonists. Schrader picked out only one. In Runaway Horses, all surviving (and not imprisoned) revolutionaries commit seppuku, while the film only shows their leader's suicide.
Mishima uses different colour palettes to differentiate between frame story, flashbacks and scenes from Mishima's novels: The (1970) contemporary scenes are shot in subdued colours, the flashbacks in black-and-white, the The Temple of the Golden Pavilion-episode is dominated by golden and green, Kyoko's House by pink and grey, and Runaway Horses by orange and black.[1]
Roy Scheider was the narrator in the original movie version and on the early VHS release. On the 2001 DVD release, Scheider's voice-over was substituted with a narration by an uncredited actor. The 2008 DVD re-release contains both Scheider's and the alternate narration (plus Ken Ogata's for the Japanese version). In a commentary on Amazon.com, Schrader explained this was a manufacturing error in 2001 and that the voice belonged to Paul Jasmin (not the actor of the same name).[3]
The film closes with Mishima's suicide (which actually took longer than the seppuku ritual dictates). His confidant Morita, unable to behead Mishima, also failed in killing himself according to the ritual. A third group member beheaded both, then the conspirators surrendered without resistance.[4] Roger Ebert approved of Schrader's decision not to show the suicide in bloody detail, which he thought would have destroyed the film's mood.[5]
Schrader considers Mishima the best film he has directed. "It's the one I'd stand by – as a screenwriter it's Taxi Driver, but as a director it's Mishima."[6]
Reception
"Ambitious, highly stylized drama […] Long, difficult, not always successful, but fascinating." – Leonard Maltin[7]
"[…] a triumph of concise writing and construction […] The unconventional structure of the film […] unfolds with perfect clarity, the logic revealing itself." – Roger Ebert[8]
"Schrader may have finally achieved the violent transfiguration that he seeks along with his protagonists; the film has all the ritual sharpness and beauty of that final sword. […] There is nothing quite like it." – Chris Peachment, Time Out Film Guide[9]
Awards
The film premiered at the 1985 Cannes Film Festival on May 15 1985 where it won the award for Best Artistic Contribution by cinematographer John Bailey, production designer Eiko Ishioka and music composer Philip Glass.[10]
Home media releases
Mishima has been released twice on DVD in the US.
- The 2001 Warner Bros. release included a behind-the-scenes documentary, an audio commentary by Paul Schrader and a deleted scene. This edition did not, like the theatrical version, feature the narration of Roy Scheider but of an uncredited actor.
- The 2008 Criterion Collection release offered both English narrations by Roy Scheider and (according to Paul Schrader[3]) Paul Jasmin from the 2001 release. Also, it featured new audio commentaries, video interviews with the film makers and experts on the writings of Mishima, plus The Strange Case of Yukio Mishima, a BBC documentary about the author.
A French DVD was released by Wild Side Video in 2010 titled Mishima – une vie en quatre chapitres in Japanese, English and French language with French subtitles.
A Spanish Blu-ray Disc was released in 2010 titled Mishima – Una Vida en Cuatro Capítulos. It features Scheider's narration with optional Spanish and Catalan, but no English subtitles.
Philip Glass' music score, in parts performed by the Kronos quartet, was released on vinyl record and Audio CD in 1985.
References
- ^ a b Informations on the production included with the Criterion Collection DVD, 2008.
- ^ Interview with Paul Schrader on Efilmcritic.com, retrieved 2011-10-31.
- ^ a b "Kerry: It took some years but I finally figured it out. The orginal [sic] WB print and VHS contain Roy's narration. When we returned to Lucasfilm some years later to do the DVD, Paul Jasmin's narration (which I'd been using as a temp track during editing) was inadvertently used in the place of Scheider's. The WB DVD has the wrong narration. When Criterion came to do their DVD, this was all unraveled. They included Ogata's narration with a choice of Jasmin's (from the WB DVD) or Scheider's (from the WB VHS). Phew! Paul S." – Commentary by Paul Schrader in the 2001 Mishima DVD customer reviews section on Amazon.com, retrieved 2011-10-31. (Please also see the discussion section of this article on this topic.)
- ^ Marguerite Yourcenar, Mishima: A Vision of the Void, University Of Chicago Press, 2001.
- ^ Review by Roger Ebert in the Chicago Sun-Times, October 11 1985, retrieved 2011-10-31.
- ^ Schrader on Schrader and Other Writings, Faber & Faber, 2004.
- ^ Leonard Maltin's 2008 Movie Guide, Signet/New American Library, New York, 2007.
- ^ Roger Ebert, The Great Movies III, University of Chicago Press, 2010.
- ^ Time Out Film Guide, Seventh Edition 1999, Penguin Books, London, 1998.
- ^ "Festival de Cannes: Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters". festival-cannes.com. http://www.festival-cannes.com/en/archives/ficheFilm/id/939/year/1985.html. Retrieved 2009-06-28.
External links
- Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters at the Internet Movie Database
- Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters entry at Allmovie
- Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters synopsis at Rotten Tomatoes
- Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters review by Roger Ebert
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
Post a question - any question - to the WikiAnswers community:
Copyrights:
TV listings
Copyright © 2012 All Media Guide, LLC. Content provided by All Movie Guide ®, a trademark of All Media Guide, LLC. All rights reserved.
Read more
