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.
Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters
1985
Action / Biography / Drama
Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters
1985
Action / Biography / Drama
Plot summary
A fictional account of the life of Japanese author Yukio Mishima, combining dramatizations of three of his novels and a depiction of the events of November 25th, 1970.
Uploaded by: FREEMAN
June 21, 2018 at 03:47 AM
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Amazing
how the unimaginable becomes inevitable
Since the late 1970s, Paul Schrader has been a semi-known director in the US, turning a series of movies of no particular style. One is "Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters". I had never heard of Yukio Mishima before watching this movie. The movie is not a straightforward biography of the author. Rather, it looks at how something unimaginable becomes inevitable: no one would've envisioned Mishima doing what he eventually did.
The movie's form is more like US movies than Japanese movies, especially in the sequence showing the Temple of the Golden Pavilion. The Philip Glass music defines the movie as a product of the US, even as it delves into who this author was and why he did what he eventually did.
It's not a masterpiece, but I like how it looks at these different periods in Mishima's life to create a complex character out of the man. The movie won't be for everyone due to the slow pace, but if you're a film buff then you're sure to love it, whether or not you know about Japan's history.
A Great But Little Known Life
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...