"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.
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.