Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters
Starring: Ken Ogata, Masayuki Shionoya, Yasosuke Bando
Director: Paul Schrader
The film: Nominated for three Nobel Prizes for literature, Yukio Mishima wrote 40 novels, another 40 books of short stories and essays, and 18 stage plays. He directed and starred in one of Japan's most notorious films (Patriotism), started a substantial, government-sanctioned private army and was a fanatical bodybuilder who spoke several European languages fluently. On November 25, 1970, he committed ritual suicide (seppuku) in apparent protest at his country's erosion of its traditional principles and samurai codes of honour. Needless to say, perhaps, he was a rather complex character, and probably the most controversial figure in modern Japanese history.
Paul Schrader's Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters tackles its subject with three interweaving layers of narrative: Mishima's last day and suicide; black-and-white flashback segments of his life story with first-person voiceover; and colourfully theatrical adaptations of three of Mishima's books, each of which had autobiographical elements. Filmed in Japan under difficult circumstances, with right-wing nationalist groups threatening dire consequences for any Japanese who took part in the production, it's amazing the film was made at all. The fact it looks so marvellous and works so well as a biopic, despite its unique experimental structure, makes it all the more impressive.
Mishima is an astonishing film, with sumptuous visuals, some fine performances - especially Ken Ogata (below) playing against type in the latter-day title role - and a controversial history of its own. Japanese film studio Toho, which put up about a third of the budget, later disowned it, and as they controlled domestic distribution rights, it has never had an official release in Japan, either in cinemas or on home video. The reasons for this are interesting and complex, but explained fully in the comprehensive extra features of this new DVD release from Criterion.