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Synopsis

Paul Schrader’s visually stunning, collagelike portrait of acclaimed Japanese author and playwright Yukio Mishima (played by Ken Ogata) investigates the inner turmoil and contradictions of a man who attempted an impossible harmony between self, art, and society. Taking place on Mishima’s last day, when he famously committed public seppuku, the film is punctuated by extended flashbacks to the writer’s life as well as by gloriously stylized evocations of his fictional works. With its rich cinematography by John Bailey, exquisite sets and costumes by Eiko Ishioka, and unforgettable, highly influential score by Philip Glass, Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters is a tribute to its subject and a bold, investigative work of art in its own right. —The Criterion Collection

Director

Original

Paul Schrader

Raised in a strict religious household in Michigan, writer/director Paul Schrader studied theology at Calvin College and didn’t see a movie until he was in his late teens. His stern background would fuel many of the themes throughout his career: downbeat stories of characters who violently break down in oppressive situations. Transfixed by the cinema and encouraged by critic Pauline Kael, he moved to Los Angeles and became a film scholar at U.C.L.A. He wrote movie reviews for newspapers, edited the magazine Cinema, and wrote the highly influential critical essay “The Trancendental Style: Ozu, Bresson, Dryer.” After a period of heavy drinking and serious depression, he sold his first screenplay, The Yakuza, a Japanese thriller co-written with his brother, Leonard, and Robert Towne. The next year, Schrader wrote Taxi Driver, the grim tale of urban alienation. Taxi Driver started his successful collaborative relationship with director Martin Scorsese, another… read more

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Displaying 4 of 17 wall posts.
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Mr. Arkadin

12Feb12

Re-watching this, I realized that the scene where Ogata portrays Mishima during his St. Sebastian photo shoot holds, in miniature, everything that fascinates me about the film.

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Josh Hansen

9Sep11

A film about an artist, his life and his soul, that is truly a work of art in itself. Mishima's life, and his longing for purpose and harmony within, is perfectly captured by Schrader. This is a film of immense beauty, with a score that will take your breath away.

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cabbed

25Aug11

Magnificent Mishima's portrait, where poet's life is described by a poetical film. The use of original language for speeches is very interesting; moreover, the sountrack and the images are very good.

Chris Jones

28Feb11

Rarely does such a bombastic film have such subtlety and grace, but fuck me if this movie didn't have its cake and eat it too. What a triumph.

Josh Hansen likes this

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Articles

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W184

Philip Glass @ 75

By David Hudson on January 31, 2012

Glass’s Ninth Symphony is performed tonight and the revived opera Einstein on the Beach tours the world this year.

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Untitled

By asuraf on December 1, 2008

In the tradition of “Taxi Driver” and “American Gigolo”, Paul Schrader’s understanding of Yukio Mishima is that of an expressive artist burdened by a troubled past and a conflicted psychology, where…  read review

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Cultural bias?

37 posts by 8 people over 2 years ago

DVD

Buy the DVD from The Criterion Collection.