Item #: 2743DVD Category: COPPOLA, FRANCIS FORD Format: DVD MPAA Rating: R

Woolly Rating: 5/10 (84 votes)

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Andy Kugler

Jul 10, 2002 @ 22:45:13

What conceptually sounds as gimmicky story telling, is pulled off with the greatest of ease
As the title suggests Paul Schrader’s 1985 film is the story of celebrated Japanese writer Yukio Mishima, told appropriately enough like the chapters of a book. Schrader’s own writing background has allowed him to construct more than a film in four chapters, but three films all at once. On November 25, 1970 Mishima wakes to his last day on earth. While dressing in his military uniform he embodies the same caliber of meticulousness that characterized his life and writing. In his mirror’s reflection he sees a flash of himself as characters from his novels. Schrader follows Mishima in living color along with four members of his self-constructed Shield Society en route to hold hostage the minister of defense. Schrader intercuts black and white scenes of a sickly Kimitake Hiroka, who in his teens took on the more famous moniker Yukio Mishima. Young Kimitake is virtually held hostage from his mother by his ailing grandmother. The pale runt of a boy finds solace in writing, where he can change his own reality, to his own liking. Schrader offers up documentary style visuals, and the black and white is especially poignant. Mishima on several occasions had his life recorded in black and white photography and film. Schrader recreates Eiko Hosoe’s Death of a Man series, published in the photographer’s book Blood and Roses. Mishima commissioned these photographs of himself in various death poses. The man was constantly rehearsing his own demise. As Mishima’s life progresses in black and white, and his death in color, Schrader throws in a third and apt element. Heavily stylized scenes from three Mishima novels: Temple of the Golden Pavilion, Kyoko’s House, and Runaway Horses are recreated. Apart from his diary, which he periodically burned, Mishima never wrote an autobiography. Biographers have relied heavily on his prose to gain a better understanding of the man. Schrader employs the same tactic. Temple of the Golden Pavilion is Mishima in his teens. The beauty of the Pavilion consumes the stuttering cripple Mizoguchi. Mizoguchi hopes American bombers will destroy the temple and the notion of beauty with it. Kyoko’s House is an ode to beauty and death. Actor Osamu rebuilds himself, as Mishima did, into a bodybuilder. Unlike Mishima he’s able to attain the death of a beautiful youth. Runaway Horses has Isao, who represents the older militant Mishima. Isao constructs a society of Kendo warriors to assassinate government officials. Roy Scheider’s narration holds all these elements together. What conceptually sounds as gimmicky story telling, is pulled off with the greatest of ease. Indeed the only real argument with the film is the casting of Ken Ogata as a twenty something Mishima, and Kenhi Sawada as Osamu. Ogata’s physical presence is perfect for Mishima the bodybuilder, but too imposing for the younger vulnerable Mishima. Sawada is not a bodybuilder, and therefore makes Osamu’s narcissism ironic, which misses the point. Schrader’s approach to the material is a fan’s approach, which is why Mishima is such a success. Schrader commented during filming how rewarding it was to make a 5 million-dollar film that no one needed to see. Mishima is a must see for any student of the moving picture, the written word, or art in general. What Schrader shows is what any Yukio Mishima fan already knows, that the man died vicariously through his characters. This is a contradiction, but so was Yukio Mishima. Pierdesade@aol.com

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