Item #: 3847DVD Category: JAPANESE Format: DVD MPAA Rating: U

Woolly Rating: 5/10 (130 votes)

MEMBER COMMENTS ON THIS VIDEO

Kevin Rayburn

Jul 11, 2005 @ 9:57:5

Mishima's electric
I have to admit I've never read anything by Yukio Mishima or know much about him other than his proto-fascism and narcissism. I saw Paul Schrader's film about him a long time ago and remember liking it at the time but don't remember "Afraid to Die" was built specifically as a star vehicle for him; Mishima simply wanted a film in which he would wear a leather jacket, play a gangster, and have a death scene. Given the formulaic nature of this kind of film (there's a redemptive element, of course), the last bit of info is hardly a spoiler. It's debatable whether Mishima was a good actor, but he does have great screen presence in every shot he appears. It's obvious that as part of his regimen to rebuild his body and his public persona that he spent a lot of time practicing narcissistic mirror posing. This is a nifty entertaining yakuza film, with everything seeming to take place inside claustrophobic Japanese interiors. It's directed by Yasuzo Masumura, one of several artsy/commercial Japanese directors dating from the modernist mid-50s who are being rediscovered and reevaluated by critics and fans of Japanese cinema. I've been on a Masumura kick of late, having recently watched his astonishingly savage attack on Japanese corporate culture, 1958's "Giants and Toys" (which Wild and Woolly as of this writing unfortunately does not stock). I liked that film more than "Afraid to Die," but this latter film from 1960 is definitely worth seeing. If you've seen many gangster movies, don't expect a lot of story originality, but enjoy Mishima's thug and Masumura's style. *** Afraid to Die (1960) - 2005 Kevin Rayburn

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