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Mishima - A Life in Four Chapters Actors: Philip Glass, Ken Ogata, Masayuki Shionoya Director: Paul Schrader Number of Items: 1 Picture Format: Anamorphic Widescreen Format: Color, Closed-captioned, Widescreen Audience Rating: R (Restricted) Running Time: 120 minutes Studio: Warner Studios Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Region Code: 1 Product Group: DVD Release Date: 2001-08-07 Buy from Amazon |
 "Brilliant exploration"Mishima's literary vision and ideas are beautifully wrought in this exceptional film. The director weaves 3 facets of Mishima's life into a fascinating portrait of this complex and often contradictory artist. This film fulfills the long-overdue task of introducing Mishima to the west. Although translated works have long been available, he remains relatively unknown here. Shocking, considering that he has been nominated three times for the Nobel Prize in Literature, and is considered by many critics to be the most important Japanese novelist of the 20th century.  "Where is Roy Scheider's wonderful narration?"Do not buy this DVD!!! Buy the VHS copy instead. It is extremely important to note that something very weird has happened to Roy Scheider's original and wonderful narration to this film -- on this DVD the narration is either performed by some flat and dead voiced wannabe, or something has gone terribly awry with the audio quality of the narration. Whatever it is, it is not like the original version. You have been warned. "Finally!"I've been waiting many years for this movie to be properly released. Now lets see if we can get Koyaanisqatsi on DVD next! "3 stars with the narrator taken into account."Why, oh why did they change the narration? What was the thinking behind this? The words have no resonance and no feeling. They are being read from a card that the narrator is reading. In the VHS version, the old version, we are inside Mishima's head as Scheider becomes the voice of the man, the voice of his soul. What has happened? Contractual disputes? What? Did Mishima's widow not like Scheider? What? Someone please help!!!!!  "brief comments about the merits of the DVD release"Yes, the narration has changed and is about as lively as Leonard Cohen on valium, and if anyone knows why they got rid of the original I'd be glad to hear it. However, I think there are a couple of good reasons to get this DVD. First, it is a widescreen transfer. Second, there is the commentary by Paul Schrader (and director's commentaries are always a welcome feature). Lastly, there is the Japanese language narration for which I believe the DVD is the first available format. If you don't like the English language narration, maybe you could watch it in Japanese with the subtitles? Just a suggestion--although the Japanese narrator (is it Ogata Ken?) is similarly detached, which I suppose was a stylistic decision. |
