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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 |
 "VALUABLE, SYMPATHETIC PORTRAIT"If you are a devotee of the works of Mishima, this film will take your breath away. Dreamlike and anguished, the film explores Mishima's concerns with the nature of beauty and truth. Most important, the film allows Mishima to speak for himself via dialogue taken from his works...no silly analysis or deconstruction, just pure unadulterated Mishima. In a world where we all desperately, pathetically try to be "somebody else", this film is a tribute to a man who struggled to be HIMSELF, authentic and complex.  "Subarashi! Wonderful!"Outstanding! However, I am a Mishima groupie -- I've read most of his novels and biography. I expected some documentary footage of which there is none. If you love Mishima for his introspection and have no political agenda, this is a wonderful movie. It's very well put together for a former Grand Rapidsite (and any American for that matter). Mishima was a marvelous and complex individual who has some great tales to tell unbeknowest to the average Western person. "Outstanding"This is one of, if not the cleverest film that I've ever seen. Despite highly selective use of them, it remains substantially faithful to the four books from which it tells his story. (The fourth is the autobiographical Sun and Steel, from which the voiceovers are drawn). The sets are the epitome of elegance and economy; the striking imagery in Runaway Horses is my personal favorite. It definitely repays familiarity with Mishima's work and politics; although it's a magnificent achievement for the cinematography alone, there's a lot in it that's not readily accessible unless you already know a certain amount about him. This being said, for sheer ingenuity I struggle to think of any film that matches this. "A biopic that is even more impressive than its subject"Most biographical films of artists (Immortal Beloved, Amadeus, etc.), even if they are well made, hardly live up to the greatness of the people they describe. This film is a notable exception, one which outdoes its subject. Mishima was an accomplished writer, one whose works deserve to be read, but no single work of his stands out as an unquestionable masterpiece of world literature. This film, on the other hand, is without doubt one of the masterpieces of world cinema. The film is broken down into interlocking "modules": those which depict Mishima's life and those which recreate episodes from his books. The literary recreations are done in a highly stylized manner which captures (and at times, outdoes) the mystery and poetry of the original texts. The biographical segments feature a fine sense of both drama and poetry. They capture the essence of Mishima's passion in a way that even he himself was unable to do. The score by Philip Glass is one of the finest film scores ever written, and it turns the film almost into a kind of opera. It is far superior to any of his other compositions. I was born a few years after Mishima committed suicide, but I am friends with two people who knew him personally, both of whom have excellent taste in both film and literature: they both recommend this film highly. The film may take some factual liberties, but it represents the fundamental nature of the man with infallible accuracy. Whether your interest is great cinema, great literature, Japan, or Mishima himself, do yourself a favor: see this film. "Dazzling"The finest film made about Japan by a non Japanese. When I first saw this several years ago I could not sleep and had to watch it at least six times before I could come to grips with it. ' Masterpiece ' is a word to be careful with but this truly is one. The magnificent Phillip Glass sound track will make your hair stand on end.Even if you don't know or care about Mishima you should watch this, if you can find a copy that is. A spectacular,dazzling film. |
