Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters

UPC: 715515029728

Studio: Criterion

MPAA Rating: R   Contains:[Violence, Nudity, Adult Situations, Adult Language, Sexual Situations]

Summary: In Paul Schrader's unusual biopic, Ken Ogata stars as Yukio Mishima, perhaps the most celebrated Japanese novelist of the last five decades. The film begins with Mishima's youth, then moves forward in episodic fashion to his 1970 suicide, symbolically committed at a military site. Originally titled Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters, the film is neatly divided into a quartet of acts, and the screenplay does not flinch in its depiction of Mishima's hyperactive sex life. Among the many neat directorial touches is the decision to offer the narrative in black-and-white, while depicting scenes from Mishima's novels in vibrant color. Written off as self-indulgent by those impatient with Schrader's fragmentary technique, Mishima was produced in Japan by Francis Ford Coppola and George Lucas, an offshoot of Coppola's involvement with Japanese director Akira Kurosawa's Kagemusha. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Category: Drama

Awards: Best Artistic Contribution – Cannes Film Festival Best Artistic Contribution – Cannes Film Festival Best Artistic Contribution – Cannes Film Festival Film Presented – Telluride Film Festival Film Presented – Telluride Film Festival

Features: Disc 1 - New, restored high-definition digital transfer of the director's cut, supervised and approved by director Paul Schrader and cinematographer John Bailey

Optional English and Japanese voice-over narrations, the former by Roy Scheider, the latter by Ken Ogata

New audio commentary featuring Schrader and Producer Alan Poul
Theatrical trailer

Disc 2 - New video interviews with Bailey, Producers Tom Luddy and Mataichiro Yamamoto, Composer Philip Glass, and Production Designer Eiko Ishioka

New Video interviews with Mishima biographer John Nathan and friend Donald Richie

New audio interview with coscreenwriter Chieko Schrader
Video interview excerpt featuring Mishima talking about writing
The Strange Case of Yukio Mishima, a 55-minute BBC documentary

Plus: A booklet featuring a new essay by critic Kevin Jackson, a piece on the film's censorship in Japan, and photograhs of Ishioka's sets

Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters

Format: Digital Video Disc (DVD)

Release Date: 07/01/2008

Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Theatre Wide-Screen

Audio: DD2 Dolby Digital Stereo

Runtime: 120 Minutes

Sides: 2

Number of Discs: 2

Subtitles: English

Region: USA & territories, Canada

Chapters: Disc #1 -- Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters
1. Morning, November 25, 1970 [8:38]
2. Childhood [5:14]
3. The Temple of the Golden Pavilion: Beauty [4:37]
4. The Temple of the Golden Pavilion: Power [5:42]
5. The Temple of the Golden Pavilion: Destruction [2:31]
6. Aspirations [3:58]
7. The Temple of the Golden Pavilion: Fame [3:43]
8. "Our Day" [3:05]
9. Writing [2:13]
10. Kyoko's House: Osamu [5:23]
11. Masks [4:08]
12. Kyoko's House: The Decaying Body [3:37]
13. Kyoko's House: "I Exist" [6:21]
14. Photo Shoot [1:23]
15. Kyoko's House: Shadows [1:55]
16. Arrival [2:39]
17. Runaway Horses: Plan [1:56]
18. Kendo [4:46]
19. Runaway Horses: Final Command [1:21]
20. Bound by Blood [3:19]
21. Runaway Horses: Action [7:49]
22. Patriotism [5:50]
23. Shield Society [2:33]
24. Hostage [4:35]
25. The Moment [8:19]
26. Final Act [7:07]
27. Harmony [3:09]
1. Color Bars [5:14]

Karl Williams

Divided into four sections titled "Beauty," "Art," "Action" and "Harmony of Pen and Sword," Mishima is based -- in a fascinating creative choice -- not only on Mishima's life and scandalous death, but also on his work. Schrader uses three of Mishima's semi-autobiographical novels as the basis for exploring the author's obsessions and ideas. Cutting back and forth between these tales and Mishima's real-life move toward a final, desperate act meant to inspire national unity, the film comes to a startling conclusion as all four tales end in bloody self-destruction. The liberal blend of fact and fact-based fiction allows Schrader to compose hauntingly symbolic, dream-like images, set against a moody score from avant-garde composer Philip Glass, although the dividing line between literary adaptation and biographical material is made clear by the use of black and white for the film's flashbacks. The end result stands as one of Schrader's best films. ~ Karl Williams, Rovi

Cast and Crew: Imari Tauji  Actor 
Kojiro Oka  Actor 
Reisen Lee  Actor 
Toshio Hosokawa  Actor 
Mami Okamoto  Actor 
Sachiko Akagi  Actor 
Yasuhiro Arai  Actor 
Kenji Sawara  Actor 
Eimei Ezumi  Actor 
Minoru Hodaka  Actor 
Shinichi Nosaka  Actor 
Yuichi Saito  Actor 
Naoya Makoto  Actor 
Tadanori Yokoo  Actor 
Roy Scheider  Actor 
Fumio Mizushima  Actor 
Shinji Miura  Actor 
Sachiko Hidari  Actor 
Alan Mark Poul  Actor 
Tatsuya Hiragaki  Actor 
Kazuo Kato  Actor 
Ren Ebata  Actor 
Tsutomu Harada  Actor 
Atsushi Takayama  Actor 
Yosuke Mizuno  Actor 
Donald Richie  Actor 
John Nathan  Actor 
Francis Ford Coppola  Producer 
Philip Glass  Composer (Music Score) 
George Lucas  Producer 
Tom Luddy  Producer 
Chieko Schrader  Screenwriter 
Leonard Schrader  Screenwriter 
Paul Schrader  Director 
Paul Schrader  Screenwriter 
Mata Yamamoto  Producer 
Mataichiro  Producer 
Ken Ogata  Actor 
Masayuki Shionoya  Actor 
Yasosuke Bando  Actor 
Hiroshi Mikami  Actor 
Junya Fukuda  Actor 
Toshiyuki Nagashima  Actor 
Shigeto Tachihara  Actor 
Junkichi Orimoto  Actor 
Naoko Otani  Actor 
Go Riju  Actor 
Masato Aizawa  Actor 
Yuki Nagahara  Actor 
Kyuzo Kobayashi  Actor 
Yuki Kitazume  Actor 
Hisako Manda  Actor 
Naomi Oki  Actor 
Miki Takakura  Actor 
Koichi Sato  Actor 
Setsuko Karasuma  Actor 
Yasuaki Kurata  Actor 
Mitsuru Hirata  Actor 
Hiroshi Katsuno  Actor 
Hiroki Ida  Actor 
Jun Negami  Actor 
Ryo Ikebe  Actor 

Country: Japan,USA