Thoughts on Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters

 

via IMDB

"Are you still willing to pay the price ... for something which may accomplish nothing?"

I want to like Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters more than I actually do. It's clever to juxtapose the life of Yukio Mishima (Ken Ogata) with his fiction, as Paul and Leonard Schrader's screenplay does. In addition to Ogata, there are fine performances by Yasosuke Bando, Kenji Sawada and Toshiyuki Nagashima, as three of Mishima's characters, all of whom act in extreme response to the beauty they desire. Mishima itself is a beautiful movie, with expert direction by Paul Schrader, cinematography by John Bailey and production design by Eiko Ishioka. And yet, even after a second viewing, I wasn't especially engaged.

The Schraders are from my hometown of Grand Rapids, Michigan, which is also the United States headquarters of the Christian Reformed Church. It's a Calvinist religion and Schrader scholars know that Paul eventually rebelled, making provocative movies (and according to Easy Riders, Raging Bulls, experimenting with his sexuality). Every contemporary review of Mishima made sure to mention how the brothers were hemmed in by Mishima's widow. She did not want depictions of his homosexuality and how he died (seppuku, followed by beheading, after a failed attempted coup). Attempted suppression failed.

I found it impossible to watch Mishima without thinking about the toll of the closet. This is a movie that only people who have understood repression could make. There's an awful lot of coveting going on. Mizoguchi (Bando), who has a stutter, wants to destroy the Temple of the Golden Pavilion because he cannot be as beautiful as it is. Kiyomi (Reisen Lee) gets her younger, handsome lover Osamu (Sawada) to turn over his life and body to her. She, too, destroys the object of her desire, creating numerous flesh wounds. Isao (Nagashima) seeks the restoration of Japan as an empire, willing to kill and die for the cause.

"Words are a deceit. But action is never deceitful. 'The harmony of pen and sword.' This samurai motto used to be a way of life. Now it's forgotten. Can art and action still be united? Today this harmony can only occur in a brief flash, a single moment. The average age for men in the Bronze Age was 18, in the Roman era, 22. Heaven must have been beautiful then. Today it must look dreadful. When a man reaches 40, he has no chance to die beautifully. No matter how he tries, he will die of decay. He must compel himself to live."

As inventive as Mishima's structure is, there comes a point where you wish the Schraders had either did a straight adaptation of one of his novels (Runaway Horses seems to be the obvious choice, although I wouldn't mind seeing a full-length version of Kyoko's House), or spent more time on the man. Just what kind of a magnetism did he have, anyway? In the final film, Mishima comes across as a narcissist with delusions of grandeur. The first time I saw Mishima, I hoped I was just imposing a shallow point of view on a movie I just wasn't getting. On my second viewing, and with crystalizing horror, I realized that's all there is.

Like I said, I enjoyed the performances in Mishima. On the other hand, I can't help but imagine how it would have looked if Ogata played all the male leads. Why not, right? They're all Mishima's stories, and I can't imagine it being that confusing for the audience. In the end, though, it likely won't be the acting in Mishima that will stick with me. It's the beauty. I cannot stress it enough: this is a gorgeous film.

"The instant the blade tore open his flesh, the bright disc of the sun soared up behind his eyelids and exploded, lighting the sky for an instant."

Recommended with reservations.

Thoughts:

-- "The stage made everything more beautiful. It turned men into women. It transformed the entire world."

-- Box Office: Grossing more than $437,500 on a $5 million budget, this received a limited release and came in at No. 161 for 1985.

-- Critic's Corner: "Tries to make sense of both its subject's life and his work, and ends up illuminating neither," Paul Attanasio wrote. David Denby: "(A) sterile and disagreeable folly." "Schrader finds a perfect union between sound and image, weighty ideas, and giddy sensual rapture," Nathan Rabin wrote in 2008. Variety: "Boldly conceived, intelligent and consistently absorbing." "What keeps us watching the screen is not any special revelation, but the filmmakers' mad, nearly suicidal attempt to persuade the rest of us to share their fascination with the subject," according to Vincent Canby.

-- Awards Watch: Winner of Best Artistic Contribution at Cannes, this was a Palme d'Or nominee.

-- Fanservice Junction: I'll make Ogata and Sawada share the crown, while also noting the scene where Mishima goes in for his army physical.

-- Memorable Music: The score is 41-31, still favoring pieces written for movies. Mishima's entry is the opening theme, which is perhaps better remembered for its use in The Truman Show and Mr. Robot.

-- "A writer is a voyeur par excellence. I came to detest this position. I sought to be not only the seer but also the seen."

-- I'm so sorry for being this far behind, you guys. Next: Kiss of the Spider Woman. On deck: Ran, Agnes of God. Coming Soon: The Journey of Natty Gann, Commando, Jagged Edge.