Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (1985)

[Akijama]

Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (1985)

Paul Schrader’s visually stunning, collagelike portrait of the acclaimed Japanese author and playwright Yukio Mishima (played by Ken Ogata) investigates the inner turmoil and contradictions of a man who attempted the impossible task of finding harmony among self, art, and society. Taking place on Mishima’s last day, when he famously committed public seppuku, the film is punctuated by extended flashbacks to the writer’s life as well as by gloriously stylized evocations of his fictional works. With its rich cinematography by John Bailey, exquisite sets and costumes by Eiko Ishioka, and unforgettable, highly influential score by Philip Glass, Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters is a tribute to its subject and a bold, investigative work of art in its own right.

Disc Features

DIRECTOR-APPROVED SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES:

• New, restored 4K digital transfer (Blu-ray) and restored high-definition digital transfer (DVD) of the director’s cut, both supervised and approved by director Paul Schrader and cinematographer John Bailey, with 2.0 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on the Blu-ray
• Two optional English narrations, including one by actor Roy Scheider
• Audio commentary from 2008 featuring Schrader and producer Alan Poul
• Interviews from 2007 and 2008 with Bailey, producers Tom Luddy and Mata Yamamoto, composer Philip Glass, and production designer Eiko Ishioka
• Interviews from 2008 with Mishima biographer John Nathan and friend Donald Richie
• Audio interview from 2008 with coscreenwriter Chieko Schrader
• Interview excerpt from 1966 featuring Mishima talking about writing
• The Strange Case of Yukio Mishima, a 55-minute documentary from 1985 about the author
• Trailer
• PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by critic Kevin Jackson, a piece on the film’s censorship in Japan, and photographs of Ishioka’s sets

Cover by Neil Kellerhouse

[GasmaskAvenger]

Easily the only title in this batch of announcements i'm buying on Day 1 (though i'll definitely get Midnight Cowboy during the next B&N sale).

Really good movie.

[thinredline]

I've watched the trailer of this and it looks interesting.
Combined with the fact that it's a biographical film too...

[billy pilgrim]

News doesn't get any better than this for me. Thank you.

[Hoke Moseley]

Phenomenal news. Been waiting for this to get upgraded for so long.

[Scottie]

Amazon pre-order

[AnamorphicWidescreen]

Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters is brilliant.

I especially liked the surreal & stream-of-consciousness aspects of the film - it was interesting that it basically skipped around between the present (which in this case was November 1970), to flashbacks from the past (b&w), to the stories that were taken from Mishima's work.

One of the many elements that really stood out for me was the story involving the son

[Show spoiler]making the deal with that older woman so that his mother's debts could be paid off. The color in these segments was amazing - very bright & in many cases neon-like red, orange, pink, green, etc. - these were a great example of how truly amazing a regular DVD can look.

And, obviously, the score by Philip Glass was sublime.

I also got the impression that though Mishima was a very well-respected author & playwright with a large following, he still felt alienated from others much of his life. This may have been why Schrader decided to make the film, since many of the films he either wrote and/or directed focus on characters alienated from others, i.e. Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver, Julien in American Gigolo, John LeTour in Light Sleeper, etc.

Looking forward to the Blu.

[dkelly26666]

This was one of the last major pre-blu Criterions left that I really, really wanted upgraded. Been waiting for this one for a good while.

I had a list, when Criterion first started doing blu rays, of the main titles I wanted to see upgraded from DVD to criterion blu. This was one of the first titles to make that list, and it's the last one from that original list to finally make it to blu ray. Others included Bertolucci's "The Last Emperor", Scorsese's "The Last Temptation of Christ", Pasolini's "Salo", Kobayashi's "Kwaidan", Van Sant's "My Own Private Idaho", and Altman's "Short Cuts". Now, with "Mishima", that entire original list has made it to Criterion blu.

And I'm glad certain others weren't released until they could debut on Criterion blu, including Scorsese's "The Age of Innocence", Kurosawa's "Dreams", and many others.

Some films are just fine examples of the kinds of films blu ray was invented for...

[GasmaskAvenger]

Jigoku, Onibaba, Fiend Without a Face and Equinox still need blu-ray releases.

[bluhorizons]

I feel like I have been waiting for this for so long and I am literally tearing up just thinking about how happy, elated and excited I am to hear this wonderful news! It's an absolutely stunning film in so many ways and I can barely wait for May to arrive.

[Vinyl]

With this unexpected upgrade, I am holding out for a Patriotism upgrade.

[Rui]

Originally Posted by Vinyl

With this unexpected upgrade, I am holding out for a Patriotism upgrade.

they really should have included it as an extra on this. i don't think it warrants it's own rerelease.

[MifuneFan]

Originally Posted by Rui

they really should have included it as an extra on this. i don't think it warrants it's own rerelease.

But then you'd be missing out on the extras from that release. Like the case with Night and Fog, the supplements themselves are longer than the feature. The DVD also included a 76 page book.

New, restored high-definition digital transfer of the Japanese and English versions, with optional Japanese or English intertitles
A 45-minute audio recording of Yukio Mishima speaking to the Foreign Correspondents’ Association of Japan
A 45-minute making-of documentary, featuring crew from the film’s production
Interview excerpts featuring Mishima discussing war and death
New and improved English subtitle translation
PLUS: A new essay by renowned critic and historian Tony Rayns, Mishima’s original short story, and Mishima’s extensive notes on the film’s production

[Rui]

but do you think Criterion will actually upgrade it to blu-ray? my feeling is it's probably not a big seller.

(could be completely wrong on that though...)

[harpolini]

Finally! Great movie, a real slow burner that puts you into the strange labryrinth of Mishimas' mind. For first time viewers I highly recommend the Roy Scheider voice narration version, its just better IMO.

[AnamorphicWidescreen]

Interesting trivia re: this film: It was executive produced by Francis Ford Coppola and George Lucas. In fact, I remember first hearing about Mishima when it was mentioned in a book I read (years ago) about movies that G. Lucas had been connected with.

Note this isn't a Lflm. production, but there is still that George Lucas connection. I remember this made me really want to see the film. Even though I'm a huge Star Wars Fan - I was also a big fan of George Lucas' first film, the low-budget, arty THX-1138 (1971). And, though Mishima is a completely different type of movie, it still has that somewhat art-house, indy feel/vibe.

[MifuneFan]

Originally Posted by AnamorphicWidescreen

Interesting trivia re: this film: It was executive produced by Francis Ford Coppola and George Lucas. In fact, I remember first hearing about Mishima when it was mentioned in a book I read (years ago) about movies that G. Lucas had been connected with.

Note this isn't a Lflm. production, but there is still that George Lucas connection. I remember this made me really want to see the film. Even though I'm a huge Star Wars Fan - I was also a big fan of George Lucas' first film, the low-budget, arty THX-1138 (1971). And, though Mishima is a completely different type of movie, it still has that somewhat art-house, indy feel/vibe.

That's interesting. There's another little "six degrees" connection, where Coppola and Lucas also helped Kurosawa get the film Kagemusha funded in 1980 (and are credited as executive producers). Kurosawa has said that Kagemusha was sort of a dress rehearsal for Ran, and that one was released the same year as Mishima. So Lucas and Coppola are at least partially responsible for two of the most well-known Japanese films from 1985

[dwk]

Originally Posted by Rui

they really should have included it as an extra on this. i don't think it warrants it's own rerelease.

I may be misremembering, but I seem to recall that they were not allowed to include Patriotism on the Mishima disc, which is why they released it on its own.

[Cremildo]

The DVD packaging is quite elaborate. I wonder if they'll keep it that way or just put the disc inside a regular case.

[anephric]

Schrader called on Coppola and Lucas for funding because they were friends. It was that simple (they're all part of that UCLA 'movie brat' collective). No-one wanted to make a film about Mishima and Schrader was struggling with the Japanese part of the funding (he tells a story about that) and Coppola/Lucas did it as a favour to a buddy. In the same way as they sat next to Walter Murch on the Return to Oz set every day to prevent Disney from firing him.