{"id":6203,"date":"2009-07-16T15:03:10","date_gmt":"2009-07-16T22:03:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=6203"},"modified":"2021-03-19T22:31:58","modified_gmt":"2021-03-20T05:31:58","slug":"mishima-1985","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=6203","title":{"rendered":"Mishima (1985)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;All my life I have been acutely aware of a contradiction in the very nature of my existence.&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/07\/Mishima-Poster.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/07\/Mishima-Poster-213x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"213\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-61766\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/07\/Mishima-Poster-213x300.jpg 213w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/07\/Mishima-Poster-91x128.jpg 91w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/07\/Mishima-Poster-192x270.jpg 192w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/07\/Mishima-Poster.jpg 355w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 213px) 100vw, 213px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nScenes from three novels by controversial Japanese writer <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Yukio_Mishima\">Yukio Mishima<\/a> (Ken Ogata) are interwoven into a reflection on his troubled life and infamous suicide by <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Seppuku\"><em>seppuku<\/em><\/a>.\n<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p>\n<strong>Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Biopics<\/li>\n<li>Episodic Films<\/li>\n<li>Japanese Films<\/li>\n<li>Paul Schrader Films<\/li>\n<li>Suicide<\/li>\n<li>Writers<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Review: <\/strong><br \/>\nPaul Schrader&#8217;s <em>Mishima<\/em> remains one of cinema&#8217;s most uniquely conceived, visually evocative biopics. By weaving strategically chosen vignettes from several of Mishima&#8217;s novels &#8212; <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/The_Temple_of_the_Golden_Pavilion\"><em>The Temple of the Golden Pavilion<\/em><\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Kyoko%27s_House\"><em>Kyoko&#8217;s House<\/em><\/a>, and <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Runaway_Horses\"><em>Runaway Horses<\/em><\/a> &#8212; into the background of his unconventional life, viewers are given an unprecedented glimpse into this warrior-poet&#8217;s heady sensibility: we bear witness to his past as a stuttering youth, his ambiguous sexuality, his obsession with bodybuilding, and his determination to die while young and beautiful. What&#8217;s most immediately memorable about the film is its stunning palette of vibrant colors, put to work within a series of gorgeous stylized sets used during the &#8220;fictional&#8221; elements of the film; see the stills below for merely a glimpse of what&#8217;s to come. Indeed, the film&#8217;s visuals are so captivating that it might be easy to overlook the fine performances by Ken Ogata and others in the supporting cast (most notably Reisen Lee as a butch, domineering lover in &#8220;Kyoko&#8217;s House&#8221;). Meanwhile, Philip Glass&#8217;s pulsating score seems like the only logical choice for a film this audaciously original. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.timeout.com\/movies\/mishima-a-life-in-four-chapters\"><em>Time Out<\/em>&#8216;s reviewer<\/a> labels <em>Mishima<\/em> a &#8220;breathless plunge into the creative soul&#8221;, and this is an apt description: we may not like Mishima-the-author very much, but we can&#8217;t help watching his life as portrayed here with fascination. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities and Moments: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>John Bailey&#8217;s varied cinematographic palette<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/02\/mishima-cinematography.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/02\/mishima-cinematography.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-6205\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Eiko Ishioka&#8217;s vibrant set designs<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/02\/mishima-set.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/02\/mishima-set.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-6210\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Ken Ogata as Mishima<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/02\/mishima-ogata.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/02\/mishima-ogata.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-6212\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Reisen Lee as Kiyomi<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/02\/mishima-karasuma.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/02\/mishima-karasuma.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-6213\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>A unique and spellbinding approach to a biopic<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/02\/mishima-biopic.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/02\/mishima-biopic.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-6214\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Philip Glass&#8217;s pulsating score<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nYes, as a one-of-a-kind cinematic treat, and a cult favorite. Listed as a Cult Movie in the back of Peary&#8217;s book.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Categories<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Cult Movie<\/li>\n<li>Good Show<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Links: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0089603\/\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rogerebert.com\/reviews\/great-movie-mishima-a-life-in-four-chapters-1985\">Roger Ebert&#8217;s Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.qnetwork.com\/index.php?page=review&#038;id=2038\">Q Network Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.avclub.com\/articles\/mishima-a-life-in-four-chapters,6989\/\">Onion A.V. Club Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tcm.com\/tcmdb\/title\/83598\/mishima-a-life-in-four-chapters#articles-reviews?articleId=201777\">TCM Article<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.timeout.com\/movies\/mishima-a-life-in-four-chapters\">Time Out Capsule Review<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;All my life I have been acutely aware of a contradiction in the very nature of my existence.&#8221; Synopsis: Scenes from three novels by controversial Japanese writer Yukio Mishima (Ken Ogata) are interwoven into a reflection on his troubled life and infamous suicide by seppuku. Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors: Biopics Episodic Films Japanese Films Paul Schrader Films Suicide Writers Review: Paul Schrader&#8217;s Mishima remains one of cinema&#8217;s most uniquely conceived, visually evocative biopics. By weaving strategically chosen vignettes from&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=6203\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6203","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6203","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6203"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6203\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":70703,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6203\/revisions\/70703"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6203"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6203"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6203"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}