Stockholm Film Festival

Paul Schrader’s multidimensional characterstudy of Yukio Mishima, one of Japan’s mostwell-known authors, is a disturbing portrait ofa person willing to die for his beliefs – and whodid. Inextricably, Schrader links the writer’screative work to his lived life, this is after alla writer-to-be whose father practiced brutalmilitary discipline at home and raided his son’sroom for manuscripts to shread. Constructedon distinctly woven parts, the film begins withMishima’s last days – he committed “seppuku”(ritual suicide by disembowelment) at the ageof 45 after taking a camp commander as ahostage.Whether or not you are familiar with Mishima’swork, the film never drags but effortlessly moves through the key incidents of the author’s life,planting an ambiguous feeling: the audienceis never quite sure if the man is brilliant orinsane.“Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters” isaccompanied by a score from film music veteranPhilip Glass, who won the prize Best ArtisticContribution at the Cannes Festival in 1985.

Cast

Ken Ogata, Masayuki Shionoya, Hiroshi Mikami

Producer

Tom Luddy, Mata Yamamoto

Script

Paul Schrader, Leonard Schrader

Cinematography

John Bailey

Music

Philip Glass

Spoken language

English

 

Other films from the Lifetime Achievement Award section

See all the festival films from 2007