Honolulu Weekly

In l983, the renegade American director Paul Schrader managed to raise the money to tell the true tale of Yukio Mishima in what is one of the key narrative films of the 1980s.

Highly stylized in tryptich structure–and both color and black-and-white–Schrader’s difficult film, Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters, tells of events leading up to and including Mishima’s ritual suicide. Mishima was a highly regarded writer, actor and militarist, whose prevailing goal was to meld art with life. The conventional biographical facts are present in black-and-white, but the ‘central’ parts of his mind’s philosophical concern are told in genuinely stunning color, using key Japanese notions of symbolic color.

Ken Ogata essays the role of Mishima, whose suicide in l970 shocked the world. This is an ideal subject for Schrader whose films, never quite in the mainstream, are the work of a true filmmaker. Schrader’s subjects had a wide range but most all are concerned with the consequences of passion, be it sexuality, philosophical commitment or revenge.

This film, treasured by film buffs, did not succeed at the box office, but it is a fascinating look into both its subject and the director’s highly stylized way of telling his story. The amazing cinematography was by John Bailey, and the music by Phillip Glass.

Other Schrader films (written or directed/written) available for rental include Taxi Driver, Blue Collar, The Cat People, Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist (DVD version only) and Hardcore.

The Movie Museum, 3566 Harding Ave. #4, Mon 7/17 & Sat 7/22, 12:30, 3, 5:30 & 8pm, $4 members, $5 general, 735-8771