Mishima: Pen and Sword
By June 30, 2008
The idea of self-fashioning—of deliberately taking the raw materials of one’s body and mind and transforming them into a work of art—has been with us at least since the Read more »
- United States
- 1985
- 120 minutes
- Color, Black and White
- 1.85:1
- Japanese
- Spine #432
SYNOPSIS: Paul Schrader’s visually stunning, collagelike portrait of acclaimed Japanese author and playwright Yukio Mishima (played by Ken Ogata) investigates the inner turmoil and contradictions of a man who attempted an impossible harmony between 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.
Cast & CreditsOpen
Cast
| Yukio Mishima | Ken Ogata |
| Morita | Masayuki Shionoya |
| Cadet no. 1 | Hiroshi Mikami |
| Cadet no. 2 | Junya Fukuda |
| Cadet no. 3 | Shigeto Tachihara |
| General Mashita | Junkichi Orimoto |
| Mishima, age 18-19 | Go Riju |
| Mishima, age 5 | Yuki Nagahara |
| Mizoguchi | Yasosuke Bando |
| Mariko | Hisako Manda |
| Osamu | Kenji Sawada |
| Kiyomi | Reisen Lee |
| Mitsuko | Setsuko Karasuma |
| Takei | Yasuaki Kurata |
| Isao | Toshiyuki Nagashima |
| Lieutenant Hori | Hiroshi Katsuno |
| Izutsu | Hiroki Ida |
| Kurahara | Jun Negami |
Credits
| Director | Paul Schrader |
| Screenplay | Chieko Schrader, Paul Schrader and Leonard Schrader |
| Executive producers | George Lucas and Francis Ford Coppola |
| Producer | Tom Luddy, Mataichiro Yamamoto and Mata Yamamoto |
| Associate producer | Leonard Schrader |
| Music | Philip Glass |
| Cinematography | John Bailey |
| Production design | Eiko Ishioka |
| Costume design | Eiko Ishioka |
| Sound | Leslie Shatz |
| Visual effects | Catherine Craig |
Disc Features
DIRECTOR-APPROVED SPECIAL EDITION DOUBLE-DISC SET:
- New, restored high-definition digital transfer of the director’s cut, supervised and approved by director Paul Schrader and cinematographer John Bailey
- Optional English and Japanese voice-over narrations, the former by Roy Scheider, the latter by Ken Ogata
- New audio commentary featuring Schrader and producer Alan Poul
- New video interviews with Bailey, producers Tom Luddy and Mata Yamamoto, composer Philip Glass, and production designer Eiko Ishioka
- New video interviews with Mishima biographer John Nathan and friend Donald Richie
- New audio interview with coscreenwriter Chieko Schrader
- Video interview excerpt featuring Mishima talking about writing
- The Strange Case of Yukio Mishima, a 55-minute BBC documentary about the author
- Theatrical trailer
- PLUS: A booklet featuring a new essay by critic Kevin Jackson, a piece on the film’s censorship in Japan, and photographs of Ishioka’s sets
From the CurrentView the Current »
Film Essays
News
American Cinematheque
to Honor Tom Luddy
March 22, 2010
Los Angeles’s American Cinematheque announced today that it will honor programmer, producer, and indispensable all-around friend to film Tom Luddy with Read more »
Clippings
Back to Bailey’s Blog:
Cauchetier, Part Two
March 31, 2010
In the Current last week, we linked to the first part of cinematographer John Bailey’s informative, image-laden piece, on the American Society of Cinematographers Read more »
Press Notes
Press Notes: A New Chapter for Mishima
December 16, 2008
Paul Schrader’s Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters, released earlier this year in a Criterion special edition DVD, begins a one-week theatrical run today Read more »
