Schrader's "Mishima Yukio Biography" is not a biographical film in the traditional sense, but a film about sexual consciousness.
Before watching the movie, I knew very little about Mishima. I only stayed at the level of works familiar to the public, and I didn't know anything about my personal life. Therefore, this film review will also focus on the look and feel of the film itself and the information it conveys, rather than introducing background information or evaluating the degree of restoration of the film’s true deeds, and there is less spoiler.
Very different from the general biopic structure of Shun narration or flashback + flashback, "Mishima" accidentally adopts a triptych style interspersed narrative with three narratives. It’s not wonderful. After all, Virginia Woolf’s biofilm "The hours" is also in a similar format. However, in "Mishima", in addition to the traditional past/present division, the third line is completely determined by Mishima himself. Composed of dramatic interpretations of novel works.
For those who prefer bright colors, this third narrative line is simply a god-like existence. Each paragraph of "Golden Pavilion Temple", "Mirror House", and "Running Horse" is an epic mise-en-scène. Each paragraph has its own distinctive style but is closely linked by a unified Japanese aesthetic. As a purely American production team, through bizarre shots, composition, colors, props and makeup, one of Japan’s major cultural elements- Ero-guro (エログロ, namely "Erotic & Grotesque (and nonsensical)" / "Erotic & Grotesque (and nonsensical)" ”) And Dong Yamei played to the extreme in front of the screen is really very awesome. In addition, I would have thought that this kind of Japanese aesthetic film and stereotypical East Asian music are the best combination, but this film has a surprisingly good effect with the film score of Philip Glass.
In addition, the technique of integrating three narratives in "Mishima" is extremely clever. Between these three narrative lines (past, present and novel works), how to incorporate the third paragraph based on Mishima's works into the overall film is a difficult point. First of all, as a background, we need to mention an important theme that runs through many scripts written by Paul Schrader: the formation and development of the protagonist's masculinity consciousness. In this regard, "Man in a room" is a motif that appears repeatedly in many Schrader films.
I quote Schrader's own explanation of the concept of ``people in the room'':
A man dressing and preparing himself to go out and do battle for his goals.
For example, in the "Taxi Driver", which is also a script written by Schrader for Scorsese, one of the most classic scenes is that Travis looks in the mirror in his apartment before the assassination attempt and admires himself continuously withdrawing a pistol and shooting himself. Masculinity can't extricate herself and fantasizes about the upcoming climax and the glory that this trip will bring to her; similar "people in the room" scenes also appear in "Raging Bull", "American Gigolo" and other films.
...Placing a man in a room is to force that man to deal with his body and with his soul in a world that's falling apart—to its most logical end.
In many sections, the experience of being alone allows the characters in Schrader's writings to have enough time and space to face their own fears and weaknesses, grow up in loneliness, rehearse, and perfect their personality and personality in a corner invisible to everyone. masculinity, to prepare for the final climatic action. As a writer who was often bullied as a child, Yukio Mishima is Schrader's perfect image of a roommate. The ultimate pursuit of the three islands in the film is "the unity of knowledge and action": The pure reconciliation of words/art and action. From Mishima's point of view, only "death" in the world is the true unity of knowledge and action, and the *only way* to preserve beauty forever is to die at the highest point of beauty.
Key points: The three works mentioned in the film correspond to the life of Yukio Mishima's masculinity gradually awakened in reality, and finally committed suicide at the climax:
1. The early work "Golden Pavilion Temple"-the enlightenment of obscurity consciousness. Disgusted with self-disability; yearning for sex but missed the opportunity to break through because of timidity; the protagonist of the novel is deeply moved by the beauty of Kinkakuji, but eventually burns Kinkakuji to preserve her perfection. I quote from the original:
On the one hand, the easily destructive image of human beings has the illusion of immortality, while the strong beauty of the Golden Pavilion reveals the possibility of destruction.
The dead sky is very bright, just like the living sky.
2. The mid-term work "House of Mirrors"-the development and appearance of Masculinity. The phallic androgyny in the mirror; the dichotomy and confusion of sex and death; body-building; the protagonist of indulgence and the ambiguous peach-colored light and shadow; the sexual experience of Sedo-masochism and the Hannibal-style sacrifice. Quoting from the original:
But in the eyes of the two women, it was obvious that desire gradually increased and began to swell. It is no longer a mere necklace, but a kind of romantic resistance to all their dreams about life, the well-proportioned beauty they should have, and a kind of romantic resistance to shabby wallets... The sum of power that can draw people into something similar to suicide and the desire to throw water.
3. The later work "Running Horse"-extreme Masculinity and self-awareness. A fanatical political ideal; a gang of 20 heroes; an extreme right-wing assassination who sacrificed his life for the country to restore the monarchy; and self-destruction in the setting sun.
4. Smoothly and ingeniously transition to the last day of Mishima's life in reality, screaming words in front of the army, masculinity reached its peak, and committed suicide to achieve the ultimate harmony of "knowledge and action" of the Bushido spirit purist, sunset, the end of the film...
Therefore, Yukio Mishima, who combines life and death, male and female, beauty and ugliness, is Schrader's ultimate perfect "man in the room."
View more about Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters reviews
