Mishima Yukio is a topic that dare not be discussed in Japan. It is the image of generous speeches on right-wing posters. He is also the author who loves the lens most in Asia. He is even a director, actor, and a Nobel Prize in Literature. I missed it, and finally chose to use abdomen to make myself immortal. He is simply a naked fictional character.
The relationship between Yukio Mishima and the movie had existed before he died. At that time, he was an actor. Most of the roles he played were those tough guys with only muscles and no brains. One of the more famous ones is "Funo Lang" is out. The Heroes of the Five Clubs' "Slashing the Man", with one leading role and one supporting role, can be said to be tepid and photogenic.
However, what everyone did not expect was that Yukio Mishima’s directorial talent, a few years before his death, he finally had an opportunity to focus the world film on him, that is, he directed the short film "Worry "Country", this "Worry About the Country" is adapted from Mishima's own novel of the same name, and it was self-directed and acted by him. The content of the film was shocking at the time. The plot is actually very simple, it's nothing more than a story about a soldier who was hindered from serving the country and a lover. The movie itself, apart from some desirable aspects of the lens and stage layout, does not actually have too many special features. However, it links this movie with Mishima’s dramatic death. This movie more shows his Some kind of sign of death. What’s interesting is that after the heroine of this movie met Mishima for the first time, she said to her mother, "I saw a director and starring role today, and he is a gangster."
Mishima has the intersection with the movie again . It was once ruthlessly commented by Akira Kurosawa that his humanistic care is "only the level of a junior high school student."
Then, until the 1980s, after Mishima's death, nearly 20 years ago, the American director, Paul Schrader, Once again noticed this extremely controversial figure. At that time, Paul Schrader was considering shooting a film about suicide artists. At the suggestion of his older brother Leonardo Schrader, who lived in Japan, he chose to shoot the subject of "Mishima Yukio". Started a Schrader movie about Mishima.
Prior to this, Paul Schrader was more of a mature screenwriter. He collaborated with Martin Scorsese to write new Hollywood classics such as "Taxi Driver" and "Angry Bull". "Taxi Driver" criticized him for beautifying the suicidal impulse of ignorant people, but Schrader wanted to use this "Mishima" to tell these people that "suicide is not related to the level of education." He even said "suicide." It's a process of artistic creation." That's how he viewed such a Mishima Yukio.
If you didn’t know Mishima at all before, you wouldn’t be able to appreciate this movie, because what Schrader wanted to make was not a biopic in the traditional sense. What he wanted was to break the biographical movie. The inherent model is a subversive Mishima, or a kind of psychoanalysis of Mishima.
Therefore, to analyze the spiritual world of a writer, his work is undoubtedly the best starting point, and Schrader’s first idea was Mishima’s gay novel "Forbidden Sex", but because of the strong opposition from Mishima’s widow , She wants to suppress all the statements that Mishima is gay. In the end, she and Schrader reached an agreement, he did not choose "Forbidden Color" but can choose all other Mishima novels.
In the end, Schrader chose three novels, "Golden Pavilion", "House of Mirror", and "Running Horse" from the early, middle and late stages of Mishima. The narratives of these three novels, Mishima's past life, and the scenes on the day of his suicide are edited together to form the four chapters of Mishima's life. In all fairness, this is actually a very hypocritical filming method of playwrights, but the literature, drama, and even some operas of Mishima constructed by this special method are indeed a very wonderful new feeling. And this feeling is undoubtedly attributed to two people, Hideko Ishioka and Philip Glass.
"Mishima Yukio" is Eiko Ishioka's first contact with film production (she was also one of the stage designs for the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympic Games). As Japan’s most pioneering art designer, Eiko once gave films such as "Apocalypse Now" I have drawn very beautiful Japanese posters, and it is this kind of poster that first attracted Paul Schrader. When in Japan, through contact with Eiko, Schrader decided to let her be the design of the art scene for "Mishima". Ishioka Eiko was responsible for the part adapted from the novel, which became the entire movie. Highlights. The stage set, the conceptual costume, and the feeling of postmodern Japan isolated from the rest of the film, have brought the film into a new visual realm.
And Philip Glass, the rhythmic music matched by this veteran film scoring master, is undoubtedly the deepest part of the audience. But first of all, as an opera arranger, he gave Schrader a very big influence, so this film has an opera-like deconstruction and atmospheric drama direction. To a large extent, this is Glass’s influence on Mishima. Interpretation. Even Schrader once said to him, "If I am building a ship, you are making a river."
Japan is a mysterious place, and Schrader uses this movie to go deep into Japan’s spiritual core. Undoubtedly, he is He is interpreting the Mishima in his heart in a foreigner's own way. Schrader once commented on Mishima, "I believe life is his last work, and I believe Mishima sees it this way." Every writer wants to be such a fictional character, and Mishima did it. All of Mishima's creations can be regarded as a whole, and what Schrader did is to make a footnote to Mishima's story. Mishima said, "If you accept me, you must accept everything about me, good or bad." Yes, what Schrader did is this kind of work, showing a real Mishima Yukio, and analyzing the reason why he It is the source of Mishima, from his works and his childhood. Knowing that he ended his life of writing with his body, there is no judgment, and some are just a representation of Schrader's art, interpreting the sad song of life.
The screenwriters of this film are Paul Schrader and his brother Leonardo Schrader. As the two first-line screenwriters, the brothers chose such a theme based on their love and understanding of Japanese culture. Paul's screenwriter debut is about the Japanese gangster "Master", and Leonardo's wife is a Japanese woman. It was this wife who urged Mishima's widow to hand over the filming rights to the Schrader brothers. However, Mrs. Mishima regretted it after the film was completed, and used her influence to block the film in Japan. (She also banned her husband’s movie "Worry About the Country", which didn’t reappear until after her death.) In addition, it is worth mentioning that Leonardo Schrader also adapted the novel "Spider Woman" in the same year. The script of "The Kiss", these two works made him the most beautiful filmmaker at the Cannes Film Festival that year.
Finally, let’s talk about the actor Ogata Ken who has just passed away. As the queen director of Jincun Changping, he had his golden age and starred in Jincun Changping's best movies "Yoshan Festival Test" and "I Want Revenge". But this time participating in "Mishima Yukio" is indeed controversial. In fact, he was just a helpless choice for Paul Schrader. Ogata boxing is very different from Mishima in appearance and body shape. As a well-known homosexual, Mishima has a short stature. After the age of 30, he began to exercise his muscles with a combination of rigidity and flexibility. Japanese masculine temperament, and as a typical Japanese tough guy, Schrader described it as a "worker-like heterosexual." It can be said that it is completely incompatible with the appearance of Mishima's artists.
But Yukio Mishima is a taboo that all Japanese actors, especially those of the new generation, dare not touch. Schrader encountered unprecedented difficulties in casting. At this time, choosing Xuxingquan was completely helpless. But the performance of Xu Xingquan relieved Schrader. He contributed once, the model Yukio Mishima. The narcissism in the bones and the arrogance of the samurai were all played by him vividly. I dare not say that he resurrected the real Mishima, but at least, he created a contradictory and beautiful Ogata version of Yukio Mishima. This is another highlight of his career. Such challenges can make all special actors feel ashamed.
Now that Ogata-kun has settled in the soil for peace, he can meet Mishima-kun underground.
It has been more than 30 years since the death of Mishima Yukio. Japan still has not given him a conclusion. He is still a topic of interest to all researchers in Japanese literature and politics. Mysterious Mishima Yukio, everything about him is so wonderful. And Schrader's movie is just the tip of the iceberg of the mysterious three islands, and this is enough. Mishima said, "It is inevitable that people will die, but I want to live forever." Now it seems that he did it.
View more about Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters reviews
