Picture a couple of scowling Japanese soldiers clad in perfectly pressed uniforms, each adorned with a samurai sword. Now place this image in a Salvador Dali painting. Throw in a bunch of flowers, a little sex, a rising sun, and some graphic hara kiri scenes. Puree for 90 minutes and get ready to swallow "Mishima."
Directed by Paul Schrader, "Mishima" documents an author's struggle to deal with death, homosexuality, and "words" using individual stories to portray the themes.
The film analyzes Mishima's perception of death in relation to Japanese society. One of the film's sketches describes a Japanese recruit feigning illness to avoid military service. Proclaiming that reaching the age of 40 was a disappointment, he concluded that "no matter how he dies, he will have died of decay." Mishima symbolically embraces this philosophy in his "dreams of dying for the emperor and exploding like a rocket and disappearing."
Mishima also analyzes the "chilling satisfaction" of "words which could change the world." While holding a high government official hostage, he achieves this artistic fulfillment during a climatic speech.In fact, he claims that "a higher principle reconciles words with actions -- death."Soon after his discovery, Mishima kills himself with a double-fisted knife to the belly.
The film's themes would have been clearer ifSchrader had stuck some subtitles in with his dialogue.This tiny drawback disappointed some audience members not fluent in Japanese.However, Philip Glas's amazing musical score highlighted the samurai suicides with the quick tension of violins. Another plus, the surreal sets littered with flowers feature eerie pink and purple lighting as well as psychadelic skies.Characters move in a dreamlike fashion about exotic architecture, and their fascination with razors, knives, and human flesh definitely added a bit of spice to the plot.
