Review of Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (1985) by Lanning : — 09 Jul 2006

Here is one strange film. It was produced by Francis Ford Coppola and George Lucas and was directed by Paul Schrader (guy who wrote 'The Taxi Driver') and the film is about Japanese writer Yukio Mishima, who on November 25, 1970 seized the headquarters of Japan's Eastern Army with a cadre of self-styled soldiers. And despite having American producers and an American director, the movie is all in Japanese except for some narration by Roy Scheider (which I've read has been replaced on the DVD version so I'm going to keep my VHS of this one.).

The movie, itself, is fascinating from beginning to end as they use scenes from his plays along side with events in his life to help show what might be going on in his head. This is one of the best films I have ever seen and one of the most overlooked movies to come out of the 1980's.