“This is the film I will be remembered by”: Released 39 years ago and censored in Japan, this is one of the greatest portraits of artists ever created in cinema.

Obsessed with the impossible connection between the body and art, the nostalgia of nationalism is now over, the general at the head of his own militia, the so-called Tatenokai (“Shield Society”), world-famous author Yukio Mishima pulls off a failed coup at Japan’s Ministry of Defense, takes the Commander-in-Chief of the Defense Forces hostage and calls in the troops.

In front of 800 soldiers, he gave them a speech in favor of traditional Japan and the emperor. At once terrified, fascinated, and hostile to the crowd, he retreated after a few minutes. On the same day, November 25, 1970, he committed suicide by seppuku; Suicide by disembowelment appeared in Japan around the 12th century among the samurai class. A terrible ending and, above all, carefully prepared for months. As the ultimate expression of his art, his Magnum Opus.

A pen as strong as a sword

“This story attracted me because I wrote the previous script. taxi driverwhich has already touched upon this pathological idea of ​​glorious suicide” Paul Schroeder said in an interview in October 2020, when his work was presented as part of the Japanese film festival organized in Vienna.

“So I wanted to do something like that, but not on one of these stupid Americans. My brother, who was teaching in Japan at the time, told me about Yukio Mishima, a famous writer, very cultured, homosexual and famous all over the world. Which was in line with this idea of ​​self-sacrifice, but it was a difficult journey to bring this film to fruition.

First of all, the difficulty of obtaining sufficient financing, to the point that Francis Ford Coppola and George Lucas, friends of Paul Schrader. Mishima – Life in 4 Chapters. As sponsors, we’ve seen worse.

Published in 1985, the work is highlighted by an extended overview of the past and the writer’s troubled life, interspersed with echoes of his literary works, to which the 4 chapters referred to in the title refer. in this case Golden Pavilion, Kyoko’s houseand tetralogy sea ​​of ​​fertilityConsidered his literary legacy.

The main artistic difficulty of this very ambitious work was to get into the writer’s mind, “Witness the curve of his thought, his philosophical progress through his novels until he reaches the 4 phases that make up the 4 chapters of his existence.” Paul Schrader said.

screenwriter of taxi driver and signed with Raging Bull Mishima A unique work in its visual and narrative approach. Narration already, through the intelligence of the screenplay, which we owe to the filmmaker’s brother, Leonard Schrader; A big specialist in Japan, also behind Yakuza and another gem that also came out in 1985, Kiss of the Spider Woman.

Then the visuals, thanks to the combined talents of the sumptuous photography signed by John Bailey, supported by the great Japanese costume designer and decorator Eiko Ishioka, who won an Oscar in 1993 for his work on Coppola’s Dracula.

This is the movie I will be remembered for. As a screenwriter, it is a taxi driver. But as a director, it’s Mishima.

But there is more. It stars the extraordinary Ken Ogata, already impressive a few years earlier in Revenge alongside Shohei Imamura, the 1983 Palme d’Or Cannes headliner for The Ballad of Me and Narayama. Mishima – Life in 4 Chapters It is also known for its original soundtrack composed by Philip Glass, whose power, echo and melancholy will long haunt the memory of cinephiles.

Appeared in cinema in 1982 in collaboration with Godfrey Reggio on the experimental film masterpiece Koyaanisqatsi, Prophecy; The first part of the trilogy is being prepared, signed by Philip Glass Mishima Undoubtedly one of his most famous compositions.

So well known is the fact that since then it has been widely used as a fairy tale runaway horses themeOr the opening of the film, which depicts the powerful final sequence of Peter Weir’s Truman Show. An impressive work by the composer, who first developed the soundtrack of a Schrader film based on the “simple” outline of the script, without even a single rush.

A film that was never officially released in Japan

Mishima – Life in 4 Chapters Undoubtedly one of Paul Schrader’s best films, and even if it doesn’t exactly meet the typical criteria of a biography in terms of its narrative form, it remains one of the greatest portraits of artists ever put to film. stands out in the selection Tokyo International Film Festival In 1985, the film was withdrawn from selection and never officially released in Japan, due to pressure from the writer’s widow, as well as threats from small far-right groups opposed to the idea that Mishima might be. portrayed as homosexual.

“This is the film I will be remembered for. As a screenwriter, it’s Taxi Driver. But as a director, it’s Mishima.” Paul Schrader would say. Now it’s up to you to discover this absolute wonder.