432-433 Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters & Patriotism

[Minkin]

So, I was at the BFI the other day, ogling through their great film selection in their store. I noticed they had two Eclipse sets, Kagemusha and about 30 copies of Patriotism. Any guesses as to why the BFI is suddenly stocking up on this? It wasn't a costumer's order- since it was being sold among everything else, nor was it discounted or specially marked. I thought it all rather odd.

[Napier]

I finally got around to watching this, and I just couldn't believe that I've put if off for so long. What an astonishingly beautiful film this is. I haven't been able to shake it's imagery from my brain. I probably wouldn't have watched it, but a Japanese friend from the left coast visited me and saw it in the kevyip from hell. "Hory Shit" he said! "Mishima", from "Clitelion" So we watched it, he's always wanted to see it. It literally left us speechless. Amazing film. The BBC doc is a great supplement too. But you guys probably already knew this.

[Tommaso]

I thought you were speaking about "Patrotism" until I read your mentioning of the BBC doc, which is on the disc of the Schrader film. If you have "Patriotism" in mind, then I fully agree, of course. Still have somewhat mixed feelings about "A Life in Four Chapters", though it certainly is a beautiful film, too.

[Napier]

I am speaking of Mishima. It's gorgeous! We would have watched Patriotism after, but it was getting late. I did loan him my copy of Patriotism to watch on the train though. It is indeed beautiful, as well. He had better mail it back to me.

[AnamorphicWidescreen]

Recently re-watched Paul Schrader's masterpiece Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters and am again stunned at the brilliance of this film.

I especially liked the surreal & stream-of-consciousness aspects of the film - it was interesting that it basically skipped around between the present (which in this case was November 1970), to flashbacks from the past (b&w), to the stories that were taken from Mishima's work.

One of the many elements that really stood out for me was the story involving the son making the deal with that older woman so that his mother's debts could be paid off. The color in these segments was amazing - very bright & in many cases neon-like red, orange, pink, green, etc. - these were a great example of how truly amazing a regular DVD can look.

And, obviously, the score by Philip Glass was sublime - incredible.

I also got the impression that though Mishima was a very well-respected author & playwright with a large following, he still felt alienated from others much of his life. This may have been why Schrader decided to make the film, since many of the films he either wrote and/or directed focus on characters alienated from others, i.e. Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver, Julien in American Gigolo, etc.

[doh286]

Philip Glass will be present for a discussion after the Feb. 17 screening of Mishima at the University of Chicago.

[Never Cursed]

I thought there simply was no blu-ray of this film, but apparently, there's a Region B Spanish blu-ray available on Amazon. It apparently only has the Schrader VO track and does not have English subtitles.

Does anyone own this release, and is the blu-ray actually in 1080P? Blu-ray.com says it is, but I have no idea if that's accurate. I'm having a hard time finding information on this release, which is odd, since it's apparently the only high-definition version of this movie that's actually purchasable.

[manicsounds]

DVDCompare has disc specs.
It has the Scheider voice over, Schrader commentary, a 1080p transfer but in MPEG2 and with Dolby Digital audio only.

[TwoTecs]

Paul Schrader on the topic of a Mishima Blu-Ray:



Facebook link

[Ribs]

Upgrade in May!!!

[Big Ben]

Getting this on Blu-Ray has been a joke for so long. I'm really excited to see this for the first time.

[willoneill]

Cracked and bought the DVD in the Barnes and Noble sale. You’re all welcome.

[danieltiger]

Given what Criterion did previously with Grey Gardens, I'm a bit surprised to see that Patriotism isn't an extra on this release.

[DeprongMori]

Yes, Patriotism really is a major missed opportunity. With any luck, they'll remedy that in a later update to the "extras", like they did with Filming Othello.

[Rupert Pupkin]

wow! great news! what a wonderful movie... that's been a long time that I hope for a blu-ray upgrade...
I sincerely hope that "Cat People" will get a decent treatment because the Blu-Ray (French or the US looks waxy)- Criterion or this great UK label which released "Hardcore" would be great... "Cat People" and " The Comfort of Strangers" are one of his best from this era with "Mishima" (" The Comfort of Strangers" is one of the best movie using Venezia labyrinth/artchitecture along with N.Roeg " Don't Look Now" and "Mort à Venise")

do you think that they will release it in digipack [-o< ? after all they did it for Vampyr (but fortunately not for la double vie de Véronique or Two-Lane Blacktop. This was really a gorgeous digipack. I still have it on DVD...

[Ribs]

I'd imagine it will remain a digipack due to the booklet and the fact the art already exists and just needs to be resized.

[bdsweeney]

wow! great news! what a wonderful movie... that's been a long time that I hope for a blu-ray upgrade...
I sincerely hope that "Cat People" will get a decent treatment because the Blu-Ray (French or the US looks waxy)- Criterion or this great UK label which released "Hardcore" would be great... "Cat People" and " The Comfort of Strangers" are one of his best from this era with "Mishima" (" The Comfort of Strangers" is one of the best movie using Venezia labyrinth/artchitecture along with N.Roeg " Don't Look Now" and "Mort à Venise")

do you think that they will release it in digipack [-o< ? after all they did it for Vampyr (but fortunately not for la double vie de Véronique or Two-Lane Blacktop. This was really a gorgeous digipack. I still have it on DVD...

My hope is for a release of Light Sleeper. I’m pretty sure it’s in vain.

[criterionsnob]

Mishima: A Life in Four Beavers

[cdnchris]

The sunrise sequence was digitally altered again for this release. I actually think it looks "better" but phonier, which I think suits the look of the story sequences anyways, but I imagine it will rub others the wrong way. I posted a comparison on Facebook currently (you shouldn't need an account).

[j99]

An excellent release, and the first time on dvd in the UK. The Arena documentary, The Strange Case Of Yukio Mishima, is a wonderful extra, one of my favourite documentaries ever. I can’t praise it enough, and I’m pleased and relieved Criterion now release region 2 in the UK. I’ve been missing out.

[Reverend Drewcifer]

Osamu's Theme featuring St. Vincent:
https://pitchfork.com/news/watch-st-vin ... lip-glass/

[Finch]

4K upgrade in June

IRECTOR-APPROVED 4K UHD + BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES
4K digital restoration of the director’s cut, supervised and approved by director Paul Schrader and cinematographer John Bailey, with 2.0 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack
One 4K UHD disc of the film and one Blu-ray with the film and special features
Two alternate English narrations, including one by actor Roy Scheider
Audio commentary featuring Schrader and producer Alan Poul
Program on the making of the film featuring Bailey, producers Tom Luddy and Mata Yamamoto, composer Philip Glass, and production designer Eiko Ishioka
Program on Yukio Mishima featuring his biographer John Nathan and friend Donald Richie
Audio interview with coscreenwriter Chieko Schrader
Interview excerpt from 1966 featuring Mishima talking about writing
The Strange Case of Yukio Mishima, a 1985 documentary about the author
Trailer
PLUS: An essay by critic Kevin Jackson, a piece on the film’s censorship in Japan, and photographs of Ishioka’s sets

Cover by Neil Kellerhouse

[colinr0380]

Great news! To update the thread on translated works of Mishima in the UK in recent years, there's a great Stephen E. Andrews video detailing various editions up to 2023's Penguin release of Mishima's only sci-fi novel Beautiful Star (which had a film adaptation in 2017 that I'm very curious to see at some point!)

Voices of The Fallen Heroes was Penguin's newly translated Mishima work most recently released, in January of this year, and stil seems to be available in its slightly larger first edition printing.

[MichaelB]

I never bought the Criterion BD in the UK because for some reason it always remained bizarrely expensive, and in retrospect I'm very glad I didn't!