Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters
Paul Schrader transforms Yukio Mishima’s life, literature, sexuality, and nationalist extremism into a feverishly stylized meditation on art, identity, and death.
Overview
A profound exploration of identity and nationalism through the lens of a troubled artist's life.
Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Measured
- Intensity
- Strong
- Complexity
- Dense
- Violence
- Moderate
- intense
- melancholic
- erotic
- arthouse film night
- japanese cinema night
What critics said
Critics broadly regard it as a fascinating, visually avant-garde, structurally lucid, and passionately realized portrait of Yukio Mishima, despite omissions from his life.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
Three chapters parallel Mishima’s life with scenes from The Temple of the Golden Pavilion, Kyoko's House, and Runaway Horses, while the final chapter reconstructs his last day.
Eiko Ishioka’s sharply differentiated color worlds turn Mishima’s novels, memories, and political fantasies into stylized stage-like environments.
The film connects Mishima’s writing, muscular self-fashioning, militarism, and ritual suicide through recurring images of the body and mortality.
Mishima’s opposition to Japan’s postwar order and his attempted coup are presented alongside his investment in emperor worship, militarism, and bushido.
Films like Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters, and why
The Last Emperor
highly stylized biographical drama about an artist whose inner life and political convictions shape the film’s visual form
The Night Porter
avant-garde drama intertwining artistic identity, sexuality, violence, and national history
The Passion of Anna
intense auteur-driven portrait of masculinity, nationalism, and self-destructive artistic obsession
Basquiat
formally ambitious literary biopic using theatrical imagery and fractured approaches to historical truth
Movie Details
- Director
- Paul Schrader
- Release Date
- 1985-09-20
- Runtime
- 121 min
- Rating
- 7.8 / 10 (373)
Cast
- Ken Ogata
- Kenji Sawada
- Bandō Mitsugorō X
- Toshiyuki Nagashima
- Masayuki Shionoya
- Hiroshi Mikami
- Junya Fukuda
- Yuu Tokui
- Junkichi Orimoto
- Naoko Ohtani
Where to watch in United States
- Rent
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Fandango At Home
- Buy
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Fandango At Home
Streaming options come from TMDB and change over time.
Common questions
- What is Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters about?
- Paul Schrader transforms Yukio Mishima’s life, literature, sexuality, and nationalist extremism into a feverishly stylized meditation on art, identity, and death.
- What is Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters as measured, its intensity as strong and its storytelling as dense.
- Is Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters violent?
- Somewhat. Ember rates the violence in Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters as moderate.
- What did critics think of Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters?
- Critics broadly regard it as a fascinating, visually avant-garde, structurally lucid, and passionately realized portrait of Yukio Mishima, despite omissions from his life.
- Which films are like Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters?
- Films with a similar feel include The Last Emperor, The Night Porter, The Passion of Anna, and Basquiat.
- How long is Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters?
- Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters runs 121 minutes.
- Where can I watch Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters?
- In United States, Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters is available to rent or buy from Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Fandango At Home.
