synopsis:

Yukio Mishima (see as long as you know i am waiting, take your time f... was a highly acclaimed Japanese author who thought of his life as a work of art so he created himself. He was a walking contradiction. He longed to die for his country, but then exaggerated an illness to get out of the army before it could happen. He posed for beefcake magazines, but he was a homosexual.

This movie film is set on 11/25/70, the day Mishima holds a general hostage so he can try to convert the troops from the capitalist ways back to the traditional ways of imperial Japan and then commit seppuku (ritual suicide). These scenes are shot in color, but it is left open to decide if that's because it documents "the present" or because his final act was glorious.in this movie Paul Schrader seamlessly goes between the final day and the various versions of Mishima. We have black and white sequences that show his life. The private Mishima is a weak lonely boy with a speech impediment that built himself up both mentally and physically. The public Mishima has turned himself into just the opposite, a well spoken muscular leader of his army, the Shield Society, who manipulates himself to fame and notoriety far beyond what a normal writer of his stature would have attained. The author Mishima wrote stories where he was, whether admittedly or not, seemingly the main character. His character's actions seem to be things he's in some way experienced or contemplated doing. These scenes that give you the gist of three of his novels, and moreso define Mishima, are brought to life in stunning, richly colored, fantasy like fashion by designer Eiko Ishioka and cinematographer John Bailey. All of this helps us to decide what this complicated man was striving for, and whether his symbolic death was worthwhile.

about this movie:

Paul Schrader is the right director for this material because he knows how to make viewers think. Actually, Schrader said Mishima, played in this movie by Ken Ogata, is the kind of character he might create if he didn't already exist. He's such a complex character that you are never sure if he's brilliant, insane, some of both, or just overly troubled. Does he kill himself because he wants to die beautiful and simply use his last day to go out with as much of a bang as possible? Has he already given up on dying beautiful and simply believes he's important enough that his death will set change in motion? Will his control of self, art, and society grow with his death or will it rot with his corpse? Schrader is not out to manipulate the viewer or provide the answers, he just lets Mishima act the way he tried to during his life.