Release CalendarTop 250 MoviesMost Popular MoviesBrowse Movies by GenreTop Box OfficeShowtimes & TicketsMovie NewsIndia Movie Spotlight
    What's on TV & StreamingTop 250 TV ShowsMost Popular TV ShowsBrowse TV Shows by GenreTV NewsIndia TV Spotlight
    What to WatchLatest TrailersIMDb OriginalsIMDb PicksIMDb Podcasts
    OscarsBest Picture WinnersBest Picture WinnersIndependent Spirit AwardsWomen's History MonthSXSWSTARmeter AwardsAwards CentralFestival CentralAll Events
    Born TodayMost Popular CelebsMost Popular CelebsCelebrity News
    Help CenterContributor ZonePolls
For Industry Professionals
  • All
  • Titles
  • TV Episodes
  • Celebs
  • Companies
  • Keywords
  • Advanced Search
Watchlist
Sign In
Sign In
New Customer? Create account
  • Fully supported
  • English (United States)
    Partially supported
  • Français (Canada)
  • Français (France)
  • Deutsch (Deutschland)
  • हिंदी (भारत)
  • Italiano (Italia)
  • Português (Brasil)
  • Español (España)
  • Español (México)
  • Cast & crew
  • User reviews
  • Trivia
IMDbPro

Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters

  • 19851985
  • RR
  • 2h
IMDb RATING
7.9/10
12K
YOUR RATING
Ken Ogata in Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (1985)
Watch Trailer
Play trailer1:24
1 Video
99+ Photos
BiographyDrama
A fictionalized account in four chapters of the life of celebrated Japanese writer Yukio Mishima.A fictionalized account in four chapters of the life of celebrated Japanese writer Yukio Mishima.A fictionalized account in four chapters of the life of celebrated Japanese writer Yukio Mishima.
IMDb RATING
7.9/10
12K
YOUR RATING
  • Director
    • Paul Schrader
  • Writers
    • Paul Schrader
    • Leonard Schrader
    • Yukio Mishima(novels: "The Temple of the Golden Pavilion", "Kyoko's House" and "Runaway Horses)
  • Stars
    • Ken Ogata
    • Masayuki Shionoya
    • Hiroshi Mikami
  • Director
    • Paul Schrader
  • Writers
    • Paul Schrader
    • Leonard Schrader
    • Yukio Mishima(novels: "The Temple of the Golden Pavilion", "Kyoko's House" and "Runaway Horses)
  • Stars
    • Ken Ogata
    • Masayuki Shionoya
    • Hiroshi Mikami
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 49User reviews
    • 88Critic reviews
    • 81Metascore
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 1 win & 1 nomination

    Videos1

    Trailer
    Trailer 1:24
    Watch Trailer

    Photos137

    Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (1985)
    Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (1985)
    Ken Ogata in Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (1985)
    Ken Ogata in Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (1985)
    Ken Ogata in Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (1985)
    Ken Ogata in Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (1985)
    Ken Ogata in Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (1985)
    Ken Ogata in Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (1985)
    Ken Ogata in Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (1985)
    Junya Fukuda, Hiroshi Mikami, Ken Ogata, Junkichi Orimoto, Masayuki Shionoya, and Shigeto Tachihara in Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (1985)
    Ken Ogata in Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (1985)
    Ryô Ikebe and Toshiyuki Nagashima in Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (1985)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Ken Ogata
    Ken Ogata
    • Yukio Mishima (segment "November 25, 1970")…
    Masayuki Shionoya
    Masayuki Shionoya
    • Morita (segment "November 25, 1970")
    Hiroshi Mikami
    Hiroshi Mikami
    • Cadet #1 (segment "November 25, 1970")
    Junya Fukuda
    • Cadet #2 (segment "November 25, 1970")
    Shigeto Tachihara
    • Cadet #3 (segment "November 25, 1970")
    Junkichi Orimoto
    • General Mashita (segment "November 25, 1970")
    Naoko Ôtani
    Naoko Ôtani
    • Mother (segment "Flashbacks")
    Gô Rijû
    • Mishima, age 18-19 (segment "Flashbacks")
    Masato Aizawa
    Masato Aizawa
    • Mishima - age 9-14 (segment "Flashbacks")
    Yuki Nagahara
    Yuki Nagahara
    • Mishima, age 5 (segment "Flashbacks")
    Kyûzô Kobayashi
    • Literary Friend (segment "Flashbacks")
    Yuki Kitazume
    • Dancing Friend (segment "Flashbacks")
    Haruko Katô
    Haruko Katô
    • Grandmother (segment "Flashbacks")
    Yasosuke Bando
    Yasosuke Bando
    • Mizoguchi (segment "The Temple of the Golden Pavilion")
    Hisako Manda
    • Mariko (segment "The Temple of the Golden Pavilion")
    Naomi Oki
    • First Girl (segment "The Temple of the Golden Pavilion")
    Miki Takakura
    • Second Girl (segment "The Temple of the Golden Pavilion")
    Imari Tsujikoichi Sato
    • Madame (segment "The Temple of the Golden Pavilion")
    • (as Imari Tsuji)
    • Director
      • Paul Schrader
    • Writers
      • Paul Schrader
      • Leonard Schrader
      • Yukio Mishima(novels: "The Temple of the Golden Pavilion", "Kyoko's House" and "Runaway Horses) (uncredited)
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    More like this

    Woman in the Dunes
    8.5
    Woman in the Dunes
    Patriotism
    7.5
    Patriotism
    Yi Yi: A One and a Two...
    8.1
    Yi Yi: A One and a Two...
    Tampopo
    7.9
    Tampopo
    The Human Condition II: Road to Eternity
    8.5
    The Human Condition II: Road to Eternity
    Blue Collar
    7.5
    Blue Collar
    A Brighter Summer Day
    8.3
    A Brighter Summer Day
    Sansho the Bailiff
    8.4
    Sansho the Bailiff
    The Ascent
    8.2
    The Ascent
    A Man Escaped
    8.2
    A Man Escaped
    Cure
    7.5
    Cure
    The Human Condition I: No Greater Love
    8.5
    The Human Condition I: No Greater Love

    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Has never been officially released theatrically or on home video in Japan even to this day (2019) because of the controversy over both Yukio Mishima's politics, and the film itself. A theatrical release was planned for Japan in 1985, but a bomb threat at a festival screening of the film there made distributors drop their plans. The film has been shown on Japanese television (albeit with the gay bar scene removed) and the U.S. DVD and Blu-Ray releases can legally be imported there.
    • Goofs
      General Mashita wiped the sword with tissue paper, not cloth.
    • Quotes

      Yukio Mishima (Narrator): The average age for a man in the Bronze Age was eighteen, in the Roman era, twenty-two. Heaven must have been beautiful then. Today it must look dreadful. When a man reaches forty, he has no chance to die beautifully. No matter how he tries, he will die of decay. He must compel himself to live.

    • Crazy credits
      Yukio Mishima is acknowledged to have been a real person, but his acts have been fictionalized by writers. Other persons and events in this film are fictitious. Any similarity to actual persons and events is unintentional.
    • Alternate versions
      On Japanese television, the gay bar scene is cut out.
    • Connections
      Featured in Mardi cinéma: Episode dated 14 May 1985 (1985)

    User reviews49

    Review
    Review
    Featured review
    8/10
    Like A Boy At A Window Or A Sword In A Sheath
    The only pure life, is one that ends with a signature in blood.

    So says Mishima anyway, a young sheltered boy who becomes a celebrity author. The life of one of Japans most celebrated literary voices, is told from three perspectives, his life just before he and four members of his private army take over a Japanese military base and commit ritual suicide(shown in color), flashbacks(shown in black and white), and scenes from his novels(shown in a kind of dreamy Technicolor set design somewhere between traditional Noh Theater and "the Wizard Of Oz". These stories are often told at the same time, but are edited to reinforce, the slow fusing of Mishima's life with his fictions, until the end(or the beginning) when like the ancient samurai he so admires, he will be at a balance of pen and sword (when his words and actions are the same, and he is a full and "pure" being).

    Paul Schrader wrote the screen play for "Taxi Driver", and directed "Cat People"(a bizarre erotic horror film, which left strange impressions on me as a boy), and in Mishima, he comes closest to making a really excellent film.

    Whats interesting is to watch the poet, the homosexual, the shy and awkward man with a low body image who overstates his Tuberculosis to get of of WW2 (of which he seems forever ashamed), become a body building, samurai obsessed, a-sexual, media phenomena, all the while still writing prolific amounts of novels, plays, and short stories.

    A short and sweet version is to say Mishima has no father, and becomes obsessed with masculinity, beauty, sex and self destruction, in some tragic attempt to feel connected to something bigger than himself, that he was always missing. Watching him with his fellow suicidal cadets, you see him happy, delivering his big paternal speech, giving orders, and loving the control...until the speech itself, the point where pen and sword meet? Of course, this ignores the subtlety of the story telling craft here which makes this transformation so natural and remarkable.

    Though the story, fascinating at times, really isn't this movies greatest success. The cinematography, performances, editing,music(by Philip Glass), and set designs, are really what make this worth seeing, and more than a traditional bio-pic.

    One day I will pick, up a Mishima book, he does seem to have an ear for prose, and for staging ideas, but for now I'm satisfied with the film.

    Those interested in Japanese Literature, and post-war culture, should check out. Fans of inventive combinations of facts and fictions, should enjoy as well.
    helpful•14
    1
    • loganx-2
    • Aug 11, 2008

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • September 20, 1985 (United States)
    • Countries of origin
      • United States
      • Japan
    • Languages
      • Japanese
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Mishima
    • Filming locations
      • Japan
    • Production companies
      • Zoetrope Studios
      • Filmlink International
      • Lucasfilm
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Budget
      • $5,000,000 (estimated)
    • Gross US & Canada
      • $437,547
    • Gross worldwide
      • $569,996
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      2 hours
    • Color
      • Color
      • Black and White
    • Sound mix
      • Dolby
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.85 : 1

    Related news

    Contribute to this page

    Suggest an edit or add missing content
    Ken Ogata in Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (1985)
    Top Gap
    By what name was Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (1985) officially released in Canada in English?
    Answer
    • See more gaps
    • Learn more about contributing
    Edit page

    More to explore

    Recently viewed

    Please enable browser cookies to use this feature. Learn more.
    Get the IMDb App
    Sign in for more accessSign in for more access
    • Get the IMDb App
    • Help
    • Site Index
    • IMDbPro
    • Box Office Mojo
    • IMDb Developer
    • Press Room
    • Advertising
    • Jobs
    • Conditions of Use
    • Privacy Policy
    • Your Ads Privacy Choices
    IMDb, an Amazon company

    © 1990-2023 by IMDb.com, Inc.