Review – Mishima

Aficionados of the outré Japanese author should find this outré biography of Yukio Mishima quite entertaining. Director Paul Schrader interweaves three narratives into one: a fairly straightforward biography of the author, a recreation of the events leading up to his sensational suicide, and a triptych of stylized dramatizations of three of his books. It goes without saying that the homosexual sadomasochism and Japanese nationalist militarism are laid on fairly thick. But even if you’re among the many who – quite rightly – find Mishima’s life and work depressing, this production’s still worth it for the art direction alone. Worth seeing