Mishima, previously For Those We Love/Yamato

[Roger Macy]

I've just seen the film again tonight at the ICA.
There were certainly scenes of (1) Mishima dancing with a man in a gay bar and (2) Mishima meeting this man later after midnight, in the clear context of a lovers' tiff.
I can't see that Mishima's widow was in a position to 'forbid'. The executor of Mishima's estate is acknowledged, who was not a Mishima.  I'm pretty sure there was no mention in the credits of Mishima's family.  And the credits ended with something like 'We acknowledge that Mishima Yukio was a real person, but all events in this film are fictional ..'.
Perhaps, though, these legal exclusions would not have been so watertight in Japan ?
Roger

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Edel Quinn 
  To: KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu 
  Sent: Thursday, July 16, 2009 10:32 PM
  Subject: Re: For Those We Love/Yamato


  Hi Edan,


  Many thanks for all your help. Indeed Mishima's wife made things very difficult for Schrader, amongst other stipulations, she forbade him not to deal explicitly with his death or at all with his homosexuality. I have also read that Mishima's family were instrumental in ensuring the film never got an official release in Japan.


  I'd be most grateful for a scan of that interview if it's not too much hassle. 


  Kind regards, Edel Q





    I know Schrader's film was well-known enough for him to have been interviewed in The Japan Times in around April or May of 1984 - when he was in the middle of shooting it in Japan.
    He was insistent that the film was NOT going to be the quintessential Mishima biopic - it was just his personal reaction to the author. I think he even said something to the effect that Mishima could have been from any country and he would have made it - ie. Japan had little to do with the story. And, if my memory serves me correctly, I think he also intimated that he was disappointed in Mishima's widow for not approving of the film... I think that was the main issue surrounding the film when it came out, too.

    I came across the interview in researching our "from the archive" series - it was exactly 25yrs ago a few months back. I think I still have a copy at the office (I ended up using a different article for our series that month) so I could probably scan and send it if you'd like. And if you can wait till next year then 1985 will be 25 years past and I will probably come across more articles that came out around the film's release.

    Mark Schilling reviews of the other two films you mentioned are here:
    http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/ff20070525a3.html
    http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/ff20051223a3.html

    Edan Corkill
    The Japan Times



    2009/7/16 Edel Quinn <delquinn at gmail.com>

      Hi all,


      Does anybody know of any good English articles on Shinjo's For Those We Love (Ore wa, kimi no tame ni koso shini ni iku, 2007 )  and/or Sato's Yamato (Otoko-tachi no Yamato, 2005 ).


      Also does anyone know anything about the Japanese reception of Paul Scrader's Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters, 1985?


      Many thanks , Edel Quinn 







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