ONLINE EVENT - The Japan Society Film Club: Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters by Paul Schrader
Date
Wednesday 5 November 2025
Time
6.30pm (GMT)
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Booking Details
Online meeting on Zoom
Please register for the meeting in advance from the link below. After registering, you will receive an automated confirmation email with meeting access details (please check your spam folder if you don't receive any emails).
Free for members of The Japan Society
Please remember to watch the film in advance.
Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters is available to rent on AppleTV or to buy from Amazon.co.uk.
Please help us to keep this event free and open to all!The Japan Society is a charity and its activities are made possible thanks to the support of its members. If you are planning to attend this event and are not a member (as an individual or through your employer), please consider becoming a member or making a donation if you can - the recommended donation is £5. Thank you!   |
To mark the 100th anniversary of Yukio Mishima’s birth, this November we’ll be discussing Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (1985), Paul Schrader’s bold and visually stunning portrait of the controversial Japanese author.
Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (1985) is a visually striking and unconventional biopic exploring the life and work of Japanese author Yukio Mishima (1925–1970). The film is divided into four interwoven chapters that blend dramatizations of Mishima’s novels with key moments from his life, culminating in his dramatic final day. With a bold score by Philip Glass and stylised set design, Schrader crafts a portrait of a complex artist torn between beauty, discipline, and political extremism. The film invites deep discussion on identity, art, and the tension between ideals and reality.
Paul Schrader (1946-) is a renowned American screenwriter, director, and film critic, best known for his collaborations as screenwriter with Martin Scorsese on films such as Taxi Driver (1976), Raging Bull (1980), and The Last Temptation of Christ (1988). Raised in a strict Calvinist household, Schrader didn’t see his first film until the age of 17. His deep interest in cinema led him to the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where he wrote a thesis that became the influential book Transcendental Style in Film: Ozu, Bresson, Dreyer (1972), exploring the spiritual and minimalist aesthetics of Japanese and European auteurs. He also directed acclaimed films such as American Gigolo (1980), Affliction (1997), and First Reformed (2017), known for their psychological depth and moral complexity.