19 March 2008

How Criterion keep doing it is beyond me, but almost every month they seem to announce the upcoming release of at least one of my favourite films, often in only dreamed-of versions. Now it's the turn of Paul Schrader's magnificent 1985 Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters, which is being released with as a director approved special edition double-disc set. In addition Criterion will be releasing Yûkoku (Patriotism), a 1966 short film co-directed and starring Yukio Mishima, the writer whose life is the subject of Schrader's film.

Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters

Paul Schrader's visually stunning, structurally audacious collage-like portrait of acclaimed Japanese author and playwright Yukio Mishima (played by Ken Ogata) investigates the inner turmoil and contradictions of a man who attempted an impossible harmony between self, art, and society. Taking place on Mishima's last day, when he famously committed public seppuku (ritual suicide), the film is punctuated by extended flashbacks to the writer's life as well as gloriously stylised evocations of his fictional works. With its rich cinematography by John Bailey, exquisite sets and costumes by Eiko Ishioka, and unforgettable, highly influential score by Philip Glass, Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters is a sincere tribute to its subject, and a bold, investigative work of art in its own right.

Criterion's double-disc special edition includes the following features:

• New, restored high-definition digital transfer of the director's cut, supervised and approved by director Paul Schrader and cinematographer John Bailey;
• Optional English and Japanese voice-over narrations, the former by Roy Scheider, the latter by Ken Ogata;
• New audio commentary featuring Schrader and producer Alan Poul;
• The Strange Case of Yukio Mishima, a 55-minute BBC documentary about the author;
• New interviews with Donald Richie and John Nathan, collaborators and friends of Yukio Mishima;
• New interviews with Bailey, producers Tom Luddy and Mata Yamamoto, composer Philip Glass, and production designer Eiko Ishioka;
• A new audio interview with co-screenwriter Chieko Schrader;
• A video interview excerpt featuring Mishima talking about writing;
• Theatrical trailer;
• New and improved English subtitle translation;
• A booklet featuring a new essay by critic Kevin Jackson and a piece on the film's censorship in Japan.

Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters will be released on US DVD by Criterion in June 2008 (exact date to be confirmed) at the SRP of $39.95.

Yûkoku (Patriotism)

Playwright and novelist Yukio Mishima predicted his own suicide with this ravishing short feature, his only foray into filmmaking (co-directed with Domoto Masaki), yet made with the expressiveness and confidence of a true cinema artist. All prints of Yûkoku, which depicts the seppuku (ritual suicide) of a naval officer, were destroyed after Mishima's death in 1970, though the negative was saved, and the film resurfaced thirty-five years later. New viewers will be stunned at the depth and clarity of Mishima's vision, as well as his graphic depictions of sex and death. The film is presented here with a choice of Japanese or English intertitles.

• Criterion's US DVD release will feature the following:
• New, restored high-definition digital transfer of the Japanese and English versions, with optional Japanese or English intertitles;
• A 45-minute audio recording of Yukio Mishima speaking to the Foreign Correspondents' Association of Japan;
• A 45-minute making-of documentary, featuring crew from the film's production;
• Interview excerpts featuring Mishima discussing war and death;
• New and improved English subtitle translation;
• A new essay by renowned critic and historian Tony Rayns, Mishima's original short story, and Mishima's extensive notes on the film's production.

Yûkoku will be released on US DVD under it's English title of Patriotism by Criterion in June (exact date to be confirmed) at the SRP of $24.95.