Criterion Watch: ‘Mishima, A Life in Four Chapters’

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Just released recently, this new Criterion edition of Paul Schrader’s ‘Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters’ is overdue. The film, a poetic telling of the life story of Japanese writer Yukio Mishima (Ken Ogata) is visually stylistic and beautiful and is scored by the talented American composer Philip Glass.

DVD Features:

• – DIRECTOR-APPROVED SPECIAL EDITION DOUBLE-DISC SET 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
• – New video interviews with Bailey, producers Tom Luddy and Mata Yamamoto, composer Philip Glass, and production designer Eiko Ishioka
• – New video interviews with Mishima biographer John Nathan and friend Donald Richie
• – New audio interview with coscreenwriter Chieko Schrader
• – Video interview excerpt featuring Mishima talking about writing
• – The Strange Case of Yukio Mishima, a 55-minute BBC documentary about the author
• – Theatrical trailer
• – PLUS: A booklet featuring a new essay by critic Kevin Jackson, a piece on the film’s censorship in Japan, and photographs of Ishioka’s sets