Patriotism
A must after seeing Mishima, of course. Oh my God, I can’t believe they are lying in a zen garden at the end of the movie. So, nothing actually happens in the film, and the storyline is very obvious ever since the beginning. However, I have strangely enjoyed the slow pacing of the film – it did not exactly feel slow at all, because the slowness suits its atmosphere perfectly. (Plus, it was accompanied by lovely yet dramatic music.)
What can I say, right now, this film feels like an addendum to Schrader’s Mishima film, except it was very exciting to see the actual Mishima as an actor here, as expected. You really don’t need to be that much of a actor to pull this film off, or so it seems to me, so the mood of the film was perfectly incorporated by the characters.
Considering that this is Mishima’s only film I suspect that Mishima just wanted to lie around naked with that actress, but on a second thought, he was sort of gay after all.
PS. This was the 69th Criterion movie I have seen. Quite special indeed, especially right after Salò.