Mishima Film Found
With the Film Forum and the Museum of Modern Art both presenting series on Japanese cinema, fans may be interested to learn of the discovery of a film by the novelist Yukio Mishima that was long thought destroyed. When Mishima killed himself in 1970 at a military command post in Tokyo, after calling on members of the army to rise up in a coup so the emperor's power could be restored, "Yukoku" ("Patriotism"), which he had directed and starred in four years earlier, was thought to be a preview of his death. Set to music by Wagner, the silent film followed an Imperial Japanese Army lieutenant who commits seppuku, or ritual suicide, rather than take part in a coup attempt. All copies of the movie were thought destroyed, at the request of his widow, Yoko. But now the original negatives have been discovered in a tea box at a warehouse at the author's home in Tokyo, The Daily Yomiuri reported Friday. The movie's producer, Hiroaki Fujii, 78, said that the negatives were in perfect condition and that the film would be released on DVD.
Версия для печати
