11.25 The Day Mishima Chose His Own Fate

  • 119'
  • Japan
  • 2012
Besides a feted writer, Mishima Yukio (1925-1970) was a fanatical supporter of the Japanese Emperor and ‘bushido' honour codes of the Samurai. Here, director Wakamatsu Koji, who died in October 2012, shows Mishima's right-wing radicalisation in the turbulent 1960s. Japan was a polarised society in which extreme left-wing students occupied universities while the right tried to put Japanese nationalism back on the map, by revising the 1951 security treaty between Japan and the US that banned Japanese military intervention and allowed American military bases in Japan.
The film, larded with archive footage, shows Mishima undergoing intensive military training and becoming increasingly radical, founding the paramilitary organisation Tatenokai (Shield Society) in order to organise a coup like the one in 1936. When this fails, there is nothing left for him than to commit seppuku (ritual suicide).

  • 119'
  • Japan
  • 2012
Director
Wakamatsu Koji
Country of production
Japan
Year
2012
Festival Edition
IFFR 2013
Length
119'
Medium
DCP
Original title
11.25 jiketsu no hi: Mishima Yukio to wakamono-tachi
Language
Japanese
Producers
Wakamatsu Koji, Ozaki Noriko
Production Company
Wakamatsu Production
Sales
Wild Bunch
Screenplay
Kakegawa Masayuki, Wakamatsu Koji
Cinematography
Tsuji Tomohiko
Editor
Sakamoto Kumiko
Sound Design
Yoshida Noriyoshia
Music
Itabashi Fumio
Cast
Iura Arata, Terajima Shinobu
Website
http://www.wildbunch.biz/movie/1125-the-day-mishima-chose-his-own-fate/
Director
Wakamatsu Koji
Country of production
Japan
Year
2012
Festival Edition
IFFR 2013
Length
119'
Medium
DCP
Original title
11.25 jiketsu no hi: Mishima Yukio to wakamono-tachi
Language
Japanese
Producers
Wakamatsu Koji, Ozaki Noriko
Production Company
Wakamatsu Production
Sales
Wild Bunch
Screenplay
Kakegawa Masayuki, Wakamatsu Koji
Cinematography
Tsuji Tomohiko
Editor
Sakamoto Kumiko
Sound Design
Yoshida Noriyoshia
Music
Itabashi Fumio
Cast
Iura Arata, Terajima Shinobu
Website
http://www.wildbunch.biz/movie/1125-the-day-mishima-chose-his-own-fate/