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8 out of 14 people found the following comment useful :- A visceral and stunning short film, 25 April 1999 Author: Byron C. Howes (bch@ga.unc.edu) from Carrboro, NC
This film prophetically (Yukio Mishima committed suicide in 1970) and dramatically portrays the ritual suicide of a dishonored Japanese patriot. It's an extraordinary short watch but may be a bit intense for those who dislike graphic gore. I doubt I will ever forget the experience of having seen this.
5 out of 9 people found the following comment useful :- Historically prescient, artistically undernourished, 5 August 2008 Author: TrevorAclea from London, England
Narcissism and self-indulgence are the main features of 1966 short film Patriotism: The Ritual of Love and Death. Sadly, divorced from its historical interest - a famous suicide playing a man who commits suicide - it's really not very good. Played out on a stylised set designed like a Noh theatre stage and performed without dialogue, writer-director-star Yukio Mishima shows little understanding of silent film storytelling by relying on tediously lengthy and leaden scrolls of explanatory text that defeat the very idea of disposing with dialogue. Unfortunately without them the film wouldn't make a great deal of sense since Mishima is more interested in striking poses and detailing the act of seppuko in lingering detail than conveying what lies behind the act in more than the most simplistic terms: the act is all, leaving us to take everything else on faith. It's not all bad: Yoshiko Tsuruoka's excellent performance compensates for Mishima's weakness as an actor and Kimio Watanabe's black and white cinematography is excellent, but it's more a failed avant-garde experiment that simply reflects its creator's morbid self-obsession than a valid work in its own right
3 out of 6 people found the following comment useful :- Graphic meditation on life death and honor, 7 July 2008 Author: dbborroughs from Glen Cove, New York
*** This comment may contain spoilers ***
(This review contains graphic spoilers) Only film directed by Yukio Mishima is a 30 minute story about honor and death.Based upon one of his short stories Patriotism tells the story of a Captain involved in the 1936 coup against the Japanese government who is ordered to kill all of the conspirators. The Captain though involved in the planing did not take part out of deference to his wife. The conspirators never betrayed his part in in the plan. Unable to turn his back on his loyal friends he chooses to commit suicide as does his wife.Brief graphic tone poem that was filmed on a Noh stage, it is felt by many as one of the numerous dress rehearsals for Mishima's own bloody end. Shot in a moody black and white with a sense of unreality that makes it very real, this is a fetishistic mediation on life, death and honor that effects the viewer in an extremely visceral way.(I will leave the viewer to get what he can from its sound and images).Its a kick in the gut even before we get to the suicides as we are forced to think about honor and what it means to alive. The suicide, though filmed silent (the soundtrack is a scratchy record of European classical music)is so intense that one can almost hear the scream from Mishima's lips when he drives the blade into himself. I won't say anymore other than its drawn out and graphic in a way I've never seen before. (clearly there is a reason why those committing Seppuku are helped along by a friend who beheads them.) I was left shaken by the experience. I can not imagine how audiences in 1966 when this was made reacted when they saw it for the first time. I knew what was going to happen and it still unnerved me. I know I will be contemplating it for days to come.I don't know what to say. It is a masterpiece that is weirdly overshadowed by its creators death and life. It is a haunting experience for those with a strong will.
3 out of 6 people found the following comment useful :- Gore with Kitsch, 1 February 2007 Author: fowler-16 from Irvine, California
This is a beautiful black and white version of Yukio Mishima's short story, titled Patriotism in English. It depicts the love suicide of a Japanese lieutenant (of the pre-WWII Imperial Army) and his wife. Artfully staged and photographed, it was filmed without sound. There is an audio track of Wagner's Liebestod, but occasional dialogue is shown only as moving lips, and the basic story is conveyed by hand-written scrolls. The silence has a cool, distancing effect that plays well against the core violence of the piece. The lieutenant's hara-kiri is shown graphically--predicting Mishima's own death some four years later. The choice of the Libestod was a bit obvious as a bridge between Mishima's romantic fantasies and those of his equally theatrical German predecessor. This, and the predictable blood spatters, lend a touch of kitsch to this otherwise powerful film. I ordered this from Play-Asia.com, and got a two disc set. Both show the entire film, one with Japanese writing, and one with English scrolls substituted.
3 out of 8 people found the following comment useful :- Blurs and obscures the differentiation between art and life, 15 January 2006 Author: ruedesursulines
"Yûkoku", also known as "Patriotism" and "The Rite of Love and Death", is a definite must see for fans of the famed Japanese novelist, Yukio Mishima, deriving from his own novella. This is the story that anticipates and rehearses Mishima's own attempted coup d'etat and seppuku, an act which shocked the world just a few years after the production of the film.Very austere and minimalist in its visual style, it demonstrates an indifference toward high production values in favor of an aesthetic purity similar to that achieved in Mishima's own written works. The film contains no spoken dialogue, using instead handwritten title cards to introduce each scene. There is, however, a musical accompaniment from Wagner's "Tristan und Isolde" ("Liebestod", which some viewers may recognize from its use in Buñuel & Dali's classic Surrealist film "Un Chien Andalou").The story is interesting in its comparison between the eros of the sex act and the intimacy of a suicide pact between lovers. The film also raises concerns with regard to the way in which ideals such as patriotism can possess minds and ultimately drive them to self-destruction in some circumstances.While Mishima's talents as a writer far exceed his cinematic efforts, nevertheless, this film is very provocative and vividly dramatizes one of the author's most important short works.
3 out of 9 people found the following comment useful :- Guts, Guts and more guts - spoiler - limited story line told, 20 February 2007 Author: Vince Barton from United States
This silent b&w three reel 16mm film almost kept me from ever viewing another Japanese film (it was my 2nd viewed - excluding the Godzlilla et al). The story line is a typical Japanese honor story. The first reel covers the lead character's decision to perform Sepuku rather than betray his loyalty to the emperor or his military comrades. The 2nd reel has him and his wife making love before they end their lives. It's the last reel which is difficult to view. The black & white aspect of the film actually made it gorier to view. Don't eat before you see this as Mashima commits Sepuku in what would be considered a very honorable way. Fortunatly, I got over this and have seen many Japanese films since.
0 out of 5 people found the following comment useful :- Stunning though hard to see autobiographical film by poet, 27 October 2003 Author: Daniel Kothenschulte from Germany
This extraordinary short film combines a traditional Kabuki theatre style with very cinematic realism in the death scene; Only the use of Wagner's "Isolde's Liebestod" appears to be a bit over the top. If you know about Mishima's life story you will find this film to be a stunning pre-conception of things to come. Unfortunately public screenings outside Japan are forbidden due to a legal dispute.
0 out of 6 people found the following comment useful :- recently saw, 1 July 2003 Author: Laura jury (rebelfilmsltd) from Brixham, England
Short film, i was suprised by the fact that apart from the music that it was silent. The lighting is beautiful and the film is made with obvious care and passion. The end of the film is in direct contrast to the rest with its very extreme imagry of the seppuku ritual, but altogether this film gets my vote as a very artisitc mood film.... A lot of film makers now should consider the use of that lighting!!!!!!!
4 out of 18 people found the following comment useful :- Only for Mishima's fanatics, 7 December 2006 Author: Henry Fields (kikecam@teleline.es) from Spain
The contribution of Yukio Mishima to the Seventh Art was no big deal, but it does have one or two sequences that are really intense. His patriotic fever has its portrait in this elegy about sex and death, the suicide as an art or as an act of honor. I recommend this one only for those that are fascinates by the figure of the Japanese writer. *My rate: 5/10----------------------------------- ------------------- --------------------- -------------------- -----------------------------------------------------------
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