Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters Page #3

this dump belongs to my boss.

Now move your ass.

The check!

Come in.

I hope you accept my apology.

I'm sorry about yesterday.

I fired that punk immediately.

I've put up with your mother

long enough.

She's very difficult.

I'll soon take possession

of her place.

In such cases,

people are often

driven to suicide.

What do you mean?

You're like me.

My beautiful shadow.

You're vain and bored.

Full of yourself.

You like to play

childish games.

You're an actor, aren't you?

I feel that...

a certain woman

wants a certain something.

Don't pretend you love me.

I've had too much of that.

Mm, as for me,

I don't love women much.

They make me feel

emptied out.

All the better.

What do you want?

This is your mother's loan.

It comes to 11/2 million yen.

Sign this.

If you do,

I'll cancel the loan.

Write:

" I hereby certify

that my life and body

belong to Kiyomi Akita. "

I want to buy you.

It's just a little cut.

Why?

Your skin is so beautiful...

I just had to cut it.

It felt pleasant.

A thought

just occurred to me.

" This is the woman

I've been looking for.

I've finally found her. "

I don't need a mirror anymore.

I feel clearly that I exist.

In that case...

will you stay by me to the end?

Will you die with me?

I'd watch you writhe

in a pool of blood...

until you stopped moving.

Then I'd drink poison.

Fine with me, but...

no matter what happens,

don't kiss me...

until I'm good and dead.

A writer is a voyeur

par excellence.

I came to detest this position.

I sought to be not only the seer

but also the seen.

THE TOUGH GUY:

Men wear masks

to make themselves beautiful.

THE ASSASSINS:

But unlike a woman's,

a man's determination

to become beautiful

is always a desire for death.

Have you been to the gym?

I don't need to go.

You are in good shape.

Look, those ladies are jealous.

They don't think

we're mother and son.

Let 'em think what they want.

Two, please.

Two hundred yen, please.

Thank you.

It's such a relief not to worry

about money anymore.

I'm finally able to sleep again.

Thanks to Akita-san.

And to you.

You're not having trouble

with her, are you?

Not at all.

In fact, I decided

to go all the way with her.

Do you love her?

Of course not.

Isn't that a little extreme?

On the other hand,

we've got to be nice to her.

But don't go too far.

Just find a way to cancel the loan.

Don't worry about money.

I got a good part.

You did?

Which role?

It's a surprise.

You've got the body

of a matador.

I can't even go to the gym.

Those guys at the theater

are even worse.

They're still having

the same boring discussions...

about the "wounds of art. "

I'd like to show them...

your wounds.

They don't even know

that art is a shadow...

that stage blood...

is not enough.

3- Action

When duty and sympathy

Are on the scales

A man always finds

Duty heavier

O merciful Kannon

My childhood friend

You can see

Right into my heart

The lion and the peony

Roar on my back

There it is.

We're a little early.

Swing around the loop.

What if something

goes wrong?

Just stick to the plan.

Runaway Horses

Published 1969

Has anything changed?

You're still going

through with it? Why?

Don't you understand?

The emperor's face

is not pleased.

Japan is losing her soul.

But why you?

I was lucky enough

to be chosen.

Why did you pull out

of the tournament?

I lost interest.

Because you win so easily?

I lost interest

in wooden swords, sensei.

They have no real power.

You're old enough

for a sword of steel?

Yes, sensei.

How about your team

and your school?

They can't win without you.

Report to your dorm, Isao.

Contemplate the danger of a man

who thinks only of himself.

Excuse me, Lieutenant Hori.

I heard about

your kendo exercises.

We expect

great things from you.

You wrote this?

How many of you?

Twenty.

How will you do this?

In a single stroke.

We'll assassinate

the leaders of capitalism.

Burn the Bank of Japan.

At dawn, law will restore power

to the emperor.

What will happen

to your group?

At sunrise, on a cliff,

paying reverence to the sun,

looking down on the sea,

we'll commit seppuku.

We'd never ask anyone

to join us in death.

Who would you kill?

If we could kill ten,

Marquis Nagasaki,

Baron Shinkawa -

If only five?

Premier Saito -

Only one?

Kurahara.

Japan will be purified.

What do you want from me?

An airplane to drop leaflets.

Explosives to knock out

the power station.

You have firearms?

We'll only use swords.

Our best weapon is purity.

And you schoolboys

can use swords?

Words are a deceit.

But action is never deceitful.

" The harmony of pen and sword. "

This samurai motto

used to be a way of life.

Now it's forgotten.

Can art and action

still be united?

Today this harmony can only occur

in a brief flash, a single moment.

The average age for men

in the Bronze Age was 18,

in the Roman era, 22.

Heaven must have been

beautiful then.

Today it must look dreadful.

When a man reaches 40,

he has no chance to die beautifully.

No matter how he tries,

he will die of decay.

He must compel himself

to live.

What's wrong?

Call off your plan.

Someone found out?

No, but they will.

I'm being transferred

to Manchuria.

Without me,

it's too dangerous.

Can you get the airplane?

It won't work.

Call it off.

Why?

You must not

throw away your lives.

" Don't fear the death of the body,

only the spirit. "

Your intentions

are admirable, but...

Please swear you'll call it off.

And destroy

any reference to me.

Do you swear?

There'll be no airplane,

no explosives.

The army has deserted us.

The capitalists

have bought them out.

This meeting is useless.

Do you understand?

Go home.

Go back to your books.

This is my final command.

I want to be alone now. Go.

What's wrong?

Didn't you hear me?

Go home.

We have no plan.

No hope. Nothing.

We understand.

Are you still willing

to pay the price...

for something which may

accomplish nothing?

Yes!

One:
We vow

to go forth to death

to purge our nation

of capitalist evils.

Two:
We hereby vow to forge

eternal friendship

among ourselves.

Three:
We hereby vow

to restore His Imperial Majesty.

"We hereby vow to be

the foundation of imperial Japan. "

Now let's sign with our blood.

This paper could be

lost in the wind,

but these vows

will be eternal in our hearts.

It doesn't hurt.

After the signatures,

we'll drink a blood toast

to our new Shield Society.

No one here has VD, I hope.

You can't use the National Theater

for a private political party.

This is a scandal.

What's all this nonsense

about a private army?

Up there I create

action in the sunshine.

Here I create

art in the dark.

Isn't it perfect?

Who'd have thought

you could still combine them?

Byron did it.

He had 300 men.

Are you serious?

The media can make you look

so ridiculous.

You're our best writer.

Haven't I always

looked ridiculous?

I walk on stage determined

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes