Mishima on Film In the West Mishima Yukio is probably best known either for his tetralogy The Sea of Fertility or his infamous suicide in 1970 which many believe acted as the end of true protest movements in Japan. However, in his native Japan, Mishima had his fingers in a number of pies including performance on stage, acting in films, and screenwriting. With his star rising, film production companies were anxious to plaster Mishima's face on film screens throughout the nation. Mishima would make is screen debut in Masumura Yasuzo's Afraid to Die (1960). Masumura rose to fame with his Italian filmmaker influenced film Kisses (1957), but either because of the poor script or being forced to work with a non-actor, Afraid to Die is little more than a formulaic dullard of a film.
Afraid to Die stars Mishima as Asahina Takeo a high-ranking yakuza who has been put behind bars for three years for stabbing the leader of a rival gang. Near the time of his release, Takeo states that he does not want to be released from prison because he will certainly be killed by members of the rival gang. His sentiment is strengthened when an assassin is sent to the prison posing as a guest. However, the police are unwilling to keep him so he is set free. Unlike the normal swaggering machismo often portrayed in characters in yakuza films, Takeo is more interested in preserving his own skin than preserving his honor and spends most of the film in hiding. However, he does find himself attracted to young female janitor named Yoshie portrayed by Wakao Ayako, the heroine of quite a number on Masumura films. Takeo somehow gains Yoshie's love through beating and raping her, but becomes concerned when she becomes pregnant because the baby would be something else that could be used against him; after all, he had kidnapped the daughter of the leader of the rival yakuza gang. From this point, the train wreck continues...
Besides a relatively dull plotline, Afraid to Die suffers from an incredibly weak protagonist. As he himself states continuously throughout the film, Takeo is nothing but scum. He rapes and beats the girl he supposed "loves." He beats her again when she does not take the abortion medication, but of course she still loves him and he abandons and treats wrongly others around him. The viewer couldn't care less what his fate would be. However, this film's weakness might also be a glimpse of one of its few points of strength: it portrays gang activity as actions performed by lowly, cruel individuals unlike many program pictures which portrayed gangsters as carriers of older, prewar Japanese traditions, ethics, and mores. However, this aspect does not make Afraid to Die a pleasant film experience. I would recommend this film only for fans of Masumura or Wakao and for those interested in seeing Japan's version of Ernest Hemmingway on film.
Well... It's not _bad_, exactly, but I never would have sat through to the end if Mishima hadn't been in it. Overall, I think his performance is pretty solid, and so are the others in the film, but it's not really spectacular; there are better yakuza films out there. Any fan of Mishima should definitely see it, though, for novelty's sake, and bear witness to just how incredibly skinny his legs were.
A flawless gangster epic I was a bit skeptical of a movie featuring novelist Mishima as an actor, but he carries the lead with a swagger. Think of a cross between Bogart and Sean Penn. The story never misses a beat; you will be gripped by its gaudy brilliance right to the end. Visually, this is an excellent transfer to DVD. The sound can be a bit muddy at times, but it never distracts. Great stuff!
Anything Goes Trivia
Trevor
Megaton Man
