The film tells the story of Japanese writer and activist Yukio Mishima, who was a narcissist, a revolutionary, a samurai, and perhaps the most daring Japanese writer of the 20th century. Director Schrader intelligently and tactfully reflects Mishima’s many masks. The film intertwines numerous events that lead to Mishima’s final challenge—a magnificent attempt to combine art and action by kidnapping a general.
The film was created under the patronage of Coppola and Lucas, famous devotees of the East. The original version is in Japanese, despite the fact that it is an exclusively Hollywood film.