In Tokyo for the screening of his 1985 biopic “ Mishima : A Life In Four Chapters” at the 38 th Tokyo International Film Festival , Paul Schrader was an upbeat mood when he walked the opening night red carpet, telling an interviewer that he thought of Japan as his “second home.”

Forty years ago, however, the organizers of the first TIFF declined to include the film in its program, with objections from Mishima’s widow to its depictions of the famed right-leaning writer’s homosexuality a major factor. But talking with Schrader at a coffee shop in the ANA InterContinental Hotel, the long-ago controversy, which kept the film from being released in Japan for four decades, seemed if not forgotten, forgiven. Also, he had much else on his mind, from the coming AI revolution to his latest

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