The Eel (Unagi) (1997)
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77% of critics liked it
(26 reviews) -
81% of users liked it
(2,911 ratings)
Veteran filmmaker and perennial iconoclast Shohei Imamura directs this darkly comic tale about love, redemption, and a man's beloved pet eel. The film opens with Takuro Yamashita (Koji Yakusho), a seemingly normal salaryman, learning that his wife might be having an affair. When he catches the… More Veteran filmmaker and perennial iconoclast Shohei Imamura directs this darkly comic tale about love, redemption, and a man's beloved pet eel. The film opens with Takuro Yamashita (Koji Yakusho), a seemingly normal salaryman, learning that his wife might be having an affair. When he catches the couple in flaganto delicto, he freaks out and brutally stabs them both to death. Eight years later, Yamashita is released on parole into the care of a Buddhist priest living in rural Chiba prefecture. Far away from his former life, yet still plagued with memories of his crime, Yamashita decides to start anew by opening a barbershop on a quiet road next to a canal. Though inward looking and self-conscious, he eventually befriends a bumptious but good-hearted day laborer, and a construction worker who's obsessed with UFOs. His most fateful encounter though is with a woman named Keiko (Misa Shimizu), who he discovers unconscious following a suicide attempt. Looking to put a few of her own demons to bed, Keiko decides to stay in this sleepy corner of Japan and help her savior with his barbershop. Initially against the idea -- she bears a striking resemblance to his dead spouse -- he eventually agrees and even grows to like having her around. This film won the Grand Prix at the 1997 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi
- Directed By
- Shohei Imamura
- Written By
- Shohei Imamura, Daisuke Tengan, Motofumi Tomikawa
- Genres
- Art House & International, Drama
Unrated,
- In Theaters
- Aug 21, 1998 Wide
- Studio
- Atalanta Filmes
Critic Reviews
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Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times
Unpredictable and captivating.
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Paul Tatara, CNN.com
I was once again stuck watching a movie that's solely about repressed passion, perhaps the least cinematic thing you could ever try to film.
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Bob Graham, San Francisco Chronicle
It sounds nuts, but one of the best movies in town is about the relationship of a man with his eel.
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Lawrence Van Gelder, New York Times
Yakusho and Ms. Shimizu deliver unerring performances in a splendid film that harvests hope from a bleak landscape.
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J. Hoberman, Village Voice
This simple, sinuous fable may not be among Imamura's greatest films ... but it could hardly have been made by anyone else.
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Cast
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Koji Yakusho
as Takuro Yamashita
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Misa Shimizu
as Keiko Hattori
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Mitsuko Baisho
as Misako Nakajima
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Etsuko Ichihara
as Fumie Hattori
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Tomorowo Taguchi
as Eiji Dojima
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Akira Emoto
as Tamotsu Takasaki
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Sabu Kawara
as Seitaro Misato
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Ken Kobayashi
as Masaki Saito
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Fujio Tsuneta
as Jiro Nakajima
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Sho Aikawa
as Yuji Nozawa
