Warm Water Under A Red Bridge (2001)

79% of critics liked it
(42 reviews)
73% of users liked it
(1,617 ratings)

In 1998, Japanese auteur Shohei Imamura announced his retirement with his wild and wooly war drama Kanzo Sensei. His announcement clearly proved to be premature, as exhibited by this bizarre romantic drama about the power of really good sex, based on a book by Henmi Yo. Koji Yakusho -- who starred… More In 1998, Japanese auteur Shohei Imamura announced his retirement with his wild and wooly war drama Kanzo Sensei. His announcement clearly proved to be premature, as exhibited by this bizarre romantic drama about the power of really good sex, based on a book by Henmi Yo. Koji Yakusho -- who starred in Imamura's Unagi along with virtually every Japanese indie film of note in the late '90s -- is Yosuke, a once successful marketing exec for an architecture film who is now out of work and separated from his wife. One of his few friends is Taro (Kazuo Kitamura), an aging bum living under a blue tarp with his collection of rare books. During one of his drunken rants, Taro tells Yosuke of a golden Buddha he stole from a temple in Kyoto and stashed in a ramshackle house adjacent to a red bridge on the rugged Noto peninsula. After Taro dies, Yosuke ventures to the hinterland to see if he can find the priceless statue, and he finds the house, which is inhabited by a senile confectionery maker (Imamura regular Mitsuko Baisho) and by her vivacious granddaughter Saeko (Misa Shimizu). Yosuke's first indication that Saeko is quite unlike the other girls is when he spies her stealing cheese from a local market. She later tells him that her body is a spring of water that wells up within her. The only means of relief is by doing something naughty -- like shoplifting -- or by engaging in a vigorous round of sex. Soon the two are enthusiastically exchanging fluids, so much so that water blasts from Saeko's nether regions like a fire hose. As the water flows to the nearby creek, fish cluster around to cavort in its special properties. Yosuke decides to stick around, landing a job as a fisherman, not only to service Saeko's special needs, but also to look for the Buddha. This film was screened at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival and at the 2001 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi

Rating, Runtime: Unrated, 1 hr. 59 min.
Directed By: Shohei Imamura
Written By: Motofumi Tomikawa, Daisuke Tengan, Shohei Imamura
Genres: Drama, Romance, Art House & International, Science Fiction & Fantasy, Comedy

In Theaters: May 3, 2002 Wide
On DVD: Jun 24, 2003
Studio: Cowboy Booking International

Critic Reviews

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
Seeing it as a Westerner is an enlightening, even liberating, experience.
Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune
Like its bizarre heroine, it irrigates our souls.
Janice Page, Boston Globe
A deep and meaningful film.
Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly
Imamura's delight in the infinite oddity of men and women is goofy; it's also, at heart, reverent.
Andrew Sarris, New York Observer
Combines a comically dismal social realism with a farcically bawdy fantasy of redemption and regeneration.
V.A. Musetto, New York Post
There's not enough here to justify the almost two hours.
Emanuel Levy, EmanuelLevy.Com
This romantic fable, starring again the Eel's central couple, with strong meythical and sexual overtones, represents one of the Japanese master's lightest films.
Dan Jardine, Apollo Guide
Other than a brief biography of the great Japanese director of this film, Shohei Imamura, and the film's original theatrical trailer, this is a bare-bones disc.
Dan Jardine, Apollo Guide
A sweet and enthusiastic embrace of our biology and chemistry, and a delicious and salacious celebration of sexuality and individuality.
Dan Jardine, Cinemania
Imamura's embrace of the cental characters' peculiar habits, predilections and appetites is his delicious and salacious way of celebrating their sexuality and individuality.
Jurgen Fauth, About.com
The relentless magical whimsy grows wearying.
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, Spirituality and Practice
Warm Water Under a Red Bridge is a quirky and poignant Japanese film that explores the fascinating connections between women, water, nature, and sexuality.
Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews
Imamura's ability to tell a story is something to behold, even in this impossible one.
Rich Cline, Film Threat
We never feel anything for these characters, and as a result the film is basically just a curiosity.
Cherryl Dawson and Leigh Ann Palone, TheMovieChicks.com
The characters are interesting and the relationship between Yosuke and Saeko is worth watching as it develops, but there's not enough to the story to fill two hours.
Marta Barber, Miami Herald
There's much tongue in cheek in the film and there's no doubt the filmmaker is having fun with it all.
Mark Rahner, Seattle Times
A charming, quirky and leisurely paced Scottish comedy -- except with an outrageous central gimmick that could have been a reject from Monty Python's Meaning of Life.
John Esther, Pasadena Weekly
From blushing to gushing---Imamura squirts the screen in 'Warm Water Under a Red Bridge'
Bob Strauss, Los Angeles Daily News
Yes, Warm Water is a shaggy-dog story, but one with a real heart beating beneath the sniggering.

Read all 19 critic reviews

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Featured Audience Ratings

Randy T

A serious film about some quirky, off-beat, WTF subject matter. The less you know the better!
Dimitris S

Not the best Imamura,but it certainly takes a blow and vanquishes anyone who assumes it's just another "love story",spiced up with the delicate romance.Negative.As always that viciously talented Japanese master explains to us the simplicity in fantastic tendency for… More
Not the best Imamura,but it certainly takes a blow and vanquishes anyone who assumes it's just another "love story",spiced up with the delicate romance.Negative.As always that viciously talented Japanese master explains to us the simplicity in fantastic tendency for unreal.Unreal for the unimaginative ones.Yakusho is excellent in an unusual role as the man who meets his match: an orgasmic "gift".