View Larger Image |
The Eel Actors: Kôji Yakusho, Misa Shimizu Director: Shohei Imamura Number of Items: 1 Picture Format: Pan & Scan Format: Color, Widescreen Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated) Running Time: 117 minutes Studio: New Yorker Films Region Code: 1 Product Group: DVD Release Date: 2001-08-28 Buy from Amazon |
 "..."The Eel is a very enjoyable, often humorous and contemplatively paced (read:slow... but not unbearably so) movie. Apparently Imamura had misgivings about its presentation at (and subsequent winning of the palme d'or) Cannes, amongst the bigger budget fare (which the comments indicate he prefered to his own film... "They should recount the ballots."), but, the comments don't necessarily indicate he thinks it's a particularly bad movie, and it's perfectly normal that artists be dissatisfied with or dislike their own work. While Imamura's comments aren't entirely baseless, (especially if you're competing with something like The Sweet Hereafter) The Eel still has merits. The acting is well done, the characters are interesting if not particularly sympathetic, and, for the most part, uniquely identifiable (never unbearably 'quirky')... The cinematography is a bit murky (although it may be the transfer) but for the most part the shots are well staged. The soundtrack is effective, but not worthy of special attention. Although, like other reviewers, I found the supposed "themes" especially vague other than what is openly stated in the movie, the vagaries don't really affect the movie, other than some confusion created by the title (really... just because a film seemingly has the pretense of meaning or fails to elucidate it, doesn't set in stone its meaninglessness or meaningfulness nor make it "good" or "bad"). (On another note, although there is some sex in the film, I didn't find it to be an especially "erotic" movie... the packaging seems to be another one of those instances where zealous marketing wizards and mistaken reviewers (both of whom probably walked out after first twenty minutes) collide.) My experience watching film has taught me that a flawed movie shoudln't be equated with a bad one, indeed, are often more enjoyable than "perfect" movies. While I'm not prepared to deem it a masterpiece (although I doubt I'd be audacious enough to declare any movie such), it is one of the most enjoyable I've seen recently (was a nice counterpoint to lovable excess of Pirates of the Carribean, and good companion to Boilng Point).  "Blame and redemption!"The brutal opening sequence schocks even the most indifferentt of the viewers. This moral defeat affects him seriously and even he is sent to prison by this double crime, he develops a profound and visible transformation in his affective relations. He will establish a peculiar relation with this eel that will work out as a cathartic device, till the love comes for him to rescue. Mature and very original film that meant another triumph in Cannes for this wunderkid and loved film maker, who shares with Angelopoulus a very special affection in Europe. It's time for you to get close to the world of this giant japanese director who has proved his enormous talent with The Ballad of Narayama, Black Rain, Eijanaika and this one. A favorite and personal Japanese films of that decade.  "Nice concept, so-so execution..."This film could've been so much better: the central metaphor of the title is never fully fleshed out, the characters are always kept at such a distance that it's difficult for the viewer to really develop much of a connection or feeling for them, and the pace is plodding at best. The supposedly climactic group-brawl near the end is so amateurish that it's unintentionally funny. WANTED: different director, with better film editing and camera work, maybe a script editor too. 2 1/2 stars. "Decent Film version of a chilling book"It's probably germane to note that "The Eel" is a film adaptation of a novel called On Parole, written by Akira Yoshimura. It's a pretty free adaptation; for instance, there's no eel in the book. The film loses some of the richness of the book, and it develops very slowly, and its central metaphors are tentative and underdone, but it's still a very interesting movie with some comic moments and some very touching scenes as well. I thought the cinematography was spectacular, really capturing the sadness and heat of semi-rural Japan. "2nd REVISED REVIEW: Guilt and Redemption "Guilt and Redemption are the pervasive themes of this quirky, disturbing, very fine film from Shohei Imamura. The consequences of the instantaneous loss of control molds this story in the way such life happenstances unfold - slowly - and Imamura knows how to take us with him in this strange tale, pausing here and there for the surreal, dreamlike sequences that can and do alter our perceptions of reality. Takuro Yamashita (Kôji Yakusho) is a quietly married blue-collar worker who spends some evenings fishing for sport and food, his passive wife Emiko (Chiho Terada) sending him off with boxed lunches. Takuro receives an anonymous letter that states his wife is having an affair while he slips away to fish. Incredulous, Takuro returns early from his nocturnal fishing to find his wife engaged in flagrante and Takuro stabs her to death, then bicycles to the police station and turns himself in for the murder of Emiko. He is imprisoned for eight years and conforms to the rigid life of the incarcerated, his only companion is a pet eel with whom he feels he can communicate. Here the film's story begins. Upon release from prison, Takuro is placed under the supervision of a kindly priest who helps him start a barbershop, living a quiet secluded life, his only friends being his pet eel and a strange character who has set up a field station to attract friendly aliens from outer space! All is calm until he encounters the disturbed Keiko (Misa Shimizu) who closely resembles his murdered wife. Takuro saves Keiko from a suicide attempt and the priest encourages him to take on Keiko as an assistant. Takuro is emotionally dead over his guilt for the murder of his wife and refuses to entertain the idea of opening himself to Keiko's affectionate advances. There are too many similarities between the dead Emiko and the frightened Keiko. Yet when all of the forces collide in the climax of the film, Takuro realizes how much of his past is mixed with fantasy/nightmare and, equally, how much his present is dependent on his interaction with Keiko, the priest, his sci-fi friend and the forces who would destroy Keiko and his quiet existence. Though the ending is somewhat marred by an unfortunately Keystone Kops type silly sequence, it suggests that the cracks in Takuro's mental armor may be healed as the possibility for redemption unfolds in a tender way. There are many levels of interpretation to this fable and to explore each of them would rob the first-time viewer of this little film of the pleasure of the chess game Imamura sets for us. The acting is solid, the night scenes are lovely, and the day scenes are as visually chaotic as the real world in which we live. There could be improvements in the editing, definitely in the musical score and in the camera work. But those are minor blemishes in this film that engages the mind in the challenge of entering a new mode of thought. A strange little film, this, and not for everyone. Grady Harp, May 05 |
