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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 |
 "An unforgettable, powerful film."I agree that this movie is primarily about the right of all human beings to redemption. Whether or not you believe that everyone deserves a second chance, this movie will certainly make you think about that question more deeply. The main character is NOT haunted by his wife's betrayal-- he is haunted by the fact that he KILLED her!!! It is very disturbing to me that anyone would think of his killing her (and later being unsociable towards another woman who reminded him of her) as being even somewhat justified by the fact that she had been unfaithful to him. That is a misogynistic mindset if ever there was one, and it misses the whole point of the movie. I do agree that this movie is somewhat sexist.. as in countless other movies, it does not provide any particular reason for the woman being attracted to the man (the man doesn't have to be particularly nice, interesting, attractive, or anything else). I'm a woman and that has often bothered me in other movies also. However, that's a minor complaint in this case, and this movie is absolutely worth seeing!! It is visually beautiful, poetic, extremely intelligent and thought-provoking, and totally deserving of the award it won at the Cannes Film Festival.  "Eel is a great film"I am a person who is obsessed with anything Japanese, and their film is no exception. Eel is one of the better stories in a film I have seen, with a steady plot, great acting, and the movie not being to long in duration. When I watched this film, the story permitted me to feel the lines between good and bad, in addition to getting me to almost become the main character. This film is definitely for any person who wishes to watch a Japanese film and get up thinking it was an excellent story. I only gave it 4 stars simply because I have seen better, but the film is still fantastic! "Flawed, but haunting"This is a film about human sexuality. It is not pleasant. Takuro Yamashita, played very effectively by Koji Yakusho, gets an anonymous letter telling him that his young, pretty wife is entertaining another man while he is out fishing at night, this after she lovingly prepares and packs his supper. He goes fishing but returns home early in time to catch them in medias res. In a cold rage he knifes his wife to death. He bicycles to the police station and turns himself in. Eight years later he gets out of prison. This is where our story begins. Yamashita, now embittered toward others, and especially women, is on parole. He sets up a barber shop in a small town. He keeps a pet eel because he feels that the eel "listens" to him when he talks. One day he discovers a woman (Keiko Hattari, played by the beautiful Misa Shimizu) in some nearby bushes who has taken an overdose in a suicide attempt. He brings help and she is saved. She then enters his life as his assistant. Her presence challenges the emotional isolation he is seeking and forces him to face not only his future but his past. The eel itself (a wet "snake") symbolizes sexuality. When this sexuality is confined it is under control. When it is let loose it is dark and deep and mysterious. Director Shohei Imamura's technique is plodding at times, and striking at others. His women are aggressive sexually even though, in the Japanese "princess" style, they may look younger than spring time. His men can be brutal. Their emotions, confined by society as the eel is confined by its tank, sometimes burst out violently. For many viewers the pace of this film will be too slow, and for others the sexuality depicted will offend. For myself and others who are accustomed to seeing the faces of the players in long close ups on TV and in Western movies, Imamura's medium shots and disinclination to linger on the countenances of his actors will disappoint. Yakusho's face suggests the very depth and mystery that Imamura is aiming at, yet I don't think the camera lingers there enough. Also disappointing is how little we really see of Misa Shimizu's expressions. Chiho Terada, who plays the murdered wife, is also very pretty and completely convincing, but we see little of her. Her expression just before dying, a combination of shamelessness and resignation, funereal acceptance even, was unforgettable. This is very much worth seeing, but expect to be irritated by the how slowly it unravels and by the central character's stubborn refusal to forgive both himself and his late wife, and his inability to embrace the life that is now his.  "Clumsy, amateurish, pretentious"Shohei Imamura has been responsible for some of the better films out of Japan -- "Black Rain," "Vengeance Is Mine," and "The Pornographers" all come to mind. How, then, to explain "The Eel," a movie so silly and dumbfoundingly amateurish that it contains mistakes no first-time filmmaker would make? The plot: After spending eight years in prison for murdering his philandering wife, a man returns to society and opens a barbershop with only his pet eel as company. He stumbles across a woman who has apparently attempted to commit suicide, and in gratitude she offers her services at his shop. He doesn't want anything to do with her, but eventually it becomes him vs. her half-psychotic former boyfriend (in a subplot involving her loony mother and some stolen money that's as stupid as it is unedifying). The main problem with "The Eel" is not the premise, which is fine, but the way the movie is set up and played off. The writing and directing (and in many cases the acting) are staggeringly bad, so much so that I felt flat-out pity for Imamura. I suspect he had an idea that he simply was not capable of doing justice to properly, and compromised somewhere along the way. So what kinds of mistakes are made? Example: Takuro is shown goose-stepping in prison as part of the routine. When he's released, he follows his parole officer a little too closely, and with a walk that's reminiscent of the goose-step without actually being that way. The parole officer asks him what's wrong. So far, so good. But then Imamura destroys the moment by forcing a shot of other prisoners goose-stepping, and even goes so far as to give us a voice-over explaining what was going on. It's as if he doesn't trust himself or his audience to figure anything out. Worse, there's a scene later where a bunch of recruits go jogging by. Takuro compulsively falls into step with them, like some publicity hound trying to be seen in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. Perhaps the most telling comment of all came from the director himself: when he was at Cannes the first couple of days, he grew unhappy and declared, "I can't compete with all of the big-budget entries here, and I'm not happy with the way my movie looks. I'm going home." He left the festival, and it was up to Koji Yakusho to accept the award on his behalf. When Imamura heard the news, his response was "There must have been some mistake. They should recount the ballots." He was probably right. "Sensational"A very moving film full of quiet depth and both powerful and provocative emotions. In a word, this film is sensational. |
