# Unagi (1997)

### reviewed by
Harvey S. Karten

    THE EEL

Reviewed by Harvey Karten, Ph.D. New Yorker Films Director: Shohei Imamura Writer: Shohei Imamura, Motofumi Tomikawa, Daisuka Tengan, novel by Akira Yoshimura Cast: Koji Yakusho, Misa Shimizu, Fujio Tsuneta, Mitsuko Baisho, Akira Emoto, Sho Aikawa, Ken Kobayahsi, Sabu Kawara, Etsuko Ichihara, Tomoro Taguchi

At first sight you'd hardly guess that Shohei Imamura, who directs "The Eel," was also at the helm of "Black Rain." "Black Rain," a quietly moving story, deals with the effects of the Hiroshima bombing on one Japanese family over a period of five years. Ultimately, though, you realize that "The Eel" follows a similar trajectory. Like its predecessor, it is quiet, slow moving, and involves bloodshed and redemption. Unlike the black-and-white forerunner, though, "The Eel" is filmed in vivid color, an unsullied view of the Japanese countryside. It is warm and dignified, its symbolism never overshadowing the telling of a simple story of a man who commits an awful crime, climbs into his own shell for years, and is brought to life by the love and loyalty of a woman.

"The Eel," which won the Palme D'or prize when it appeared at the Cannes Film Festival in 1997, is based on Akira Yoshimura's novel "Glimmering in the Dark." The story begins in 1988, centering on office worker Takuro Yamashita (Koji Yakusho) who one day receives an anonymous letter accusing his pretty wife of committing adultery during Yamashita's frequent absences from his well-appointed suburban home. Yamashita deliberately cuts a nightly fishing excursion short to return to his residence, where he catches his wife in the middle of a sexual act with a young stranger. He stabs her brutally and, in his blood-soaked fishing outfit, he turns himself in at the local police station.

We see only a moment's glimpse of the man--on the last day of his eight years' incarceration--but are informed that during his stretch he talked to no one except his pet eel, a sea creature who "listens to what I say" and "never tells me what I don't want to hear." Attached to a probation officer who is a priest, he is warned to stay out of trouble. He opens a barber shop, business picking up only after he has rescued a suicidal woman, Keiko Hattori (Misa Shimizu), on the brink of death who then joins him as an associate in the business.

Shohei Imamura, who directs "The Eel" ("Unagi" in Japanese), does not claustrophobically limit his camera to the man and his lovely new partner, but frequently cuts to an assortment of oddballs who inhabit the scene. Chief among the curious characters he depicts is a trash collecter, once in prison with Yamashita and now envious of his success, often drunk on sake, who reveals the man's past to his associate. He introduces us to Keiko's nutty mother, who is prone to break into flamenco at the earliest strum of a guitar (uncharacteristic for Japanese culture) and to a gangster who claims the money which really belongs to the demented woman. Yet another peculiar personality is a man who tries to attract UFOs to the town by drawing first a Star of David on the grounds outside the shop, later incorporating the barber pole and an elaborate piece of machinery to attract the aliens.

While "The Eel" won one of Cannes' most prestigous awards last year and is effectively emotional, quiet, and leisurely paced, it is prominent more for its competence than for any leap to artistic heights. At best Imamura unfolds the story behind the redemption of a man whose prison term seems unusually light considering the brutality of his crime and who has been granted an envious relationship with a Buddhist priest. It also portrays a Japan which is not like the Utopia which Thomas Moore once outlined and which is prominently featured in the Cinderella movie "Ever After." Japan is apparently a place which, like the U.S., has a fair share of oddballs, criminals, love-starved and guilt-ridden people. Perhaps no one can evoke this palette as well as the wonderful performer Koji Yakusho, whose astonishingly popular "Shall We Dance?" is more enjoyable and--for all its lightness-more emblematic of the conflicts underlying today's Japan.

    Not Rated.  Running time: 117 minutes.  (C) Harvey Karten
    1998

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