The Eel (1997)

Original title

うなぎ

Directed by

Shohei Imamura

Genre

drama film

Country

Japan

Runtime

1h 50m

Rated

U

Rating

6.9 of 10 from 130 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

A man is released from prison after killing his wife. He tries to rebuild his life in a small town, working at a barbershop and caring for an eel in an aquarium. He slowly forms an uneasy connection with a local woman who has her own troubled past.

slow-burnmelancholicmeditativeintrospectivebroodingquietbittersweetatmospheric

What happens

The Eel (うなぎ, Unagi) is a 1997 Japanese film directed by Shōhei Imamura and starring Kōji Yakusho, Misa Shimizu, Mitsuko Baisho, and Akira Emoto. The film is loosely based on the novel On Parole by celebrated author Akira Yoshimura, combined with elements from the director's 1966 film The Pornographers. It shared the Palme d'Or at the 1997 Cannes Film Festival with Taste of Cherry. It also won the 1998 Kinema Junpo Award for Best Film of the Year. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

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