THE EEEL |
| CREDITS: Director: Shoe Imamura. Cast: Koji Yakusho, Misa Shinuzu, Fujio Tsuneta,
Mitsuko Baisho, Makoto Baisho, Sho Aihara, Ken Kobayashi & Akira Emoto. Japan 1997. INTRODUCTION: Marking the return of one of Japanese cinema's greatest veterans after an eight year absence this touching story of a man and his pet eel was co-winner of Palme d'Or at Cannes '97 with the Iranian masterpiece "A Taste of Cherry". SYNOPSIS: Upon release from prison, for the murder of his wife and her lover, Yamashita (Yakusho), sets himself up as a barber, and prepares to lead the quite life with his pet eel. The sudden arrival of a young and suicidal Keiko (Shinuzu) however changes all this forcing Yamashita to face life once more. REVIEW: We have seen for a while now a slow resurgence of the gendai-geki film in post economic collapse Japan. Pioneered by the likes of Yuso Jiro Ozu, under whom Imamura apprenticed, these films attempt to confront the problems of modern Japan head on. And Imamura's return to cinema seems to mark the fruition of this trend. Imamura was one of Japans new wave directors of the 60's directing such classics as "Intentions of Murder" (64), "The Insect Woman" (64) and "The Pornographers" (66). Japan's relaxation of its censorship laws between '66 and '72 reduced Japanese cinema production to a series of cheaply made exploitation flicks, prompting Imamura's move into documentary production where he has pretty much remained, with a few notable exceptions, ever since. No stranger to controversial subjects Imamura has previously made films about mass-murder "Vengeance is Mine" (79), euthanasia "The Ballad of Naragama" (83) which was another Palme d'Or winner and the aftermath of the Hiroshima bombing "Black Rain" (89) which took home the Technical Prize from Cannes. This, his latest film, based on Akira Yoshimira's classic novel "Yami ni Hirameka" ("Glittering in the Dark"), looks at murder, rape and retribution. Yakusho, of "Shall We Dance?" fame (?) puts in another excellent performance as the taciturn Yamashita. Very much the centre of the movie Yamashita acts as the anchor for the films ensemble cast, each of whom represent an aspect of his character, much as "Hana-Bi" used paintings to express the internal torment of it's stoic lead so "The Eel" uses other characters to display the stars hidden thoughts and feelings. The largely imagined figure of ex-con Takasaki (played with relish by the irrepressible Emoto, who has recently signed on as the lead in Imamura's next project "Dr. Akagi"), represents Yamashita's repressed guilt, the Yakuza wannabe Nozawa (Aihara) with his flashy car and macho exterior represents Yamashita's heavily suppressed masculine side, the UFO freak Saito (Kobayashi) represents Yamashita's inability to confront the world, as Saito himself says he searches for UFO's for the same reason Yamashita talks to the eel, "They're easier to deal with than other humans." Finally there is the widowed coffin-maker Takada (Makoto Baisho) who represents Yamashita's balance, as is exemplified by their eel hunts. As for the phallic eel and his eventual release, the none too suppressed meaning of this goes without saying. All these characters are, of course, like Yamashita, completely devoid of female companionship until, that is, the suicidal Keiko comes along. Keiko is the only character who has an existence beyond Yamashita, and in fact has her own set of personal demons, crooked businessman Dojima (Tomoro Taguchi) who represents her brutal past and her crazy mother Fumie (Etsuko Ichihara) who represents her fears of what the future may hold. It is this independence from Yamashita that allows Keiko to act as his redemption, freeing both his suppressed masculinity and his repressed guilt. The eroticism and brutality of the wife's murder, signalled by a red filtered P.O.V. shot, place this film firmly within Japanese cinema's ultra violent modernism, but the reversal of Yamashita symbolic self-castration, the freeing of the eel, results in something almost unheard of in an Imamura film, a happy ending, albeit a deferred one, making this one of Imamura's most accessible films, probably the reason for its wide release, an opportunity not to be missed. A Freudian dream come true. Mutt's Rating: **** |