The Eel
The Eel ★★★ Unagi 1996
Yamashita (Yakusho) has just been paroled after spending eight years in prison for killing his adulterous wife in a jealous rage. While there, he found and cared for an eel, which became his only confidante, and which accompanies him to his new life as a barber in a small town outside Tokyo. The newcomer is soon befriended by the locals but Yamashita's life changes most when he saves the suicidal Keiko (Shimizu) from drowning. She comes to work in his shop and would obviously like a more intimate relationship but some secrets in her past and some strange incidents in the town may jepordize Yamashita's hopes for a normal life. Based on the novel “Glimmering in the Dark” by Akira Yoshimura. Japanese with subtitles. 117m/C VHS, DVD . JP Koji Yakusho, Misa Shimizu, Mitsuko Baisho, Shou Aikawa, Fujio Tsuneta, Akira (Tsukamoto) Emoto, Etsuko Ichihara, Tomoroh Taguchi, Ken Kobayashi, Sabu Kawahara; D: Shohei Imamura; W: Shohei Imamura, Motofumi Tomikawa, Daisuke Tengan; C: Shigeru Komatsubara; M: Shinichiro Ikebe. Cannes '97: Film.