The Eel
- Original title
- Unagi
- Year
- 1997
- Running time
- 117 min.
- Country
- Japan
- Director
- Screenwriter
- Cast
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- Kôji Yakusho
- Misa Shimizu
- Mitsuko Baisho
- Hiroyuki Konishi
- Etsuko Ichihara
- Akira Emoto
- Ken Mitsuishi
- Tomorô Taguchi
- Sanshô Shinsui
- Sabu Kawahara
- Sho Aikawa
- Fujio Tokita
- Kôichi Ueda
- Shoichi Ozawa
- Sei Hiraizumi
- See all credits
- Music
- Cinematography
- Producer
- Genre
- Drama
- Synopsis
- The film opens with Takuro Yamashita (Koji Yakusho), a seemingly normal salaryman, learning that his wife might be having an affair. When he catches the couple in flaganto delicto, he freaks out and brutally stabs them both to death. Eight years later, Yamashita is released on parole into the care of a Buddhist priest living in rural Chiba prefecture. Far away from his former life, yet still plagued with memories of his crime, Yamashita decides to start anew by opening a barbershop on a quiet road next to a canal. Though inward looking and self-conscious, he eventually befriends a bumptious but good-hearted day laborer, and a construction worker who's obsessed with UFOs. His most fateful encounter though is with a woman named Keiko (Misa Shimizu), who he discovers unconscious following a suicide attempt. Looking to put a few of her own demons to bed, Keiko decides to stay in this sleepy corner of Japan and help her savior with his barbershop. Initially against the idea -- she bears a striking resemblance to his dead spouse -- he eventually agrees and even grows to like having her around.
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- Awards
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1997: Cannes Film Festival: Best Film - Palme d'Or (Golden Palm) (ex-aequo)1998: Independent Spirit Awards: Nominated for Best Foreign Film1998: Premios de la Academia Japonesa: 3 awards. 14 nominations
- Critics' reviews
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"Unpredictable and captivating."
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"A flash of quiet brilliance that resonates long after the images have faded from the screen."
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"Imamura, like many older directors, has evolved a style of wonderful simplicity, lucidity and economy, cutting to the marrow of events, switching moods with effortless ease"
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"The accomplishment of 'The Eel' is to be both sardonic and compassionate - often at the same time"
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