Eel, The (1997) Unagi

Original title: Unagi (うなぎ)

Country: Japan

Year: 1997

Genre: Drama

IMDB Rating: 7.3 ^{2479 votes}

Plot: White-collar worker Yamashita finds out that his wife has a lover visiting her when he's away, suddenly returns home and kills her. After eight years in prison, he returns to live in a small village, opens a barber shop (he was trained as a barber in prison) and talks almost to no-one except for the eel he 'befriended' in prison. One day he finds the unconscious body of Keiko, who attempted suicide and reminds him of his wife. She starts to work at his shop, but he doesn't let her become close to him.

'The Eel' proved how the director Shohei Imamura is good at describing life-sized characterization and mental state. The main character's suspicion, madness, kindness and love, are closely related to what we have inside. Which made me sympathetic and devoted to the character. Shohei Imamura described the main character's complication by using the character's delusion. And, the usage of psychological and fantastic images strongly helped to express the human mind. 'The Eel' is a unique human drama.

Language: Japanese

Colormode: Color

Running time: 117