The Eel

Screening: 28 October 2002

Japan 1998 (subtitles)
117 minutes
Directed by Shohei Imamura
Leading players - Koji Yakusho, Misa Shimizu, Akira Emoto.

Synopsis

Mild mannered Mr Yamashita commits a heinous crime and spends eight years in prison. Once released he moves to a small village where his parole officer, a Buddhist priest, lives with his wife. They help Yamashita set up a barber shop and slowly, his life is turned around by the people he comes to know there, in particular, a young woman with her own demons to fight. These two tragically scarred people form a quiet and uneasy partnership. And then there are the eels. Obviously symbolic from the first encounter but critical to the character of Yamashita and at the same time a key to unlock a fascinating film.

* * * * * *

In a very confrontational review Jim Earley states: “The problem with The Eel is that it tries too hard to be about important concepts and states of mind, but the story it tells is frustratingly thin. To make matters more difficult, the story’s characters are nearly impenetrable. Japanese stoicism is one thing, but these folks are folded up tighter than origami.” Earley’s issue appears to be with Japanese culture as it manifests itself through film rather than a critique specific to the film. As such he misses an excellent experience that demands nothing of the viewer but offers much as entertainment and human puzzle.

Like many in Japanese cinema, The Eel is a beautiful film, and the restrained emotions and sexuality are, at times, poignant. There is colour in both the story and the characters but this is Japanese cinema and unlike the work of many other cultures it never bends to the demands of a foreign audience. Should this film find itself being raped by an American production team they could only ever play with the plot because all else is peculiar to all that makes Japanese film great, or if you are Jim Earley, frustrating and fundamentally not American. Watch this film with an open mind and let it enter your subconscious as a foreign friend would enter your life, on its own terms.