An acrylic painting on wood panel, titled 'Unagi', of a pantless woman with a red top holding the tail of an eel that is wrapping around a barber's pole. The eel is shooting fireworks from its mouth while the woman is looking at small box wrapped in a pink cloth.

Unagi

(1997, Shohei Imamura)

If you checked out Warm Water Under a Red Bridge after I recently reviewed it, you might be even more thrilled to watch Unagi (The Eel) since it not only stars the same female lead (Misa Shimizu) and male lead (Kōji Yakusho) but also has the same director, Shohei Imamura. Unagi is pretty quirky and I love how these Japanese communities are portrayed. They basically live out in the middle of nowhere with nothing much to do except fish. So they create their own bizarre moments to spice up their dull lives. None of the characters are predictable which makes for a great viewing experience.


A screenshot from the film 'Unagi'. A middle-aged man, Takuro (played by Kōji Yakusho), is entering a police station with his entire body covered in blood. An animated gif of a scene from the film 'Unagi' showing Keiko (played by Misa Shimizu) passed out on a grassy hill. Takuro is checking on her condition. A screenshot from the movie 'Unagi' showing Keiko and Takuro relaxing on a grassy hillside.

© 1997 - Shochiku