An acrylic painting on wood panel, titled 'Warm Water Under a Red Bridge', of a woman leaning back as she sits on a miniature house and a roman candle fire across her body. Water is leaking from the house into a waterway full of large fish.

Warm Water Under a Red Bridge

(2001, Shōhei Imamura)

I watched this movie while visiting LA over the summer. If you had told me, “let’s watch a Japanese romcom!” there’s no way I would have accepted. Luckily I went into it blindly. Yes, it IS a silly romcom but it’s so funky that it deserves praise. A man who is having a lot of difficulties in life goes to a small fishing town to find treasure that his friend left behind. Instead he meets and falls in love with a woman who happens to have that sort of “gushing” type of orgasm. Hijinks ensue.


A screenshot from the film 'Warm Water Under a Red Bridge' showing an old Japanese house and bridge with a red vintage fence stretching across the screen. An animated gif of a scene from the movie 'Warm Water Under a Red Bridge' showing water running down some steps into a waterway. A screenshot of Saeko (played by Misa Shimizu) in a moment of comically wet passion with Kosuke (played by Koji Yakusho) in the film 'Warm Water Under a Red Bridge'.

© 2001 - Nikkatsu Corporation