Radiance Films: The Eel (1997) - Reviewed

Images courtesy of Radiance Films

Shohei Imamura’s 1997 Palme d’Or winner The Eel which shared the grand prize with Abbas Kiarostami’s Taste of Cherry that same year marks the first time the new elite boutique label Radiance Films has gotten involved with the legendary Japanese filmmaker.  The director’s second Palme d’Or win after 1983’s remake of Keisuke Kinoshita’s 1958 film The Ballad of Narayama, companies like Arrow Video and The Criterion Collection have seen fit to curate and publish most of the director’s filmography on DVD or Blu-Ray disc in digitally restored editions.  

The first film by Imamura after an eight year gap following his 1989 Hiroshima bombing drama Black Rain, The Eel represents for the director something of a grand return to the subversive and surreal quirky comedy and steamy sexuality Imamura became known for with The Pornographers and later Vengeance is Mine.  Presented on Blu-Ray by Radiance Films with both the original theatrical release version and the extended director’s cut which was previously difficult to come by, this is debatably the definitive release of Imamura’s Cannes favorite with a breakout leading performance from Japanese acting titan Koji Yakusho. 
 
Somewhere in the Chiba Prefecture of Japan, Takuro Yamashita (Koji Yakusho) ventures out on a routine fishing trip while leaving his wife at home.  On the advice of an anonymous tip, he returns home early only to find her in bed with another man.  In a fit of rage he stabs her to death but then turns himself in.  Years later he is released on parole with his pet eel as his only companion and he opens up a barber shop whose customers pick up on Takuro’s eccentricities as he occasionally talks to the eel.  

One morning while fishing for morsels to feed his eel, he stumbles upon the lifeless body of a young woman named Keiko Hattori (Misa Shimizu) whom he rescues with paramedics.  After she recovers, he hires her to work for his barber shop.  However, it quickly becomes apparent that Takuro might find himself in trouble with the law again as Keiko’s suicide attempt triggers a chain of unexpected events including the arrival of a rapist garbage man who recognizes Takuro and Keiko’s own ex Eiji Dojima (Tetsuo: The Iron Man’s Tomorowo Taguchi) comes back into the picture.

 
Based on Akira Yoshimura’s novel On Parole with elements of the director’s own 1966 widescreen epic The Pornographers, Shohei Imamura’s The Eel in both versions included on the disc represents Japanese cinema arguably at it’s very artistic zenith.  Featuring an understated if not sardonic and elliptical score by Akira Kurosawa’s Dreams and Kagemusha composer Shinichiro Ikebe and mannered yet somewhat intentionally hazy 1.85:1 widescreen cinematography by The Ballad of Narayama cameraman Shigeru Komatsubara, the film alternates between near blindingly-bright sunlight and thickly grainy night-time photography.  

With slick editing by Hajime Okayasu who sometimes fades the screen to red in anticipation of tumultuous events, the world of The Eel feels at once lived in and unusually untouched by time.  It goes without saying Koji Yakusho is a masterful actor in total control of his performance and it was startling to see the detective of Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s Cure as something of a ticking time bomb here.  Misa Shimizu as Keiko is also strong as an unlikely new companion to Takuro who doesn’t fully realize the extent of his criminal past.  Takashi Miike fans will delight in the presence of Sho Aikawa onscreen as well as Shinya Tsukamoto leading actor Tomorowo Taguchi.

 
Long awaited and making its worldwide Blu-ray disc premiere, Shohei Imamura’s The Eel while a bit soft in the image department compared to other 4K releases that have come and gone is the best the film has ever looked on home video.  Completists who were reluctant to buy the disc unless the director’s cut was included will be elated both cuts have been included.  There’s also an extended visual essay by Tom Mes and interviews with Tony Rayns and Daisuke Tengan.  Probably most valuable to fans is the inclusion of a limited-edition booklet featuring an archival interview with Shohei Imamura that’s been newly translated for Western readers.  In a film that helped solidify the reputation of Shohei Imamura as one of Japan’s greatest and most subversive provocateurs, Koji Yakusho completely shines in it as one of the country’s strongest performers.  Even after all he’s done before and since, The Eel might remain Yakusho’s finest hour as an actor.

--Andrew Kotwicki