The Eel (film)

Unagi
Directed by	Shohei Imamura
Produced by	Hiso Ino
Written by	Shohei Imamura, Daisuke Tengan, Motofumi Tomikawa, Akira Yoshimura
Starring	Kōji Yakusho, Misa Shimizu
Music by	Shinichirô Ikebe
Cinematography	Shigeru Komatsubara
Editing by	Hajime Okayasu
Distributed by	Shochiku (Japan) Mongrel Media (North America) New Yorker Films (Eng-Subs)
Release date(s)	12 May 1997 (premiere at Cannes) 24 May 1997 21 August 1998 20 November 1998
Running time	117 minutes
Country	Japan
Language	Japanese

The Eel (Japanese: うなぎ, Unagi) is a 1997 film directed by Shohei Imamura and starring Kōji Yakusho, Misa Shimizu, Mitsuko Baisho and Akira Emoto. The film is loosely based on the novel On Parole by celebrated author Akira Yoshimura, combined with elements from the director's 1966 film The Pornographers. It won the Palme d'Or at the 1997 Cannes Film Festival.

Synopsis

Acting on the advice of an anonymous note, Takuro Yamashita (Kôji Yakusho) returns home early one night to find his wife in bed with another man. He kills her and then turns himself in to the police. After being released from prison, he opens a barber shop. He helps save Keiko Hattori (Misa Shimizu) from a suicide attempt, after which she works at his shop. It becomes clear that Keiko has romantic affections for Takuro, but his reciprocation is redirected towards his pet eel.

Cast

• Kōji Yakusho - Takuro Yamashita
• Misa Shimizu - Keiko Hattori
• Mitsuko Baisho - Misako Nakajima
• Akira Emoto - Tamotsu Takasaki
• Fujio Tsuneta - Jiro Nakajima
• Shô Aikawa - Yuji Nozawa
• Ken Kobayashi - Masaki Saito
• Sabu Kawahara - Seitaro Misato
• Etsuko Ichihara - Fumie Hattori
• Tomorowo Taguchi - Eiji Dojima
• Chiho Terada - Emiko Yamashita

External links

• The Eel at the Internet Movie Database
• The Eel at the JMDb (Japanese)