The Eel /Unagi (1997) |
| After a deceptively dark, brutal beginning in which Yakusho murders his adulterous wife, Imamura's Palme d'Or winner lightens up quite considerably to present an offbeat, occasionally even comic account of his reintegration into the world after eight years in prison. Unusually, it's the protagonist's own hesitancy and introversion that makes rehabilitation difficult, rather than society; indeed, the eccentrick folk who frequent his remote barber's shop, and especially a young woman he saves from suicide, are mostly very supportive and helpful. Still the past catches up with him, leading to a climax as violent, farcical and ultimately affecting as Imamura's cool, clear direction is subtle and assured. Time Out Film Guide (p.316) |
| Cast: Koji Yakusho: Tatsuro Yamashita Misa Shimizu: Keiko Hattori Mitsuko Baisho: Misako Nakajima Etsuko Ichihara: Fumie Hattori Tomoro Taguchi: Eiji Dojima Akira Emoto: Tamotsu Takasaki |
| Running time: 117 min. Based on a story by Akira Yoshimura Directed by Shohei Imamura Scinario: Motofumi Tomikawa Daisuke Tengan Shohei Imamura Release date: May 24,1997 |
 |
| Koji Yakusho and Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami, poses with French actress Catherine Deneuve as they hold the Golden Palm prizez they won at the 50th Cannes Film Festival. Director Imamura felt sure his movie was out of the running for this year's top Cannes Film Festival award , so he got on a plane and headed home from France on Sunday before the awards ceremony even began. Yakusho, who was luckily staying in Paris with his wife, went back to Cannes to receive the Golden Palm prize on Imamura's behalf. What he told the audience first was "I am not Shohei Imamura!" |
 |
| The Asahi Evening News, dated May 19, 1997 reports: The director said, ... that his film got "quite good feedback from Western viewers when it was shown at the festival. "My film got a lot of laughs, even in portions in which I never expected to get laughs. Imamura's film deals with suicide. It is the story of a man paroled from prison after killing his wife and whose closest companion is his pet eel. His life changes when he saves a young woman from trying to commit suicide. |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| Renewed on May 15, 2010 Updated on May 23, 2011 |
 |
| On May 30, 2006, Director Imamura Shohei (79) passed away at 3:49pm of a metastatic liver tumor in a hospital in Tokyo. |
 |
 |
|
 |
| Death of a Master Moviemaker May 31, 2006
Imamura Shohei, one of Japan's greatest movie directors, died of multiple organ failure at a Tokyo hospital yesterday afternoon. He was 79. He won the Palme d'Or grand prize at the Cannes International Film Festival twice, with "Narayama Bushikou" (Ballad of the Narayama) in 1983 and "Unagi" (The Eel) in 1997. Actor Yakusho Koji (50), who starred in Unagi, said "It was truly an honor to have a chance to work with Imamura-kantoku (director). He taught me so much. I wanted to see him make many more movies. He was a treasure of the Japanese movie industry." Yakusho recently visited Imamura in hospital before leaving for this year's Cannes festival, where the movie "Babel" in which he supports Brad Pitt, won the Director's Prize. Imamura began as an assistant director under the master Ozu Yasujiro at the Shochiku studio and made his first movie in 1958. But he was not really a studio player and moved toward a less stylized manner than that of classical Japanese cinema and was not afraid to tackle taboo subjects. The common theme in his movies was the nature of Man and the recurring question of what it means to be a working class Japanese. At the time that his first Palme d'Or was being announced in Cannes, he was playing mahjong in Tokyo. He also left the festival early in 1997, sure that Unagi had no chance of winning the top award. A heavy smoker who enjoyed shochu, he had a gourmet's palette, despite suffering from diabetes from his late 20s. He was diagnosed with colon cancer last summer, and though he underwent surgery, the cancer had spread to other organs. He was hospitalized several times and spent most of his last week in a semi-conscious state. |
 |
| Koji Yakusho at Shohei Imamura's funeral |
| Unagi trailer with English subtitles (Nippon Cinema) |
| Koji Yakusho contributed an essay entitled "A Respect For the Cinema" for the 2011 the Cannes International Film Festival . A RESPECT FOR THE CINEMA BY KOJI YAKUSHO I believe that the audiences who come to see films at the Festival de Cannes have a true passion for film, and it is in Cannes that I first understood how many people love the cinema. I had the clear impression that the entire Festival held the director Sh?hei Imamura in high esteem. In Japan, I had not sensed this feeling of respect for actors and directors. As I was extremely stressed, I hardly remember going up the red carpet. Of course, I remember a few fleeting impressions, but unfortunately, as Sh?hei Imamura had difficulty walking, we were unable to go up together. I remember being very impressed seeing him with his cane in the company of the President Gilles Jacob, as I glanced at the entrance of the Palais des Festivals while I climbed the stairs. I was moved that a film shot in such a small city as Sawara, in Japan, could be received in such a lively place as an international film festival. And when I heard the soundtrack to The Eel, I felt even greater joy. My heart began to beat very fast. For the awards ceremony, Mr Imamura was obliged to return to Japan and I got up on stage in the company of director Abbas Kiarostami, Palme dfOr ex-aequo: I have the photo that was taken of the two of us on display at my home. I was in a state of complete panic on the day of the awards ceremony. I had thought I would visit Paris and spend a night there before returning home, when the producer called me in. And when I ascended the red carpet, Gilles Jacob whispered to me: gI donft think you will be disappointedh. And yet, I still did not expect the Palme dfOr. The award was presented by Catherine Deneuve. was moved that a film produced in Japan, this little island in the Far East, would be seen by so many European spectators and I could feel the profound respect that their applause showed for the film in my whole body. I thought its director was a real star. I had not made many films until then, but it was this Festival de Cannes that helped me decide I wanted to devote myself to it full time. |