The Eel = Unagi

The Eel begins with the main character - Takuro Yamashita (Koji Yakusho) coming home early from a fishing trip to catch his wife committing adultery. He stabs her to death and then hands himself in to the police. The credits to the film commence, where it is revealed that Yamashita has just been released after eight years in prison. He carries with him a pet eel who has been his main companion in prison. Yamashita buys a dilapidated barber shop in a small rural town where he assumes he will be left alone. Soon, however, he is befriended by the assorted local characters who hang around his shop. Then he saves the life of Keiko Hattori (Misa Shimizu), a woman attempting to commit suicide to escape her manipulative fiance and her mad mother - and who also happens to resemble his murdered wife. The lives of these two escapees soon become entwined. Winner of the 1997 Cannes Palme d’Or, Shohei Imamura’s film masterfully balances humour and surreal imagery with a tale of redemption and love. The film bristles with the tension of Yamashita’s constant potential for violence and the surprising comical twists of his journey. In Japanese with English subtitles.