The Invisible Eel (1997) by Shohei Imamura.
Short synopsis:
Japan, 1988. A married man, named Yamashita, comes home where his wife awaits him, with whom he seems to have an excellent relationship. So he goes out alone to fish, reading during the journey what seems to be a poem, with a melancholic air. Unexpectedly returned from fishing with his friends, Yamashita arrives home and, with enormous surprise, caughts his wife betraying him with a lover. After a transition from amazement to rage, the husband takes a cutlass and enters the room, stabbing the lover first and his wife after, repeatedly. After completing the gesture, totally calm and relaxed, he still walks dirty of blood at a police station, self-denounding himself and handing over the murder weapon. After 8 years, he gets released on parole and brings home an eel. End spoilers.
Comment:
A movie that investigates the psychology of a man living the trauma of an assassination, with a strong drama, thanks also to an extraordinary directing as suspended, reminiscent of the style of Kitano and characterized by a few close-ups, if not with regard to the main character Yamashita. In fact, he has to deal with social reintegration and all that he entails, something that with ups and downs he lands morally. So it is an eel his only refuge from his past, sometimes even from his present, and with the animal he develops a particular bond. The film has an extreme technical and stylistic level: there is not an element that is not minutely studied, from the narrative structure, to the engaging environments, to the interpretations of each actor, up to the magnificent photograph. In particular the latter is creepy, especially in the exterior (where most of the film is filmed), thanks to the light games that use the natural irradiation of the day and the artificial one during night shootings. Palme d'Or (Imamura is one of the 8 directors to have won 2 times this prestigious prize), definitely a must for every cinephile that defines itself by this word, but the movie has low availability. An unmissable revisitation of the themes characterizing the works of Dostoevskij, in particular to the crime and punishment with which the film shares some elements, especially concerning the psychology of the assassin in which a parallelism is created between russian Raskol'nikow and japanese Yamashita.
Short synopsis:
Japan, 1988. A married man, named Yamashita, comes home where his wife awaits him, with whom he seems to have an excellent relationship. So he goes out alone to fish, reading during the journey what seems to be a poem, with a melancholic air. Unexpectedly returned from fishing with his friends, Yamashita arrives home and, with enormous surprise, caughts his wife betraying him with a lover. After a transition from amazement to rage, the husband takes a cutlass and enters the room, stabbing the lover first and his wife after, repeatedly. After completing the gesture, totally calm and relaxed, he still walks dirty of blood at a police station, self-denounding himself and handing over the murder weapon. After 8 years, he gets released on parole and brings home an eel. End spoilers.
Comment:
A movie that investigates the psychology of a man living the trauma of an assassination, with a strong drama, thanks also to an extraordinary directing as suspended, reminiscent of the style of Kitano and characterized by a few close-ups, if not with regard to the main character Yamashita. In fact, he has to deal with social reintegration and all that he entails, something that with ups and downs he lands morally. So it is an eel his only refuge from his past, sometimes even from his present, and with the animal he develops a particular bond. The film has an extreme technical and stylistic level: there is not an element that is not minutely studied, from the narrative structure, to the engaging environments, to the interpretations of each actor, up to the magnificent photograph. In particular the latter is creepy, especially in the exterior (where most of the film is filmed), thanks to the light games that use the natural irradiation of the day and the artificial one during night shootings. Palme d'Or (Imamura is one of the 8 directors to have won 2 times this prestigious prize), definitely a must for every cinephile that defines itself by this word, but the movie has low availability. An unmissable revisitation of the themes characterizing the works of Dostoevskij, in particular to the crime and punishment with which the film shares some elements, especially concerning the psychology of the assassin in which a parallelism is created between russian Raskol'nikow and japanese Yamashita.