Drama · Crime
Japanese (うなぎ)
1997 · Directed by Shōhei Imamura · 117 min
A man leaves prison after years inside and starts a quiet new life as a barber in a small riverside town. He keeps to himself and confides only in a pet eel. Imamura mixes dry comedy, earthy detail and a sense of something unresolved underneath.
Why it matters in cinema history
A defining late work by Imamura, one of the key figures of the Japanese New Wave, and a landmark of 1990s Japanese art cinema that brought him back to the world stage.
Watch with intention
Watch it as a study of a man who has learned not to speak, and track what he says through what he does.
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