{"id":31023,"date":"2025-04-15T15:36:29","date_gmt":"2025-04-15T22:36:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=31023"},"modified":"2025-04-15T15:36:29","modified_gmt":"2025-04-15T22:36:29","slug":"blasts-from-the-past-blu-ray-review-the-eel-1997","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=31023","title":{"rendered":"Blasts from the Past! Blu-ray Review: THE EEL (1997)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This \u201cLimited Edition\u201d Blu-ray from Radiance Films will be available for purchase on April 15th<\/sup>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Back in 1997, the Japanese film The Eel<\/em> made a big\nimpression at the Cannes Film Festival. So much so that this little movie\nreceived the Palme d\u2019Or from the festival Jury (along with the Iranian picture Taste\nof Cherry<\/em>). The film\u2019s director, Shohei Imamura, had previously won the\nvery same award for his 1983 feature The Ballad of Narayama<\/em>, another in\nhis long career of stories about lower-class citizens eking out an existence in\nJapan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Eel<\/em> certainly starts on a heavy note, before\nintroducing lighter themes and giving its troubled lead character some hope for\na better future. While the filmmaker blends odd elements like violence,\npsychological trauma and humor in a manner that shouldn\u2019t work at all, the end\nresults are surprisingly effective. In fact, it\u2019s easy to see how the picture\nultimately charmed and won over international audiences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, Radiance Films is presenting a \u201cLimited Edition\u201d Blu-ray of The Eel<\/em>. This is the first time it has every been made available on the format, and the disc contains the original version, an extended director\u2019s cut. There are also several extras with film historians that give background about to the project, showing how it helped usher in a new era of Japanese cinema, and much more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The story begins with a man, Takuro Tamashita (Koji Yakusho)\nreceiving a strange anonymous message telling him that his wife is having an\naffair. He goes home early to confirm the details of the note and brutally\nmurders her, before turning himself in at a local police station. After several\nyears of incarceration, Takura is released, along with an eel that he has cared\nfor in prison and converses with. He moves to a new area and decides to open a\nbarber shop. Even though most think of haircutters as social people who can\ncarry a conversation with strangers, Takuro does draw in a crowd. As it turns\nout, most of his customers in this area are oddballs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Life seems to be improving, but Takuro begins to feel\npressure when he saves a suicidal woman named Keiko Hattori (Misa Shimizu).\nViewers soon learn she is running from an abusive boyfriend whom she is hiding\na secret from. She decides to help out at the shop, but the lead is put off by\nthe idea because she resembles his late wife. Additionally, a garbageman, who\nwas once an inmate at the same penitentiary as Takuro, begins tormenting the\nlead and Keiko. Tension rises between Takuro and those looking to cause harm to\nhim, Keiko and his pet eel. The strain becomes evident as he tries to deal with\nthese new issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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As mentioned, the opening moments are rather dark. The\nmurder is shocking and brutal, with the lead furiously attacking his spouse.\nThroughout the film, we also see Takuro trying to deal with his problems by\ninteracting with his eel. There are some impressively shot and exaggerated\nmoments as the lead gets up close and personal with the fish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Yet his interactions with the unusual locals, who have their\nown share of problems, are lighter and at times even sweet. We see the quiet\nTakuro initially resist interacting with them, before slowly getting involved\nin their lives. There are some amusing exchanges between the group all as they\nbecome closer and attempt to help each other. But of course, these bonding\nmoments do, once again, lead to conflict as nasty parties arrive to cause\nproblems at the barbershop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yakusho\u2019s performance as Takuro is very compelling, despite\nhis horrible act at the beginning of the tale. This is a story of redemption,\nand somehow the first sequence\u2019s frankness does make the viewer curious about\nwhether or not he can recover. In some respects, the film does harken to 90s\nefforts from the Coen Brothers that would also mix these story elements. In the\nend, the sensitive portrayal of the characters, combined with low-key humor and\nthe occasional surreal or violent jolt work better than expected. It\u2019s an\nengaging movie that does make a lasting impression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The film is presented in two different versions. The\ntheatrical version runs 117 minutes, while the director\u2019s cut is 135 minutes.\nHaving watched both, your preference may depend entirely on how much you enjoy\nspending time with these characters. The longer edition is mostly filled with\nscene extensions. Conversations generally go on longer between Takura and\nothers. Towards the climax, his physical altercation with the garbageman also\nruns an extra minute or two. The extended version feels a little more naturalistic,\neven down to the fight, which looks intentionally messy and awkward.\nAdmittedly, you aren\u2019t missing any necessary information in the theatrical cut\nand the pacing is faster, but I did like living in this world and learning a\nbit more about the supporting characters, so I suppose overall I did prefer the\ndirector\u2019s cut.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The image quality is solid throughout, with only a few\nmoments that look a little less impressive (this includes the opening credits\nsequence, which is to be expected). According to notes accompanying the disc,\nthere are a couple of brief bits where footage from a pre-existing standard\nedition had to be used. Thankfully, on the rare occasions this occurs, it isn\u2019t\na major distraction. Overall, the transfer is quite nice, particularly during\nscenic daytime shots and sequences with the eel. Both cuts were transferred\nfrom a high-definition master.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Extras on the disc are also enjoyable. There is an excellent\ndiscussion with a film historian about The Eel <\/em>and the career of the\ndirector. The speaker notes some of the common elements in his titles and talks\nabout the subject matter of this film, also noting that there are some curious\nand subtle clues from the beginning that the lead\u2019s mental state is off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is also an intriguing talk with the son of Shohei\nImamura, who tells stories about his father and elaborates on the changes made\nfrom the short story source material for this film adaptation. His father was\nhaving difficulty writing the picture and hired him to iron out problems. The\nson added the barbershop element, while trying to maintain the theme of the\nlead and community outcasts building their own kind of family. He admits he and\nhis father butted heads a lot, and that he was fired from the project while\nanother draft was created, before unexpectedly being hired back to write what\nwould be the final version. It\u2019s a revealing talk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Additionally, a video essay goes over why 1997 was a pivotal\nyear in Japanese cinema. It seems that with a few exceptions, domestic\naudiences had largely been shunning their own movies. Around this time, things\nchanged significantly as new filmmakers were receiving acclaim from\ninternational film festivals. This year saw Princess Mononoke, Shall We\nDance<\/em> (also starring Koji Yakusho), The Eel<\/em> and many others\n(including big J-horror titles) becoming major successes abroad and at home,\nrevitalizing the industry. You\u2019ll also learn about a few more noteworthy\nJapanese features worth hunting down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A trailer for the film is also included.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Eel <\/em>is a very strong, quirky drama with humorous\nbeats that introduces a deeply disturbed character and puts him on a redemption\npath. It doesn\u2019t go all the way and make this process simple or earnest to a\nfault, adding a sense of realism to the proceedings. The cast are excellent and\nthe subtle uses of humor land effectively. This Blu-ray itself is also a\nwinner, presenting an improved image and enlightening extras that provide a\ndeeper understanding of the picture and the state of cinema in Japan during this\nperiod. The release is well worth checking out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This \u201cLimited Edition\u201d Blu-ray from Radiance Films will be available for purchase on April 15th. Back in 1997, the Japanese film The Eel made a big impression at the Cannes Film Festival. So much so that this little movie received the Palme d\u2019Or from the festival Jury (along with the Iranian picture Taste of Cherry). […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":31034,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[132,1851,2923,2928,2944,2966,3073,6251,10385,11872,15667,16584,20575,20576,20577],"class_list":["post-31023","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dvdblu-ray-reviews","tag-132","tag-arthouse","tag-blasts-from-the-past","tag-blasts-from-the-past-blu-ray-review","tag-blasts-from-the-past-blu-ray-review-the-eel","tag-blasts-from-the-past-the-eel","tag-blu-ray-review","tag-drama","tag-japan","tag-koji-yakusho","tag-palme-dor","tag-radiance-films","tag-the-eel","tag-the-eel-blu-ray-review","tag-the-eel-review"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31023","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=31023"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31023\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=31023"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=31023"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=31023"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}