{ "id": "epdpfz6h61", "slug": "unagi-1997-film", "title": "Unagi (1997 film)", "updated": "2026-11-01", "topic_path": [ { "id": "culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture" }, { "id": "culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical", "label": "Drama and biographical films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical.drama-films-1990s", "label": "Drama films 1990s", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical.drama-films-1990s" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical.drama-films-1990s.drama-films-late-1990s", "label": "Drama films late 1990s", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical.drama-films-1990s.drama-films-late-1990s" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical.drama-films-1990s.drama-films-late-1990s.yr-1995-1998", "label": "Released 1995 to 1998", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical.drama-films-1990s.drama-films-late-1990s.yr-1995-1998" } ], "geo": [ { "id": "geo.asia.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical.drama-films-1990s", "label": "Asia (other) · 1946 to 2000: Drama films 1990s", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical.drama-films-1990s", "path": [ { "id": "geo.asia", "label": "Asia (other)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t1946", "label": "Asia (other) · 1946 to 2000", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t1946" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t1946.culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t1946.culture" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t1946.culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t1946.culture.performance" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t1946.culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t1946.culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical", "label": "Drama and biographical films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical.drama-films-1990s", "label": "Drama films 1990s", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical.drama-films-1990s" } ] } ], "excerpt": "Unagi (うなぎ, The Eel) is Shohei Imamura's 1997 Japanese drama starring Koji Yakusho, adapted from Akira Yoshimura's novel Yami ni Hirameku; it shared the 1997 Cannes Palme d'Or with Taste of Cherry, Imamura's second after The Ballad of Narayama.", "snippet": "Unagi (うなぎ, The Eel) is Shohei Imamura's 1997 Japanese drama starring Koji Yakusho, adapted from Akira Yoshimura's novel Yami ni Hirameku; it shared the 1997 Cannes Palme d'Or with Taste of Cherry, Imamura's second after The Ballad of Narayama.", "node": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical.drama-films-1990s.drama-films-late-1990s.yr-1995-1998", "markdown": "# Unagi (1997 film)\n\n**Unagi** (うなぎ, released in English as **The Eel**) is a 1997 Japanese drama directed by Shohei Imamura, in which a man paroled after eight years in prison for killing his unfaithful wife rebuilds his life as a barber whose only confidant is a pet eel he kept during his incarceration.[1](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/f/unagi/) It shared the [Palme d'Or](https://www.edgepedia.org/palme-dor) at the 50th Cannes Film Festival with [Abbas Kiarostami](https://www.edgepedia.org/abbas-kiarostami)'s *Taste of Cherry*, giving Imamura his second Palme d'Or after *[The Ballad of Narayama](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-ballad-of-narayama-1983-film)* (1983).[1](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/f/unagi/) • [2](https://eiga.com/movie/34922/) • [3](https://www.criterionchannel.com/videos/the-eel)\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Director / country | Shohei Imamura; Japan, 1997[1](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/f/unagi/) |\n| Source material | Akira Yoshimura's novel *Yami ni Hirameku* (闇にひらめく, \"Glistening in the Dark\")[2](https://eiga.com/movie/34922/) |\n| Screenplay | Motofumi Tomikawa, Daisuke Tengan, and Imamura[4](https://www.kinenote.com/main/public/cinema/detail.aspx?cinema_id=30516) |\n| Cannes | Palme d'Or (ex-aequo), 50th Festival, 1997[1](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/f/unagi/) |\n| Japan release | 24 May 1997; 117 minutes; distributed by Shochiku = Shochiku Fuji[2](https://eiga.com/movie/34922/) |\n| Lead cast | Koji Yakusho (Takuro Yamashita), Misa Shimizu (Keiko Hattori)[1](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/f/unagi/) |\n| Japanese honors | Kinema Junpo Best Ten first place for 1997; multiple 21st Japan Academy Prizes including Best Director and Best Actor[2](https://eiga.com/movie/34922/) |\n\n## Spoilers\n\n### Plot\n\nIn the summer of 1988, office worker Takuro Yamashita receives an anonymous letter denouncing his wife's affair; after witnessing the infidelity himself, he kills her in a rage and turns himself in to the police.[5](https://iffr.com/en/iffr/1998/films/unagi) • [2](https://eiga.com/movie/34922/) The story proper begins when he is released on parole eight years later. Placed under the supervision of a Buddhist priest in a small town by the Tone River in [Chiba Prefecture](https://www.edgepedia.org/chiba-prefecture), he opens a small barber shop, avoids contact with his neighbors, and speaks almost only to the eel he befriended in prison.[5](https://iffr.com/en/iffr/1998/films/unagi) • [2](https://eiga.com/movie/34922/)\n\nOne day, gathering food for the eel on the riverbank, he finds Keiko Hattori unconscious after taking a large dose of sleeping pills in a suicide attempt. He saves her, and the priest's wife presses him into hiring her at the shop despite his reluctance.[2](https://eiga.com/movie/34922/) Keiko, who carries wounds of her own, including ties to a financial company co-owner and lover, Dojima, and a mentally ill mother, gradually brightens the shop and softens Takuro.[2](https://eiga.com/movie/34922/) A former prison acquaintance, Takasaki, appears and harasses Takuro, revealing his criminal past to Keiko and posting scurrilous notices at the shop.[2](https://eiga.com/movie/34922/) When Keiko, pregnant with Dojima's child, leaves to settle her affairs and returns, Dojima tries to take back her money and drag her away; Takuro, knowingly risking a return to prison, protects her from Dojima. Sent back to prison over the incident, he resolves, through the human connections he has regained, to accept Keiko and her unborn child and to go on living.[2](https://eiga.com/movie/34922/)\n\n## Production\n\n*Unagi* was Imamura's first feature in eight years, following *Black Rain* (1989).[5](https://iffr.com/en/iffr/1998/films/unagi) The screenplay adapts Yoshimura's novel and was written jointly by Motofumi Tomikawa, Daisuke Tengan, and Imamura himself.[4](https://www.kinenote.com/main/public/cinema/detail.aspx?cinema_id=30516) During production the project carried the title *Yami ni Hirameku*, matching the source novel; Imamura changed it to *Unagi* shortly before the production announcement, telling producer Kazuyoshi Okuyama that he preferred the shorter title.[6](https://2018.tiff-jp.net/news/ja/?p=50931)\n\nThe crew included cinematographer Shigeru Komatsubara, composer Shinichiro Ikebe, and editor Hajime Okayasu.[1](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/f/unagi/) Production companies included KSS, Satellite Theater, and Groove Corporation, with cooperation from Imamura Productions; distribution in Japan was handled by Shochiku and Shochiku Fuji.[4](https://www.kinenote.com/main/public/cinema/detail.aspx?cinema_id=30516) The film was shot in color on 35 mm at an aspect ratio of 1.85:1.[4](https://www.kinenote.com/main/public/cinema/detail.aspx?cinema_id=30516)\n\n## Cast\n\n- Koji Yakusho as Takuro Yamashita[4](https://www.kinenote.com/main/public/cinema/detail.aspx?cinema_id=30516)\n- Misa Shimizu as Keiko Hattori[4](https://www.kinenote.com/main/public/cinema/detail.aspx?cinema_id=30516)\n- Akira Emoto as Takasaki[4](https://www.kinenote.com/main/public/cinema/detail.aspx?cinema_id=30516)\n- Tomorowo Taguchi as Dojima Eiji[4](https://www.kinenote.com/main/public/cinema/detail.aspx?cinema_id=30516)\n- Fujio Tsuneta as Jiro Nakajima, the priest[4](https://www.kinenote.com/main/public/cinema/detail.aspx?cinema_id=30516)\n- Mitsuko Baisho as Misako Nakajima[4](https://www.kinenote.com/main/public/cinema/detail.aspx?cinema_id=30516)\n- Etsuko Ichihara as Fumie Hattori, Keiko's mother[4](https://www.kinenote.com/main/public/cinema/detail.aspx?cinema_id=30516)\n- Sho Aikawa as Yuji Nozawa[4](https://www.kinenote.com/main/public/cinema/detail.aspx?cinema_id=30516)\n\n## Reception and awards\n\nAt Cannes the film competed for the Palme d'Or and won it ex-aequo, shared with Kiarostami's *Taste of Cherry*.[1](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/f/unagi/) • [3](https://www.criterionchannel.com/videos/the-eel) This made Imamura one of the directors with two Palmes d'Or, joining [Francis Ford Coppola](https://www.edgepedia.org/francis-ford-coppola) and others in that company.[7](https://www.shochiku.co.jp/cinema/history/archive/shochiku-history17/)\n\nIn Japan the film placed first in the 1997 Kinema Junpo Best Ten.[2](https://eiga.com/movie/34922/) At the 21st Japan Academy Prizes (1998) it received Excellence awards for film, screenplay, lead actress, supporting actor, and supporting actresses, and Excellence (top) awards for Director (Imamura), [Screenplay](https://www.edgepedia.org/screenplay), Lead Actor (Yakusho), and Supporting Actress (Baisho), along with technical awards for music, cinematography, lighting, art direction, sound recording, and editing.[2](https://eiga.com/movie/34922/)\n\nOverseas, the film screened at festivals including [Rotterdam](https://www.edgepedia.org/rotterdam) 1998 and San Sebastian 1997.[5](https://iffr.com/en/iffr/1998/films/unagi) • [8](https://www.sansebastianfestival.com/1997/sections_and_films/zabaltegi_festivals_top/7/450036/in) In the United States, New Yorker Films distributed it, and it grossed $413.8 thousand; on Rotten Tomatoes it holds an 83% critics score from 29 reviews and an 81% audience rating.[9](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/eel) Critics noted Imamura's frank treatment of sex and sexuality with an emotional detachment likened to an anthropological study, and [David Stratton](https://www.edgepedia.org/david-stratton), writing in *Variety*, praised the \"rich tapestry of characters and situations\" and the performances of Yakusho and Shimizu.[9](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/eel) • [10](https://miff.com.au/festival-archive/films/21670/the-eel)\n\n## Themes\n\nThe eel functions as the film's central metaphor. Imamura described the story as a portrait of a small community built around an eel that, born in the [Sargasso Sea](https://www.edgepedia.org/sargasso-sea), swims thousands of miles to live in cold mud, an image that mirrors Takuro's wish to withdraw from human society.[5](https://iffr.com/en/iffr/1998/films/unagi) • [10](https://miff.com.au/festival-archive/films/21670/the-eel) In Japan eels are regarded as a vitality-restoring delicacy, a resonance the adaptation keeps in view.[10](https://miff.com.au/festival-archive/films/21670/the-eel) Imamura called his own films \"heavy comedies\" (重喜劇), a coinage he opposed to light comedy, arguing that laughter can be grounded in a truthful, weighty depiction of human beings; *Unagi* is an example of this approach, a human comedy about a man whose distrust of others is broken down by ordinary encounters.[2](https://eiga.com/movie/34922/) • [7](https://www.shochiku.co.jp/cinema/history/archive/shochiku-history17/) Imamura said he made the film because he wanted to understand \"the unique workings of this man's thoughts.\"[10](https://miff.com.au/festival-archive/films/21670/the-eel)\n\n## Later availability\n\nThe film was released on a Radiance Films limited-edition Blu-ray in the United States on 25 March 2025, with interviews with critic Tony Rayns and screenwriter Daisuke Tengan and a visual essay by Tom Mes on 1997 as a turning point in Japanese cinema.[11](https://www.criterionforum.org/video/the-eel-radiance-films-limited-edition-blu-ray) It has also streamed on the Criterion Channel and Netflix.[3](https://www.criterionchannel.com/videos/the-eel) • [12](https://www.netflix.com/title/70023759)\n\n## References\n\n1. [UNAGI, Festival de Cannes](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/f/unagi/)\n2. [うなぎ（1997）, 映画.com](https://eiga.com/movie/34922/)\n3. [The Eel, The Criterion Channel](https://www.criterionchannel.com/videos/the-eel)\n4. [うなぎ(1997), KINENOTE](https://www.kinenote.com/main/public/cinema/detail.aspx?cinema_id=30516)\n5. [Unagi, International Film Festival Rotterdam 1998](https://iffr.com/en/iffr/1998/films/unagi)\n6. [「今村さんは人間が大好き」トークショー『うなぎ』, 第31回東京国際映画祭](https://2018.tiff-jp.net/news/ja/?p=50931)\n7. [松竹の映画製作の歴史 Part17, 松竹株式会社](https://www.shochiku.co.jp/cinema/history/archive/shochiku-history17/)\n8. [Unagi / The Eel, San Sebastian Film Festival 1997](https://www.sansebastianfestival.com/1997/sections_and_films/zabaltegi_festivals_top/7/450036/in)\n9. [The Eel, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/eel)\n10. [The Eel, MIFF Film Archive](https://miff.com.au/festival-archive/films/21670/the-eel)\n11. [The Eel, Radiance Films Limited Edition Blu-ray, Criterion Forum](https://www.criterionforum.org/video/the-eel-radiance-films-limited-edition-blu-ray)\n12. [The Eel, Netflix](https://www.netflix.com/title/70023759)\n\n---\n*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Drama and biographical films (individual works) › Drama films 1990s › Drama films late 1990s › Released 1995 to 1998*\n\n*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n", "same_as": [], "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/unagi-1997-film", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/unagi-1997-film.md", "license": { "name": "Edgepedia Community License 1.0", "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license", "summary": "Free with credit, commercial use included. AI training is open to everyone. For other uses, organizations over USD 100M in revenue or 100M monthly users license separately.", "spdx": "LicenseRef-Edgepedia-Community-1.0" }, "credit": "\"Unagi (1997 film)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/unagi-1997-film. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[Unagi (1997 film)](https://www.edgepedia.org/unagi-1997-film)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/unagi-1997-film](https://www.edgepedia.org/unagi-1997-film). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"Unagi (1997 film)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/unagi-1997-film. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "Unagi is Shohei Imamura's 1997 Japanese drama starring Koji Yakusho, adapted from Akira Yoshimura's novel Yami ni Hirameku; it shared the 1997 Cannes Palme d'Or with Taste of Cherry, Imamura's second after The Ballad of Narayama." }