Matt Cooper Films

The Insect Woman (1963) by Shohei Imamura

The film tells the story of Tome (Sachiko Hidari), a girl born to a poor farming community in 1918. Tome’s upbringing is unconventional and difficult as she finds it hard to break away from the same problems of her parent’s generation. The story then moves to the second world war which finds Tome working at a factory, having children as she tries to lead a normal life. Post-war Japan sees Tome finding work in the city at a brothel. Tome’s life is packed with misfortune as she sees the worst of Japanese society.

The film deals with many difficult issues such as incest and prostitution and we see a shift from rural to urban focus in society, as people move from the countryside to find work, though still with the same sins and desires permeating and driving the characters. The film is well-written and we get an insight into the protagonists life and outlook through Tome’s interactions with a variety of characters, from family to colleagues. Fantastic acting and engaging dialogue drive the story on. The music is ominous, reflecting the darkness of the character’s lives.

“The Insect Woman” does not shrink from portraying a dark vision of Japanese life. At its heart it is a film about sin and attempting to escape from it while trying to do your best in a harsh world. The strong female protagonist battles on despite being seemingly punished for her own and others indiscretions.

Matt Cooper Films

Warm Water Under a Red Bridge (2001) by Shohei Imamura

Koji Yakusho stars as Yosuke Sasano, a man who has recently lost his job at a large company. After speaking to a homeless man, he learns of a treasure that was left behind when the man left another town some years before. The treasure is to be found in a house by a red bridge. Yosuke sets off to find the treasure for the man, being told that if he finds it he can sell it and keep the profits (the man only wants to know what happened to the treasure). When he arrives, he meets Saeko Aizawa, played by Misa Shimizu. The woman suffers from a peculiar condition which means that she feels herself filling with water. The only way to alleviate her discomfort is by shoplifting, or having sex, which causes the water to leak or gush out of her like a geyser. Soon Yosuke’s mission to find the treasure is forgotten as he becomes enamoured of Saeko, deciding to remain in the town, beginning a new life with her, and taking up a role aboard a fishing vessel.

Shohei Imamura won plaudits for his film “The Eel”, and “Warm Water under a Red Bridge” sees the writer-director again ploughing his own unique furrow. The film is a curious mix, with mystery, romantic drama and sex comedy thrown in. This sense of wrong-footing the audience pervades everything, and you are never sure whether you are watching farce or philosophy. Koji Yakusho and Misa Shimizu navigate their way through the genres, crafting believable characters in unbelievable situations. The film centres on sex and is humorously explicit while never being obscene in its depiction. The fountains of water spraying everywhere comically undercut the drama and create a sense of joy through humour that captures the emotion of love in a way that few films manage. Other characters, the three fishermen at the bridge, the marathon runner, and Koji’s workmates help to fill out a world that seems to be full of quirky individuals. The musical accompaniment by Shinichiro Ikebe is full of odd percussion and synthesisers, slipping from unnerving as Koji explores the unusual town, to comical as he gets entangled in ever more bizarre situations.

Trying to understand “Warm Water under a Red Bridge” is quite a challenge. It is a film that subverts expectations again and again, drifting from serious to ridiculous (often in the space of a single scene). It is a film that discusses the relationship between lust, sex and love. Yosuke is a man who is smitten with Saeko. Their passionate relationship is built around the sex, but the film asks what lies beneath this and what love is. Yosuke is also given good advice by his friend who tells him to stop overthinking things and to basically do whatever makes you feel good. This idea of seeking after personal satisfaction is one that pervades the film. Saeko is likewise a woman who is struggling to satiate her desires, and fills the emotional emptiness by stealing. The marathon runner, the fishermen, everyone is either waiting for something, searching or working towards some goal that is of the utmost importance to them. Yosuke is at first on the hunt for money, treasure, financial reward, and his journey of self-discovery is one that will lead him to the answer of what he is truly searching for.

Matt Cooper Films

The Eel (1997)

After murdering his wife following the discovery of her affair, Takuro Yamashita (Koji Yakusho) hands himself into the police. Eight years later he is released from jail on probation, with a monk and his wife agreeing to be his person of contact. Yamashita starts on his journey to rebuild his life, setting up a barber shop. He has a pet eel, that he was allowed to keep in the jail and whom is the only creature he feels able to confide in. Despite attempts to stay out of trouble, he soon bumps into Keiko Hattori (Misa Shimizu) who has attempted to end her life. She is also trying to escape from her past and joins Yamashita as assistant at his barber shop. Yamashita is also surrounded by a selection of other unusual characters, fellow ex-convicts, flashy businessmen, and a young man who is attempting to communicate with UFOs.

“The Eel” opens with a shocking murder. Yamashita finds his wife engaged with her lover and the bloody slaying is a startling sequence that intentionally provokes strong feelings. What follows is a strikingly tame drama,as we watch Yamashita, now released from jail come to terms with what he has done. The story is based on a novel by Akira Yoshimura with a screenplay by Daisuke Tengan, Motofumi Tomikawa, and director Shohei Imamura. Imamura gives us a warts-and-all portrait of Japan, with untidy streets and run-down buildings. This clear-eyed worldview continues in his portrayal of the characters. Takuro Yamashita and Keiko Hattori are both flawed individuals, having made bad decisions, however understandable, and the film underscores both positive and negative aspects of humanity. The film includes a number of more off-beat moments, such as the character hoping to attract UFOs, that add an unusual flavour to the foreground crime drama. The score by Shinichiro Ikebe is a great compliment to the drama, an oddly lilting tune that plays throughout,sometimes as a sinister dirge, at other times a more darkly comic riff. This is in keeping with the film itself that balances the brutal realism of the opening, with exquisitely shot sequences of characters drifting down stream in the early morning, and also with the more mundane every day sequences of work.It is a world that is full of contradictions and populated with brilliant performances by the main cast and great supporting roles including Tomorowo Taguchi and Show Aikawa.

“The Eel” deals with trust, jealousy, forgiveness, regret and redemption. Following the explosive opening sequences the plot settles down into a contemplative mood and we are brought along with Yamashita as he tries to piece together his life following his sentence. The normalcy of his life post-release sits in stark contrast to the murder and begs the question of whether it is possible to fully move on from such a crime. The film also has the feel of a modern fable, with the eel being representative of Yamashita,first in being trapped in its tank, and later in the peculiar life-cycle coming to represent his own situation.

Matt Cooper Films

The Insect Woman (1963)

 

The film tells the story of Tome, a girl born to a poor farming community in 1918. Tome’s upbringing is unconventional and difficult as she finds it hard to break away from the same problems of her parents generation. The story then moves to the second world war which finds Tome working at a factory, having children as she tries to lead a normal life. Post-war Japan sees Tome finding work in the city at a brothel. Tome’s life is packed with incidence as she sees the worst of Japanese society.

The film deals with many difficult issues such as incest and prostitution and we see a shift from rural to urban focus in society, though still with the same sins and desires permeating and driving the characters. The dialogue is well-written and we get an insight into the protagonists life and outlook through her interactions with a variety of characters, from family to colleagues. Fantastic acting and engaging dialogue drive the story on. The music is ominous, reflecting the darkness of the characters lives.

Although made in the sixties the film doesn’t shrink from portraying a dark vision of Japanese life. At its heart it is a film about sin and attempting to escape from it while trying to do your best in a harsh world. The strong female protagonist battles on despite being seemingly punished for her own and others indiscretions.