Synopsis
A newly unemployed salaryman meets a particularly sexual woman.
2001 ‘赤い橋の下のぬるい水’ Directed by Shōhei Imamura
A newly unemployed salaryman meets a particularly sexual woman.
Akai hashi no shita no nurui mizu, Agua tibia bajo un puente rojo, De l'eau tiède sous un pont rouge
Japanese movies understand how to use sex in movies. They come in all forms. According to the subject matter at hand it is given a proper metaphor. Shohei Immamura's final film is a strange oddity. Have you ever heard of a movie which centers around ejaculation? On the other hand there is nothing degrading about it. The director showcases it to depict the lustful nature which we all desire and crave every second of the day. It's funny,seductive,has gloomy frames and is touching in ample doses. The movie is more than physical relationships with another human being. It is the attachment we all want with someone special.
Imamura's El Dorado, where an important artist can't help but sprint back to the comforting scenarios and rhythms of a previous success, armed with an acknowledgement of such that opens the door for that late master paradox of a heightened simplicity and vitality. I don't think that El Dorado is better than Rio Bravo, but this is much greater than The Eel, expanding those slight charms and poignancies into something much more immersed and felt. One of the great last films, and funny as all hell.
Warm Water Under A Red Bridge (2001) is one of Shohei Imamura's last films, it was made when he was 75. His later phase of film making is much quirkier than the films he made in his prime. This film reunites Imamura with Koji Yakusho and Misa Shimizu from his previous success and Palm D'Or winner The Eel. Thematically it is a continuation of themes Imamura has pursued throughout his career with a focus on the animal and primal aspects of humanity, which always includes sexuality. He is critical of the artificial structures of society that limit humanity. Yousuke (Yakusho) is a salaryman who has been restructured with a wife and son living in another town that are never seen.…
What a glorious finish for Imamura, one of my most favorite directors. There’s so much warmth and a general love for his characters, as strange as their proclivities or behaviors are, and it shows through. Not one bit of condescension in his direction. Similar to The Eel, there’s a late-life kind of gentleness to the film regardling lifelong happiness, which generally was counter to his previous cynicism. Loved it, and the humor, which is surprisingly not tacky at all. B+
Reuniting a majority of the cast from “The Eel”, “Warm Water Under a Red Bridge” is a unique tale to say the least. Spurred on by the knowledge that a golden Buddha statue is hidden in a house, unemployed Yosuke (Koji Yakusho) travels to the town looking for it. Instead of wealth, he finds lonely Saeko (Misa Shimizu) living in the house…. A woman who literally fills up with water and whose only release point is either shoplifting or impetuous sex. As his final film, “Warm Water Under a Red Bridge” offers all the usual for Imamura as marginal characters of the town inhabit their own stories and weave into the main narrative. Still, it’s a film that feels flat and lifeless and whimsical to no avail.
In some ways, I see Warm Water Under a Red Bridge as a Japanese version of Amélie. Both have their fair share of whimsy, the bizarre and are enjoyable romantic comedy dramas.
Of course, being Japanese, it had to be taken a little bit further. The main female character is prone to extreme female ejaculation and when it flows into the nearby river it attracts fish, much to the local fishermen's delight. It sounds absolutely insane but somehow it fits into the story quite nicely (after the completely unexpected first time).
Overall, it's just a gentle, laid-back film about finding happiness and deciding what's most important in life. The characters are as colourful as the scenery and both work together to make the film a triumph.
The layoff gives you a good chance to sit and think. The real meaning of freedom is to think for yourself and reach your own conclusion. One that will make you happy.
And what if I blow my brain without reaching a conclusion?
Then it's in the hands of the ghosts.
Freaky, surrealist fun sex comedy. What does it mean? I dunno but it was a fun, introspective watch.
What did I just watch? Expires from Hulu TONIGHT, so watch fast.
And with that, I've finally watched all of the films expiring my Hulu queue!!
A quaint swansong for Imamura. The idea of a woman's ejaculate giving new life to a river's ecosystem is actually kind of beautiful if absurd. It doesn't go anywhere but its aimlessness is certainly part and parcel for a rumination on happiness from a filmmaker at the end of his life.
Lo mejor
-Surrealismo sin complejos adornado de poesía.
-Tierna y agradable.
Lo peor
-Muchas ideas argumentales que parecen no ir a ninguna parte.
-Se hace un pelín larga.
In some ways, I see Warm Water Under a Red Bridge as a Japanese version of Amélie. Both have their fair share of whimsy, the bizarre and are enjoyable romantic comedy dramas.
Of course, being Japanese, it had to be taken a little bit further. The main female character is prone to extreme female ejaculation and when it flows into the nearby river it attracts fish, much to the local fishermen's delight. It sounds absolutely insane but somehow it fits into the story quite nicely (after the completely unexpected first time).
Overall, it's just a gentle, laid-back film about finding happiness and deciding what's most important in life. The characters are as colourful as the scenery and both work together to make the film a triumph.
Kind of an updating of Profound Desire of the Gods replacing paganism with female ejaculate.
The layoff gives you a good chance to sit and think. The real meaning of freedom is to think for yourself and reach your own conclusion. One that will make you happy.
And what if I blow my brain without reaching a conclusion?
Then it's in the hands of the ghosts.
Freaky, surrealist fun sex comedy. What does it mean? I dunno but it was a fun, introspective watch.
Late, late Imamura on digital video? Oh hells yeah.
Imamura bows out (before the 9/11 short) with a gentle japanese sex comedy with a few differences. The lead cast of The Eel reunites, and runs, wanders and gets lost in environmental issues, male/female roles, mythical fate, family legacies and some existential musings.
As always with Imamura his plot/subject is the working class, women in Japanese society, and the 'lower' part of the body, but it's really the masterful ideas and imagery presented so matter-of-fact that will amaze.
A semi dark joke wrapped in unconventional romance of an ordinary man. That's my conclusion after seeing two works of Imamura. Of course, Unagi is more superior so far.
" -Pra você,eu devo parecer uma vagabunda.
-Você certamente parece. Mas eu não consigo parar de pensar em você.
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