Akai hashi no shita no nurui mizu (2001)

User Rating:

6.8/10   

Director:

Shohei Imamura

Writers:

Yo Henmi (novel)
Shohei Imamura (writer)

Release Date:

3 November 2001 (Japan)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama

Plot:

A down-and-out businessman travels to a seaside town, where he meets a woman with unusual sexual powers.

Plot Keywords:

Water | Bridge | Bum | Racism | Black Comedy

Awards:

1 win & 2 nominations

Cast

Kôji Yakusho	...	Yosuke Sasano
Misa Shimizu	...	Saeko Aizawa
Mitsuko Baisho	...	Mitsu Aizawa
Mansaku Fuwa	...	Gen
Isao Natsuyagi	...	Masayuki Uomi
Yukiya Kitamura	...	Shintaro Uomi
Hijiri Kojima	...	Mika Tagami
Toshie Negishi	...	Tomoko Sasano
Sumiko Sakamoto	...	Masako Yamada
Gadarukanaru Taka	...	Taizo Tachibana
Mickey Curtis	...	Nobuyuki Ohnishi
Takao Yamada	...	Kazuo Namamura
Katsuo Nakamura	...	Takao Yamada
Kazuo Kitamura	...	Taro

Also Known As:

De l'eau tiède sous un pont rouge (France)
Warm Water Under a Red Bridge (International: English title)

Runtime:

Argentina:122 min (Mar del Plata Film Festival) | France:119 min | UK:119 min

Country:

Japan | France

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

South Korea:18 | UK:15 | Argentina:13 | Australia:MA | Brazil:18 | France:U | Hong Kong:IIB | Japan:R-15 | Netherlands:12 | Spain:13 | Switzerland:14 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:14 (canton of Vaud)

Company:

BAP Inc.

strange elements effortlessly weaved together

Imamura does here what Neil Jordan does in Crying Game; he takes two seemingly incongruous elements, fetishistic sexual obsession and contemporary socio-political malaise, and weaves them effortlessly together. Imamura's rigorously geometric framing contrasts with the feathery- light content of the tale. Having said that, there are some gritty moments here; a drowning born of insanity is rendered in stark black-and-white, and the social plight of Japan's cast-aside middle-aged salarymen is emblematically captured in Yakusho's performance. However, at heart this is a fun movie that surprises and delights. It is all about the mise-en-scene, perfectly delivered each time by Imamura and the principles. The film does flag at the end; it felt like they opted to go for melodrama purely because the allotted time was running out. The previous two acts make up for that third-act missed beat. One gripe is that the edition I bought had no Extras apart from the theatrical trailer. I would have liked a Making Of to confirm my suspicion that this film was as much fun to make as it is to watch. It must have been murder for cast and crew to keep a straight face during those venting scenes...