Akai hashi no shita no nurui mizu

This film is not a as good as Imamura's "The Eel", but is hauntingly memorable. The plot leaves a bit to be desired ,but the characters and the situations are engaging and intriguing. Like "The Eel" the film is populated by people outside of mainstream society, misfits and "losers", but all the more endearing for it. The film is full of memorable vignettes, the fishermen by the river, the couple who run the guest-house, the family run fishing business and the African runner. All of these characters and situations have hand in the transformation of the central character's transformation from unhappy salaryman, trapped by mainstream society, to an outsider with a new found freedom. This and "The Eel" have similar qualities to the films of Julio Medem. A sort of Japanese magical realism.