Shohei Imamura has often been labeled the “anthropologist of the Japanese.” While he has covered a number of characters and themes throughout his work, guilt in all its forms is perhaps the most significant issue. Whether we are speaking of historical guilt, as in “Black Rain,” how guilt creates social pressure, as in “The Insect Woman,” or how a culture deals with someone who is obviously amoral and violent, like the protagonist in “Vengeance Is Mine,” guilt is one of the overarching themes of Imamura’s impressive body of work.

In “The Eel,” which may serve as a companion piece to “Vengeance Is Mine,” this concept defines the central character’s life and thus becomes a trauma. Apart from showing the protagonist’s personal struggle, Imamura also sheds light on how the people around him deal with and support him, emphasizing how society can be a help or an additional burden when it comes to a person struggling to come to terms with the violence within himself.

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When Takuro Yamashita (Koji Yakusho) receives a letter about his wife’s adultery, he decides to find out for himself. As he returns home early from a fishing trip, he indeed finds his wife having sex with another man. Takuro snaps, fetches a kitchen knife, and stabs his wife and her lover repeatedly. After the deed is done, he turns himself in at the local police station, where he is taken into custody. While her lover ultimately survives the attack, Takuro’s wife bleeds to death.

After having served eight years in prison, Takuro is set free and tries to start a new life in a quiet coastal town. His only companion is an eel he managed to catch while serving his sentence. Unable to talk to most people, including his parole officer, he confesses his fears and emotions to the animal, resulting in estranged reactions from the people he encounters.

However, as he opens a barber shop and becomes more acquainted with the town’s inhabitants, he opens up a little and even makes a few friends. When he prevents a young woman named Keiko (Misa Shimizu) from committing suicide, she becomes attached to him. With the memory of his crime and his guilt still fresh in his mind, Takuro is unsure how he is supposed to deal with this new relationship.

“The Eel” is a story about a person unable to vent his feelings of guilt and self-loathing. Before his crime, Takuro was an unassuming husband and salaryman, with fishing being his only real passion in life – or at least, so it seems. His crime and subsequent guilt transform him into a reclusive man, searching for a way to avoid other people as much as possible while confessing his inner thoughts only to his eel.

Even though there are many ways the film’s core metaphor can be understood, Imamura’s strongest attribute is how he never relies on one-dimensional psychology to explain the main character. Similar to the people around Takuro, we are also left in the dark when it comes to how he has dealt with the repercussions of his terrible crime and how he managed to form an emotional connection with an eel of all creatures. Whereas, in the eyes of the authorities, he has atoned for what he did, Takuro certainly does not feel the same way and remains unable to communicate his struggles through interaction with another human being. As he no longer fits the norm as a former offender, he is pushed to the outskirts of society to live out his days, although his psychological struggle is far from over.

As a post-bubble-era feature, “The Eel” is yet another plea to get rid of old-fashioned ideals and to engage in a more honest conversation about the past. Especially in the later released director’s cut, the story takes much more time exploring Takuro’s various interactions with the people around him: a priest, a UFO fanatic, a local Casanova, and a fisherman named Jukichi (played by Makoto Sato). Aside from following the central character’s gradual integration into his environment, we learn about different people, their struggles, and how they have learned to cope with their various social anxieties, resulting in them often being treated as outcasts or even “freaks” in one case. Especially the scenes with Sato’s character play an integral role within the story, with Takuro learning to interact with others and speak about his past, allowing himself perhaps to have another chance in life, despite a guilt that will never fully cease.

While this is not the first major role for actor Koji Yakusho, his performance as Takuro in “The Eel” stands as one of his most emotionally gripping. In keeping with the aforementioned approach, Yakusho does not rely on expressive gestures or overt displays of emotion, as he astutely understands that Takuro’s situation speaks for itself. Similarly, Misa Shimizu’s performance matches his restrained understanding of the central character, with both having to cope with experiences they cannot speak openly about. A seemingly throwaway conversation about adding flowers to the otherwise sterile interior of the barbershop becomes much more meaningful, as both characters attempt to regain trust in the world while simultaneously avoiding becoming too emotionally attached.

“The Eel” is a brilliant drama about the challenges of facing guilt and atoning for a past crime. Shohei Imamura tells a subtle story about two people being granted a second chance in life and the emotional repercussions that ensue, benefiting greatly from outstanding performances by Koji Yakusho and Misa Shimizu.