Água Quente Sob uma Ponte Vermelha

I was eager to see WARM WATER UNDER A RED BRIDGE - from the description on the back of the DVD I wasn't really expecting this to be THE EEL or BLACK RAIN but if it's junk, it is very well-crafted junk. The story (well commented upon below) is quirky/kinky and provocative, which is well-handled, and a few scenes were hilarious. The cinematography is beautiful - Imamura's films always have a very striking look, and on this front this film doesn't disappoint. WARM WATER... has a strong 'magic realist' quality - more than anything it reminded me a bit of some of Gabriel Garcia-Marquez' novels (if only Imamura had stuck in a failed insurgency or a grandmother floating into the sky). I didn't always know what to make of it - the mix of realism, quirkiness, kink, cuteness, humor, small-town mundanity and erotic strangeness all taken at once made me wonder what if anything Imamura might be trying to say (aside from the fact that reality can be strange and life doesn't fit so neatly into compartments). So - no masterpiece, but fans of Imamura won't want to miss it.

This movie definitely had some flaws, not-so slight repetitiveness being the most glaring. However, I give it an 8, because the more I think about it, the more I like it.

If there has ever been a more effulgent, effluvient celebration of feminine sexuality on screen, I haven't seen it.

Seemingly infantile at first, the film continues to mature in my estimation. For instance, when the granddaughter confronts the salary man with her belief that he's only with her because she satisfies his kink, it comes across quite clearly as the primal scream erupting from that nagging "You only want me because fill-in-your-own-neuroses" doubt that most woman have felt in many relationships, at least fleetingly.

There are several such moments in the movie, but it is more of a fantasy romp than a psychological study or feminist manifesto, so I'll leave it there.

Good fun, attractive leads, check it out.

In many ways this is a distinctively Imamura's film. It contains many of the themes characteristic of his oeuvre: His obsession with sex, women and Japanese mythology. WWURB's story somehow mirrors Unagi. The main character of both films, a salariman, for different reasons end up leaving the city for the countryside and establish a relationship with strange women and with the peculiar villagers. But these similarities can also be applied to any of his other films. With a persistent disregard for a clear and logical narrative, many of his films amount to anecdotes and observations made by the characters, some of them appearing and disappearing inexplicably. Take as example the Insect Woman or The Pornographers in the 60s or the historical films Zegen and Eijanaika that he made in the 80s. Imamura has portrayed sex, in most of his films, as something positive even beneficial and in several ones he has acknowledged incest (Insect Woman, The Pornographers and The Profound Desired of the Gods) as part of traditional rural Japan without criticising it. In WWURB Taro (Kitamura Kazuo), the homeless who Yosuke (Yakusho Koji), recently unemployed, befriends seems to be Imamura's alter ego. He advises Yosuke to have sex as much as he can as long as he can keep his instrument up and explains of the beneficial (physically and mentally) qualities of sex and its importance throughout the history of humanity. Sex is closely linked with nature and being suggested as the main essence of life. The film also points to the power of women, so the enormous amount of water produced by Saeko (Shimizu Misa), when having sex with Yosuke, that falls in the river seems to be so rich that attracts fish and seagulls. Saeko's body fluids can also the solution for the purification of the contaminated river. An attempt to cure the river was made by her mother, the village's shaman but was ostracised by the villagers for her use of unscientific methods. Eventually she drowned in the river when trying to perform a ritual. Saeko's grandmother Mitsu (Mitsuko Baisho) seems to possess some sort of clairvoyant power. The conflict between, and eventual loss of, ancestral beliefs (pre-Shinto and pre-Buddhist culture) and modern Japan is also another important characteristic of Imamura's work. In early Japan women, as some were actually shamans, took an active role in religious, social and political matters. Things changed with the advent of Buddhism (religion) and Confucianism (politics and social ethics).

Yosuke is warned by some villagers that he will dry up and lose his vital essence if he keeps on having his sexual encounters with Saeko. He is an outsider from modern Japan, Tokyo, who gets involved with women that represent primitive Japan, a Japan of sexual freedom, finally accepting their customs and beliefs. As Taro tells Yosuke "Drown yourself in a woman's arms, be faithful to your desires without worrying about daily cares." In this sense he is like Kariya, an engineer from Tokyo, who goes to Kurage, a Southern island of Japan, in "The Profound 'Desire' of the Gods". He is believed to be a "god from overseas" by the island's community. After showing little concern for local customs and traditions he marries Toriko, a retarded young woman who epitomised primitive Japan, all sexual freedom, and sister of the island's shaman. So WWURB is certainly a charming, sometimes funny, sometimes kinky film but that lacks the power, challenge and innovation of Imamura's previous films. Certainly the ones made before Black Rain (Kuroi Ame). Still it is worth pointing out that the issue of sex doesn't seem to be a major concern for younger Japanese filmmakers with the exception of Miike Takashi (with his special way of dealing with the subject) and I cannot remember of any sex scene in any of the films I have seen by these directors.

I must admit to discovering Imamora only recently. He has all the vivid cinematic detail, the edginess of Oshima, and the humor of Itami; but he is a unique and original master of Japanese cinema. I am delighted that a film like this is even available in America. And, I am not surprised that there have been people here who proclaim it to be a 'silly film.' The film is a great surreal satire. It examines the ridiculous nature of male sexuality, and how we as men are motivated by our fears that one day well 'our little soldier won't be able to salute.' I loved the scene where the title character outruns an African long distance runner so he can meet up with the nymphomaniac shoplifter who he has started to have relations with even though he knows very little about her. I love the way birds and fish are used to symbolize fear and desire. This is an intoxicating film. I saw "The Pornogaphers" earlier this year, and it is a delight to see that a brilliant filmmaker has not lost his touch, not remotely!

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.