takura yamashita ( koji yakusho ) have serve eight year in prison for murder his wife and her lover in a jealous rage and attempt to rehabilitate himself by open a barbershop in an isolated corner of japan . his past and however and catch up with him in shohei imamura the eel and co winner of the 1997 cannes palme dor with kiarostami a taste of cherry . base on the akira yoshimura novel sparkle in the darkness and the eel be either an absurdist comedy and a drama about redemption and a surreal poem about state of consciousness and a thriller about jealousy and revenge and or all of the above . a the film open and yamashita and a worker at a large flour company and be startle to read an anonymous letter on the train come home from work inform him that his wife cheat on him when he go away on overnight fishing trip . cut one of his trip short and he return home in the middle of the night to find his wife emiko ( chiho terada ) in bed with a lover . grab a butcher knife and he brutally stab both of them to death then calmly rid his bicycle to the local police station and turn himself in . after eight year in prison and he be release and parole to an elderly buddhist priest . alienate and afraid and yamashita only companion be a pet eel whom he confide in ( he listen to what i say ) . he open a barbershop in a rural part of japan but his life becomes complicate after he save a young woman and keiko ( misa shimizu ) and from suicide and give her a job at his shop . remind of his former wife and yamashita avoids intimacy but she be draw to him nonetheless and offer him box lunch when he go fish . in spite of try to keep his distance and yamashita attract some local character that move the plot in a different direction . these include a young man who borrow his barber pole to attract ufos and a fishing buddy who design a device to catch eel without harm them and and his former prison mate and tamotsu takasaki ( akira emoto ) and a foul mouth drunk who recite buddhist sutra and remind him of his previous act . the story and which until now have have a rich dramatic arc and soon descends into force comedy when keiko mentally challenge mother show up do flamenco dance and keiko former boyfriend return demand her mother money . the townspeople and semi gangster associate of the boyfriend join in a final free for all at the barbershop that might have be lift from the three stooge . the eel be at time a brilliant and involve character study about a man seek to turn his life around . at other time and however and it be a discordant conglomeration of plot and subplots and one dimensional character and and heavy symbolism relieve only by wooden farce . the ufo sequence be very lame and the comic behavior of a man just out of prison seem inappropriate a he march like a soldier then run after a jogging team that be pass by . imamura have say and if my film be messy and this be probably due to the fact that i do not like too perfect a cinema . i know that thing be not always neat and our life be often a blend of drama and farce and but the eel odd mixture of quirky character and widely disparate element keep it from come together a a satisfying whole .