Warm Water Under a Red Bridge
by Shohei Imamura
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Isao Natsuyagi, Kôji Yakusho, Mansaku Fuwa, Misa Shimizu, Mitsuko BaishoDirector: Shohei Imamura
Brand: Image Entertainment
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Subtitled); Japanese (Original Language), Unknown
Format: Anamorphic, Color, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 119 minutes
Published: 2003-06-01
DVD Release Date: 2003-06-24
Audience Rating: Unrated
Studio: Home Vision Entertainment
Movie Reviews of Warm Water Under a Red Bridge
Movie Review: to touch, to taste; she flows like a river
Summary: 5 Stars
This film looks beautiful. The colours are so bright and vibrant, they make the setting look unreal. This impression is even stronger when the camera stays absolutely still, like for instance in that one shot of the elevator coming down to the laboratory. Every surface looks perfectly smooth, it's like the walls and sky have no texture, the elevator makes a steady descent in what sounds like total silence, and the image comes across as some kind of abstract composition rather than as a depiction of real events. Then, when they reach the chamber where the light travels through the water, the starlike sparkling produces a very similar effect. In another scene, when the camera follows some seagulls that are circling around a fishing boat, it moves in a way that makes the birds look frozen in the air, immobile. I don't know if the director used many special effects, or his personal aesthetic just has this air of artificiality, but the visual style of the film is somewhat disconcerting.
But that actually fits well with the plot, in which a harried salaryman leaves his job and his family and visits a seaside town, where he falls in love with a woman who has a most peculiar health condition. I won't reveal it here, because it's just too delightful to spoil. Suffice it to say that the man quickly decides to prolong his stay, but then he has to deal with various rumours regarding the woman's past, and some reminders of her previous lovers. It's not that the other villagers dislike her, but she lives in a world of her own, apart from them; when she goes to visit the protagonist at work, it's like she doesn't even notice anyone else there.
Of course, the film hinges on the role of the heroine. The only way it could maintain its tone is through someone who can be completely out of the ordinary, without trying. In her performance, the lead actress finds the perfect way to do this: she isn't really beautiful, but she's very feminine (notice how she only wears skirts) and she can portray a state of complete, unconstrained joy. This is why the adjective "delightful" is appropriate for describing her "condition." There is something about her that suggests a personification of nature. No wonder the protagonist has a dream about returning to the womb; the woman is somewhere between lover and mother. The recurring shot of the trickle of water as it makes its way to the river seems to hint at some idea of purification or soothing.
This doesn't really begin to describe just how much oddity there is in this film. There are quirky and light-hearted scenes, but the film as a whole is not really a comedy. For example, there's a scene in the second half that suddenly explodes in completely unexpected, cruel violence, when the protagonist tries to fight the drug dealer, although the shock is quickly diffused with just about the most awesome comeuppance that I've ever seen in a film. Here and in other moments, it becomes evident that the village isn't a very friendly place to live in; if it weren't for the woman, the protagonist would be just as lost there as he was in Tokyo. There's a sadder undercurrent running through the plot, perhaps best expressed when the woman says, with her usual good cheer, "I thought the twenty-first century would be different!"
Other parts are just bizarre. There's a brief flashback about the death of the heroine's mother. In sharp contrast to the rich, clean colours of the rest of the film, this scene is filmed in grainy black-and-white. The story is told in a stylized, melodramatic way, but then when the camera cuts back to the main characters, they take it pretty lightly and have fun throwing stones into the river. This whole subplot is then never alluded to again. Does this scene mean to argue that it is absurd to dwell on disasters of the distant past, or does it mean nothing at all?
I have to say, the ending left me puzzled. Was she really faithful to the protagonist (and to those that came before him), or not? In her speech towards the end, she says that the only reason why they suspected her of infidelity was because her "condition" began to lose some of its intensity. This is interesting, because it casts the situation in another light: they became so obsessed with the "condition" that they were unable to love her. She has a point; throughout the film, not much conversation really occurs between her and the protagonist. However, even as she says this, she adds, "You're all the same," a bitter and knowing remark that could be interpreted in multiple ways. The discussion then turns to other subjects, and they don't return to this issue, so it's impossible to tell whether her story is true. But, after all, we do see her go for a ride with the drug dealer; I don't know, maybe I misread something here, but I thought that the latter implied that he frequently used her in this manner. And as she drives home afterwards, the expression on her face is remarkably ambiguous, she looks much more withdrawn and melancholy than her usual self. Is that because she accepted his offer? And of course, all the guys that talk to the protagonist insinuate that she has had many lovers. So, all the time, it is constantly implied that there's more to her past than what she tells the protagonist.
Well, in that sense, I suppose the film is very effective in showing how bewildering it is when a man has no way of knowing whether or not his sweetheart is speaking the truth when she says she loves him. But then again, maybe the last shot means that it doesn't matter, because such things are ultimately irrelevant to nature.
Summary of Warm Water Under a Red Bridge
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