For one of his minor as well as interesting film called 'Warm Water Under a Red Bridge', Japanese director Imamura Shohei chose to depict the lives of some undesirable elements of Japanese society. This film has been adapted from a novel written by Henmi Yo. In principle, his film describes the emotional as well as physical relationship a white-collar worker forms with a bizarre woman from a small town. The primary focus is on depicting the life in a small Japanese town where ordinary people do not have much to do except fishing either as a hobby or for commercial purposes. Much of this film has been shot in the form of an unrequited love affair wherein the woman accuses the man of not having understood her feelings as a person. These roles have been played by with great sensitivity by Japanese actors Shimizu Misha and Yakusho Koji who were also directed by him in his previous film "The Eel".

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.

Took a chance at video store, expecting another "Red Lantern" or "Mask Maker". What we wound up with was so totally strange as to be incomprehensible. I am a reasobale savvy movie watcher and can handle explicit sex. rampant symbolism and some pretty peculiar twists, but "Warm Water" is too deep for me. Best just to let this movie pass Under the Bridge.cheers,

A movie from 75 year old director Shohei Imamura. First observation - it's definitely not the steamy sex-romp that the Hong Kong DVD case might have you believe. Far from it in fact. It's quite a gentle, very quirky somewhat philosophical character driven romance.A man in his fourties loses his job when the company he works for goes bankrupt. In Japan, with the tradition of 'employment for life', this is not a hard situation to be in - especially with an estranged wife and child nagging for money. On something like a whim he travels to a small village to follow the directions of a friend that just passed away, who told him of a treasure that he left behind 40 years ago, in a house by a red bridge. When he arrives, he meets the woman that now lives in the house and through rather unusual circumstances ends up in bed with her. The woman has a strange secret, a source of shame - and the source of the 'Warm Water' under the Red Bridge. The two embark on a peculiar relationship, and when the man gets a temporary job on a fishing boat he begins to blend in and adapt to the small village way of life.The movie is a slightly surreal meditation on life and love, and what is really of value in each of them. The message is an encouragement of individuality and independence of thought, an affirmation that 'strange' and 'different' are words closer to 'good' than 'bad'. The characters are all a little bit tragic, beaten down by life, but in their own community they find that life can be beaten back.It's a slow paced movie, quite touching and gently funny. It's mostly character & dialogue driven, and both are well developed. I believe it's based on a novel, which usually does imply good character and dialogue if the director has enough skill to adapt a written work to a visual one. After nearly 50 years in the business, Imamura clearly has that skill.