In the majority of movies I am most attached to the relations between characters and the evolution of this process. 'The eel' for that part is quite interesting as it focuses on a male protagonist with a dark past and a female counterpart equally in troubles.<br /><br />I was moved by the convincing performance by the two main characters. Besides them there are are only few, some really odd, other persons acting in the story.<br /><br />As others mentioned before in most parts of the movie the pacing is slow as it can get. This is not unusual for cinema from Asia and I am really comfortable with it, regarding this as some kind of watching meditation experience.<br /><br />The shooting is at times beautiful and stunning - the violent scene at the beginning or the colorful, vivid, surrealistic looking field of flowers the man finds the woman.<br /><br />Disliking programmed happy endings of romantic Hollywood movies I enjoyed the unfolding narration of 'The eel' having no clue what is going to happen next and in the end.<br /><br />Without the one situation which I found weak (one reviewer stated it as slapstick - the 2nd struggle in the barber's shop), there are numerous magical and disturbing moments in this movie.<br /><br />I fully recommend viewing Shohei Imamura's little gem.