Warm Water Under a Red Bridge
Film Movement | Release Date: May 3, 2002 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
70
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 18 Critic Reviews
Positive:
13
Mixed:
5
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Village VoiceMichael Atkinson
Nonchalantly freaky and uncommonly pleasurable, Warm Water may well be the year's best and most unpredictable comedy. Read full review
100
Los Angeles TimesKevin Thomas
May well be Imamura's funniest film; it is also one of his most accomplished. It is the work of a mature artist who has kept his adventurous spirit alive, which he has expressed in a complex and risky work carried off with an effortlessness that comes only from wisdom and experience. Read full review
90
New Times (L.A.)Andy Klein
While Imamura films generally have their droll moments, this is the most blatantly comic work he's done since the '80s -- richly entertaining and suggestive of any number of metaphorical readings. Read full review
83
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
Imamura's delight in the infinite oddity of men and women is goofy; it's also, at heart, reverent. Read full review
80
L.A. WeeklyElla Taylor
Imamura has said that Warm Water Under a Red Bridge is a poem to the enduring strengths of women. It may also be the best sex comedy about environmental pollution ever made. Read full review
80
Film ThreatBenjamin Franz
Warm Water Under a Red Bridge is a warm, uplifting romance. It plays out the way most Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn romances do. Seek this out if you enjoy a good, kinky, and romantic film. It simply has to be experienced. Read full review
75
Miami HeraldMarta Barber
A rather luminous movie on the power of love. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleEdward Guthmann
One never knows where "Warm Water" is going and even though the film's objective feels a little fuzzy even at the end a parable on female sexuality? an ode to liberty? there's such a joy in the telling that it doesn't matter terribly. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
This story is unthinkable in a Hollywood movie, but there is something about the matter-of-fact way Saeko explains her problem, and the surprised but not stunned way that Yosuke hears her, that takes the edge off. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeJanice Page
No porno flick posing as art. Nor is it science fiction, though it does contain a few scenes with B-movie overtones. This is a deep and meaningful film, ultimately far more poignant than it is titillating. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneMichael Wilmington
A movie about love, friendship and finding oneself, and it takes all its subjects very seriously while seeming to treat them with the lightest and most piquant of touches. Like its bizarre heroine, it irrigates our souls. Read full review
70
The A.V. ClubScott Tobias
Funny and endearing. Read full review
63
New York PostV.A. Musetto
There's not enough here to justify the almost two hours. Read full review
60
TV Guide MagazineKen Fox
The film may be lighter in tone than Imamura's more recent work, but it still has a number of serious things to say about life in contemporary Japan. Read full review
60
VarietyDavid Stratton
A film with a terrifically engaging concept that overstays its welcome by quite a stretch. Read full review
50
New York Daily NewsJami Bernard
Maintains a light, dainty tone despite the heavy-handed metaphor, but in crossing the Pacific to the U.S., it is bound to leave most viewers dry. Read full review
50
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
Acute sense of color and offbeat storytelling style aren't enough to make this sometimes sensual fantasy more than a whimsical trifle. Read full review
40
The New York TimesA.O. Scott
Plays like a nutty psychological mystery. Read full review
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