Placed in the 19th century, The Sea is Watching is the story of a young prostitute geisha, O-Shin, who through tragedy and lost love finds happiness. The story begins when O-shin harbors a young samurai who is fleeing from the authorities after being involved in a small fight. After the incident he returns again and again through the soft falling snow of winter and the bright green grass of spring to visit her. O-shin falls in love with him but the inexperienced samurai only hopes to cleanse her from the sins her profession had incurred. After having her heart broken she again falls in love with a mysterious man who appears one day. His sad, seamlessly hopeless, past bring the couple close together until a thunderous ocean storm appears threatening to destroy everything in its wake. The sea side town evacuates however some are left to face the seas furry and must together try to survive the rising water. The story unfolds similarly as chapters in a book would be read with the main events of the story proceeding amidst the other small and intricate happenings of the other geishas.
The films screenplay was the final film that Akira Kurosawa (Seven Samurai, Dreams) was able to write prior to his death in 1998. Although he was unable to direct the film he left extensive production notes and storyboards. Kurosawa was said to have been inspired by books such as the ones written by Shugoro Yamamoto that he always thought would have made good films. The film is also a response to critics who have said that as a director he has only concentrated on male characters almost completely ignoring women. In this film all of the main characters are women and the male characters that are in the film can hardly be described as nice. The director of the film Kei Kumai faithfully followed what Kurosawa had left behind to create an absolutely beautiful film with vibrant intoxicating colors.
3 Comments:
hi noah,
this is rae and i'm just checking out your site. this film brings to mind a lot of the japanese dramas my mom used to watch when i was a little kid. two in particular (i don't think they were films, just made for tv stuff) still kinda make me misty - though in a knee jerk, i can't believe i'm falling for this sh+++t sort of way. in one the honorable, hardworking but bad luck getting father steals, what, five grains of rice from his rich employer to feed his hungry daughter and is executed for it. the second, an old woman is seen hobbling down a cold japanese beach, blind and with no toes, due to various sacrifies, pains and unjust punishments she suffered to protect her estranged daughter. to this day those two words "japanese" and "drama" said within 500 feet of each other makes me want to run. suppose it's time i gave this genre another chance? maybe you could recommend something?
Japanese films cover a lot of stuff. Like you said there are a lot of sad drama's and love stories. Once of the first films though that really got me interested in Japanese films was a light hearted comedy called Waterboys. its about a group of high school kids who join the swim team because they think the new teacher is hot but find out she is a synchronized swimming teacher who was accidentally sent to an all boys school. It also has my favorite actor in it takenaka naoto. The film has beautiful colors and a fun tropical soundtrack. I don't think anyone can keep from laughing while watching Waterboys, just a feel good movie. There's some other really good films that I might suggest such as Shall we dansu? (also has takenaka naoto,) and Minbo. Those films are really good in that there style is much quicker paced like American films. A lot of Japanese films are very slow and most people mistake this as a fault when in fact I think the question has to be asked what does our culture explicit from films?
So anyway's some good Japanese films that I think pretty much are Universally loved, funny, and overall feel good movies are:
Waterboys., Shall we dansu?, and Minbo. Thanks for checking out my site, I hope you can see some of the above movies. You might have better chance being able to rent Shall We Dansu? from a rental store like blockbuster since America made a remake of the film called Shall We Dance? So they might have the original Japanese movie now.
Thank you Noah. I saw this and was uber pleased. It was subtitled and not quite the pace or style of American movies, but it suited me just fine. I look forward to the next round. Though I was good for the movie and possibly made sense in another culture, I was baffled by the choice of "Miss" to just hang out on the roof. I mean, "Huh?". (jk) Anyway, thanks again.
w00ters,
Day
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