Rating: 
Summary: How the sea watches, destroys, and purifies
Review: As seen in Umi Wa Miteiru, life for prostitutes in Japanese brothels towards the end of the Tokugawa period was rough. Women there have fallen in status or have the bad luck of being unable to support themselves any other way. Wearing brightly-coloured kimonos and lots of makeup, they drum up business by soliciting prospective customers on the street. And the mission statement of prostitutes is cheekily given at one point by two of them: give the customers a good time and never get involved. If they fall in love, you don't. And make sure you get paid.Falling in love-that's the trouble with O-shin. She has a good heart, but keeps giving it away, as someone observes, and she keeps getting involved with customers. One is a young samurai named Fusanosuke Ihara, for whom she covers up when he flees after drawing his sword and wounding a man. Following the rules of the house, she forbids him to come to her, and even has Kikuno, one of the senior girls lie to the samurai. However, she's in love, though disheartened by the caste difference between them. He tells her how there's always change, and despite her body being soiled, she could be pure again if she stopped. The other girls band together to help her achieve this life, by taking on her customers and giving her the money so she can get married and be respectable, but disappointment is ahead. Kikuno herself has two very different customers. One is a kindly older man who asks her to live with him. A friend of the madam, he always visits, bringing sweets to share with the other women. The other is a yakuza-type who sponges off her, and is pretty rough with her. Kikuno though, prides herself on her samurai background, something that at one point arouses the envy of O-kichi, one of the other girls. O-kichi herself takes O-shin's disappointment with Fusanosuke so personally, the other girls have to drag her away screaming, which can be heard for some time, and would be funny were it not so heartbreaking for O-shin, who easily gains the sympathy of the viewer. But Kikuno is a very dependable young woman, even becoming acting madam when the real madam goes to the spa for her illness, willing to take responsibility and look after the other girls like they were her younger sisters. Then there's the quiet and brooding Ryosuke, someone who has consistently drawn the short straw all his life, forced to be a child beggar protected by a dog, to learning a trade but never being paid. Full of desperation, he has resorted to getting money that was legally his at knifepoint. O-shin finds herself pitying this man who has been cheated and trampled on all his life. The others think he would bring bad luck to O-shin, already burdened with getting money to look after her little sister. Misfortune doubled would thus equal misery. The customs and caste differences serve as a reminder that we're looking into another world. In the case of Fusanosuke, he has to go to his relatives as a courtesy call following his father forgiving him for his indiscretion. It serves not only as an apology but as a dedication that one is willing to do better this time around and not shame the family. Another is the way prostitutes escort their customers to the door, thanking them, and asking them to come again, or the courteous greeting call of "ira-shaimaseh!" or "please come in!" from the assigned greeter. And of course, how people remove their geta or sandals before entering. The wooden steps leading down to the forbidden district seem to make it a separate world from Edo. The festive atmosphere from a parade lightens the film at times. And this film, written by Akira Kurosawa and directed by Kei Kumai, projects a message of hope for the downtrodden, those cheated by life, that some divine power or force is watching them. The sea thus manifests its Shiva/Vishnu-like dichotomy at the climactic, horrifying end, destroying the old with a fury, but ushering in a new start for everyone.
Rating:
Summary: How the sea watches, destroys, and purifies
Review: As seen in Umi Wa Miteiru, life for prostitutes in Japanese brothels towards the end of the Tokugawa period was rough. Women there have fallen in status or have the bad luck of being unable to support themselves any other way. Wearing brightly-coloured kimonos and lots of makeup, they drum up business by soliciting prospective customers on the street. And the mission statement of prostitutes is cheekily given at one point by two of them: give the customers a good time and never get involved. If they fall in love, you don't. And make sure you get paid. Falling in love-that's the trouble with O-shin. She has a good heart, but keeps giving it away, as someone observes, and she keeps getting involved with customers. One is a young samurai named Fusanosuke Ihara, for whom she covers up when he flees after drawing his sword and wounding a man. Following the rules of the house, she forbids him to come to her, and even has Kikuno, one of the senior girls lie to the samurai. However, she's in love, though disheartened by the caste difference between them. He tells her how there's always change, and despite her body being soiled, she could be pure again if she stopped. The other girls band together to help her achieve this life, by taking on her customers and giving her the money so she can get married and be respectable, but disappointment is ahead. Kikuno herself has two very different customers. One is a kindly older man who asks her to live with him. A friend of the madam, he always visits, bringing sweets to share with the other women. The other is a yakuza-type who sponges off her, and is pretty rough with her. Kikuno though, prides herself on her samurai background, something that at one point arouses the envy of O-kichi, one of the other girls. O-kichi herself takes O-shin's disappointment with Fusanosuke so personally, the other girls have to drag her away screaming, which can be heard for some time, and would be funny were it not so heartbreaking for O-shin, who easily gains the sympathy of the viewer. But Kikuno is a very dependable young woman, even becoming acting madam when the real madam goes to the spa for her illness, willing to take responsibility and look after the other girls like they were her younger sisters. Then there's the quiet and brooding Ryosuke, someone who has consistently drawn the short straw all his life, forced to be a child beggar protected by a dog, to learning a trade but never being paid. Full of desperation, he has resorted to getting money that was legally his at knifepoint. O-shin finds herself pitying this man who has been cheated and trampled on all his life. The others think he would bring bad luck to O-shin, already burdened with getting money to look after her little sister. Misfortune doubled would thus equal misery. The customs and caste differences serve as a reminder that we're looking into another world. In the case of Fusanosuke, he has to go to his relatives as a courtesy call following his father forgiving him for his indiscretion. It serves not only as an apology but as a dedication that one is willing to do better this time around and not shame the family. Another is the way prostitutes escort their customers to the door, thanking them, and asking them to come again, or the courteous greeting call of "ira-shaimaseh!" or "please come in!" from the assigned greeter. And of course, how people remove their geta or sandals before entering. The wooden steps leading down to the forbidden district seem to make it a separate world from Edo. The festive atmosphere from a parade lightens the film at times. And this film, written by Akira Kurosawa and directed by Kei Kumai, projects a message of hope for the downtrodden, those cheated by life, that some divine power or force is watching them. The sea thus manifests its Shiva/Vishnu-like dichotomy at the climactic, horrifying end, destroying the old with a fury, but ushering in a new start for everyone.
Rating: 
Summary: sucks
Review: bad directing, bad cinematography, lighting is so off and artificial in so many places, bad editing, bad cuts, bad translation in many places so unpoetically done. cheesy suggestions of the sea leading towards the end. screenplay had the makings of what Kurosawa said was going to be his best film. if he had done this, it would have been a million times better
Rating:
Summary: A tale of hope and sorrow, beautifully told....
Review: I am not a vetran to subbed films, I however, found this film particularly refreshing compared to some of the trash they insist to put in american movies. The script (from what i could tell according the the subtitles) was intelligent and meaningful. Along with the two refreshing love stories, i found the scenes of the ocean and fields very picturesque. The Romance element was sweet. This film very accuratly depicted the risks one takes in the development of a relationship. The story with the young samurai was tragic, and in many ways realistic. For in the end, the castes, and misinterperated intentions, occur in many ways. The case of the misfortunate man, was equally moving and logical. But beyond this, was the devotion the girls in the teahouse had for each other. I found some of the scenes (like the milky way scene) too unbelieveable,but only suceeeded to make it more charming. So i deducted the star for lagging on abit where it could have cut some useless scenes. (but who am i to critcize, i cant even spell)
Rating:
Summary: An interesting look at 19th Century Japan
Review: I checked this DVD out more for my wife than myself. Sice reading "Memoirs of a Geisha," she's had a fascination with geishas and Japan. I've always been fascinated by Japan, although I must admit I am not a big Japanese film buff. In fact, I've only seen one previous Akira Kurosawa film, "The Seven Samurai." "The Sea is Watching" is not actually by Kurosawa, although he wrote the screenplay and did story boards for the film before his death. The director, Kei Kumai, who completed the project, was hand picked by Kurosawa's son. Since I'm not a Kurosawa expert, I can't really comment on how true Kumai is to Kurosawa's spirit. However, I can say that the film is excellent, a very involving tale focusing on O-Shin, a geisha seeking true love who has a bad habit of thinking she is in love only to learn her suitors feel differently. O-Shin is emotionally shattered when a samurai, who she believes loves her, indicates he is going to marry someone else. But, she then meets a commoner, Ryosuke, whom she falls in love with. Ryosuke, however, is a troubled man and prospects with him do not look promising as he is apparently bent on taking vengence on someone (literally anyone) for past wrongs he has endured. The film climaxes when a storm strikes and the village O-Shin lives in is flooded and destroyed. Although at times somewhat a little too detailed and draggy, this is a fascinating look at life in a small 19th century village and a lifestyle (that of the geisha) that has largely faded away in modern times.
Rating: 
Summary: Ode to a Master
Review: My impressions are deep and almost reverential to this Grand piece of literary Movement. Most of the visuals and camera work is a departure from Kurosawa, but it is the spirit and incredible delicacy of this film that took me. It showed how the Maestros intricate notes were firmly interpreted. You follow the story line like that of a play, sitting front and center, yet feeling you are part of this unfolding beauty as the observer. I love a film that will draw me in. This film not only drew me in, it wrapped me with its parabolic interludes. I could not stay just as the observer but felt and interactive dynamic with the characters. The message to me was clear that the great director left us with...He was a feminist in the most human sense. And man must look at himself through the female...thus the title...The Sea is Watching. This was like a large mirror from Kurosawa's cinematic mind transposed to screen reflecting that feminine flavor. I was simply amazed. Watch and allow your eyes to feast.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent film by a lesser master.
Review: The Sea is Watching may never have been filmed by its author, the
late great master of Japanese Cinema Akira Kurosawa, but it fits very, VERY, nicely in a collection of his other films. Kurosawa's films mostly featured men and their world, particularly his early muscular films like Seven Samurai. I think he wrote this film after reflecting on this point. So seldom does the focus of the galaxy of samurai films remain on the jilted-lover, the poor woman left behind. Not only does this film do that, it focuses on the dregs of society - prostitutes. Yet the world of the prositiutes is not stark. It is rich and colorful. Here it is nice to see state-of-the-art production values brought to a Kurosawa story: we can watch one of his stories in crisp color. The basic story line is a theme universal in Kurosawa's films: the struggle for human dignity in an unforgiving world. Nature is also personified and plays a role in the drama - a recurring theme throughout Kurosawa's work.
The movie centers around a young geisha named O-Shin who seems destined for a higher life but is constantly ground into the dirt. Just as she thinks the worst has come, nature plays its part. The sea that watches the prostitures "water trade" and fleeting lives, fittingly has the last say. Director Kei Kumai may not possess Kurosawa's cinematic flair nor feverish genius.
But he does turn in a handsome film worthy to be included in Kurosawa's legacy.
Rating: 
Summary: ...But The Audience Is Snoozing
Review: There is plenty of tantalizing hyperbole plastered on the packaging of this DVD..."Akira Kurosawa's final story!" "Director hand-picked by Kurosawa's son!" But something becomes glaringly apparent 15-20 minutes in: Without the Master himself directing, you do NOT have a product that can be called a "Kurosawa film" (any more than the wretched "A-I" was truly a "Stanley Kubrick Film".) Yes, the story takes place in fuedal Japan, and there is a principal character who is a Samurai. But that fact alone does not a "Kurosawa" film make. There is a poetic sense of humanism that defined all of Kurosawa's films, whether the story was set in the 15th century or in the 20th, and that is sadly missing from "The Sea Is Watching" . Kurosawa would take his time to build a story, sometimes using long takes and protracted periods of silence, but was so "at one" with filmic language that he kept you riveted to story and character without having to glance at your watch. "The Sea Is Watching" has long takes, but here they are static and lifeless, with little attention to lighting or cinematography; you end up with the feel of a TV soap. The first three quarters of the film takes place in two rooms, and by the time the rather pedestrian "big storm" sequence arrives, you don't really care what becomes of the characters because you've been waiting so interminably for SOMETHING to happen. Some lovely imagery toward the end of the film arrives too little, too late to save it. Diehard Kurosawa "completists" may want to screen at least once to satisfy curiosity, anyone else view at your own risk.
Rating:
Summary: ...But The Audience Is Snoozing
Review: There is plenty of tantalizing hyperbole plastered on the packaging of this DVD..."Akira Kurosawa's final story!" "Director hand-picked by Kurosawa's son!" But something becomes glaringly apparent 15-20 minutes in: Without the Master himself directing, you do NOT have a product that can be called a "Kurosawa film" (any more than the wretched "A-I" was truly a "Stanley Kubrick Film".) Yes, the story takes place in fuedal Japan, and there is a principal character who is a Samurai. But that fact alone does not a "Kurosawa" film make. There is a poetic sense of humanism that defined all of Kurosawa's films, whether the story was set in the 15th century or in the 20th, and that is sadly missing from "The Sea Is Watching" . Kurosawa would take his time to build a story, sometimes using long takes and protracted periods of silence, but was so "at one" with filmic language that he kept you riveted to story and character without having to glance at your watch. "The Sea Is Watching" has long takes, but here they are static and lifeless, with little attention to lighting or cinematography; you end up with the feel of a TV soap. The first three quarters of the film takes place in two rooms, and by the time the rather pedestrian "big storm" sequence arrives, you don't really care what becomes of the characters because you've been waiting so interminably for SOMETHING to happen. Some lovely imagery toward the end of the film arrives too little, too late to save it. Diehard Kurosawa "completists" may want to screen at least once to satisfy curiosity, anyone else view at your own risk.
Rating:
Summary: Delightful
Review: This is the story of a year in the life of a small house of prostitution in Edo's "Floating World" (entertainment district), particularly of the manager Miss (second in command, who takes over when the owner "Missus" dies), and of one of the 'girls' O-Shin who, as one character comments, "has a good heart; she just shouldn't keep giving it away." The film begins with the bright side of the district and their life, its gaiety, camaraderie and even tranquility. The setting and story are so delightful and cheerful that after a few minutes I was inspired to pause the DVD and go fix a cup of steaming ko-kei cha and a plate of tea biscuits. A young samurai, fleeing the law after a fight, begs to stay the night. They hide him, disguising him as a commoner customer of O-Shin's. After a chaste night, he leaves with gratitude and we can see on her face that she is taken with him. Miss cautions her against falling in love, and when he comes to see her O-Shin sends him away, saying never return, believing he is forever beyond reach. He is in exile from his father's house, and must go in disguise, yet he keeps returning as the seasons turn, being turned away. One day, though, O-Shin runs after him, meeting on a wintry bridge. The others debate her wisdom, but becoming convinced of his devotion, and particularly when in the spring he earnestly explains she can lose her 'fallen woman' status by remaining 'pure' for some time, they offer to take on her customers yet share the proceeds. Everyone expects something to come of this, and they are involved and hopeful, seeing hope for themselvers if only by proxy. Some reluctantly, some eagerly, they come to believe the fairy tale will really happen. Needless to say it does not work out (that shouldn't be a spoiler .. what do you expect when it's all so happy a half hour into the film?), and the resolution of this first story is devastating to all. O-Shin's very first customer after returning to work is a commoner Ryosuke who seems deeply troubled, and in the morning she wakes to find him crying and despondent. He flees precipitately, but returns in the evening, and tells her a sad tale of a hard life. Once again, O-Shin falls in love, and this time her compatriots are skeptical, but their relationship continues and grows. The film ends with a giant storm, and floods both from the river and the sea. Much is washed clean (this is where the title comes from, the sea is watching over their troubles, and comes in to cover them over) and much comes clean amid the drama. I won't spoil the resolution, but suffice it to say that, as Miss says, O-Shin has "found a good one this time." I have shorted the story of Miss, with her older gentlemanly lover and bad-boy Yakuza boyfriend, and her tales of being a fallen samurai with a child in a distant village, but she is almost equally important to the film though not so front and center as O-Shin, and becomes intimatly involved in the final resolution. I at first was inclined to take away a "*" for some lapses in realism, particularly during the storm and flood (as portrayed it just didn't seem that deadly, particularly at the end), but when viewed as something between a filmed stage production and the realism (or hyper-realism) of a dramatic Hollywood production, as akin to the remarkable "Kwaidan", this objection vanishes. My remaining quibble is ... haven't these people ever heard of a bailing can?
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