The
Japanese film The Sea Is Watching (Umi wa miteita) is mostly
filmed at a house of prostitution located at Okabasho (east
of Edo) between ocean marshlands and a canal. Only is the
sea is watching over the geisha house, as the clients are
not among the best men in the community. The women do their
best to provide food, conversation, and sex to the single
men and men who are bored with their wives, but what of
their dreams and identities? Some of the men foolishly
offer to marry a geisha, but they are insincere, and the
experienced women know that most of their customers are
untrustworthy. Most of the story centers on O-Shin (played
by Nagiko Tahno), the youngest and most recent geisha.
One day an attractive young samurai, Fusanosuke (played
by Hidetaka Yoshioka), comes into the house. He is in disgrace
with his father for getting drunk and losing his sword
in a fight, so he takes refuge in the brothel, and O-Shin
hides him as the police search the premises. After Fusanosuke
finds lodging with his uncle, he tries to visit her again.
Overwhelmed with the unrealistic desire to be his wife,
O-Shin at first refuses to see. When she finally allows
him to see her, he talks to her in vague terms that she
interprets to mean that he will run off with her somewhere
to live. But finally his father forgives him, so plans
proceed for him to marry a woman of his rank, as had been
planned for years. When he stops by the geisha house to
announce the good news, O-Shin goes berserk, but her life
goes on. Next, O-Shin entertains Ryosuke (played by Masatoshi
Nagase), who is young but morose and ill-groomed, the very
opposite of Fusanosuke. When she gets him to tell the story
of his life, he spins a tale of such sadness that O-Shin
cries and falls in love with him out of sympathy for his
plight. Naturally, her coworkers discourage her from believing
Ryosuke, but she persists. One night, as a typhoon is just
beginning, a nasty customer tries to steal the moneybox.
Ryosuke objects, whereupon the two fight. When Ryosuke
stabs the other man, the women urge him to flee the jurisdiction
to avoid being arrested. Ryosuke's actions, in other words,
show that he has far more character than any of the geisha's
clients. But soon the river overflows its banks, and high
tide fills in the land. Most of the women leave quickly,
but O-Shin and Kikuno (played by Misa Shimizu), another
geisha, remain until the geisha house becomes a raft without
an oar. Earlier, Fusanosuke, a nice guy, proved to be not
so nice. Now will Ryosuke, who at first appeared to be
telling tall tales, reappear to rescue O-Shin? The
Sea Is Watching, directed by Kei Kumai from Akira Kurosawa's
last script, is allegorical, sentimental, and above all
feminist. The resilience of the "fallen women," as
Fusanosuke puts it, and the purity of O-Shin's generosity
with her love contrast greatly with the narcissism of most
of the men, yet Ryosuke's hard life so mirrors that of
the geisha women that he is clearly a match for O-Shin. MH
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