1991: A Scene At The Sea (aka あの夏、いちばん静かな海) (8th)

What else happened this year? 1991? Nevermind! Also the First Gulf War. Was the Yugoslav war going on then, too? [A quick check says... yes!]

What is the plot - in one sentence? At the Japanese seaside, a deaf garbage collector learns to surf, with the support of his girlfriend.

I don't have time, just spoil it for me? He gets better, some of his friends join in, he gains the support of the established surf crew in a competition, and then he (presumably) drowns, leaving his girlfriend to reminisce over their past.

What is the meaning of the title? The English title refers literally to the scene at the sea of the movie, the Japanese title is closer to 'that summer, the calmest ocean" which is a little more poetic, and talks about the calmness and silence of the surfer bloke - I guess that title is from the perspective of his girlfriend reminiscing.

 

This is the main couple. True love is not mentioning that one of your boyfriends nuts is dangling out. 

 

Anything that's not aged well? Does a woman get slapped around? Imagine early 1990s Japanese surfer fashion. It's even crazier than you think it might be. Pretty cool though. The girlfriend is treated pretty well in this, though looking back on it, I don't think she says more than a few sentences. Oh, and the guy plays deaf but I don't think he is in real life, there's already been a few deaf people in this feature, weird.

Any thoughts? This was a bit of a surprise. It's a leisurely, often silent movie focused on the intensely personal skill of surfing. It's directed by Takeshi Kitano, who is more associated with Yakuza movies and the like, and scored by Jo Hisaishi, the guy who did the music for most of the Studio Ghibli movies. The main theme sounds very much like My Neighbour Totoro, and is quietly hypnotic, as are the numerous scenes of people surfing, walking, or walking with surfboards to go and surf.

The main guy looks a lot like a Japanese James Franco (see above), and plays deaf pretty well. He's followed by his girlfriend, who, almost uniquely in Japanese cinema only once acts jealous towards him, when she sees him open an orange for an annoying surfer moll. As he improves and buys new gear, they befriend some other surfers as time goes by. These other surfers are, accurately, depicted as assholes. Another two friends of the main character are inspired to learn to surf by him, and provide some comic relief, but they're also dicks too, you can just tell.

Other than that, I thought it was interesting that they took a group nap during a surf competition. I've lived in Asia for a while, and never felt anything but annoyed that all of the country would take a sleep during the day, it's like living with cats.

Would you recommend this? It was kind of nice in a hypnotic way. About 40% of the movie is of people walking around. Another 40% is people watching people and sitting on the beach. They also play the theme song at least 5 times, it's a nice piece, but you'll have it in your head. Takeshi Kitano is synonymous with violence and yakuza movies, so it's nice that detours like this are possible for him. I think he followed it up with 'Sontantine,' which also features a beach, but with violence and boobs. For those reasons, that is better.

Final thoughts? I liked this, it was a pleasant surprise. I have spent a lot of time now thinking about how much of my life has been spent watching other people walking around in movies. It's worrying. Here's a link to the theme song, good luck getting that out of your head. 

 

Enjoying this? Not? Either way, you can find the link to all of the movies I've reviewed right... HERE