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Joined: 6/8/2007 From: Whalley Range
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88. A Scene at the Sea (1991, Takeshi Kitano, Japan) Shigeru (Kurodo Maki) is a young deaf man who works for a trash disposal company. One day, he finds a broken surfboard, decides to fix it, and takes up surfing. Slowly but surely, he gets better on his board, and becomes closer to his apparent girlfriend (Hiroko Oshima). The first thing that hits you whilst watching "A Scene at the Sea” is how different it is to the rest of Kitano's output. Granted, I'd only seen three of his before I watched this film, but "Hana-bi”, "Violent Cop”, and "Zatoichi” are all gloriously violent films that must have got through gallons of theatrical blood. What's more, "Violent Cop” and "Hana-bi”, like – I've come to understand – the majority of the rest of his films, are at heart gangsters and cop films. "A Scene at the Sea”, on the other hand, is not brutal, violent, and doesn't play host to any villains or policemen (beyond a couple of non-speaking roles. Instead, it is the simple story of friendship and love, and also surfing. It's an honest and realistic story of personal growth, and the importance of human relationships. The relationship between the deaf Shigeru and the seemingly mute Takato is beautifully drawn; slowly manufactured over two hours with no dialogue and hardly any emotion either. Shigeru and Takato do not need to hear each other or even talk to each other, they understand each other in silence. Although it's different in content, then, it's not particularly different in directional style or tone; it's still a slow, methodical, and minimalist tale, and Kitano's framing of landscapes is as good here as it is in "Zatoichi” or "Hana-bi”. The performances, too, are quite brilliant, with Kurodo Maki clearly filling in for a younger version of Kitano himself (who, I believe, doesn't appear in this film). The script is superb (even the 'comic relief' characters are likeable, which isn't exactly a guarantee), and the score – the first collaboration between Kitano and Joe Hisaishi – is beautifully emotive. "A Scene at the Sea” is probably Kitano's very best, or at least the best that I've seen.
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Top 100 Moz Songs / Top 100 Films
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