Pacionsbo Absolutely Fantastic

Odelecol Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

WillSushyMedia This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

Fleur Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

WILLIAM FLANIGAN Viewed on DVD and Streaming. The sisterhood of the bordello. Prostitutes with hearts of gold. Customers falling for their pleasure service providers and Vice Versa. Do these themes seem familiar? All and many more well-worn subplots have been inserted into this mundane movie. It begins with the nonsensical choice of translated lyrical title--if anything is "watching" (besides disappointed viewers) it's a nearby river that is ready to flood and destroy things (again?) with the next tsunami. It ends in a physical mess (see below) and is pretty much a melodramatic mess in between. The script is pedestrian and attributed to Akira Kurosawa. It's easy to see why he was never allowed to make it into a movie. The studio-bound exterior real/virtual sets and the dressings/drawings/glass-shot-paintings thereof are well done except for the closing scenes (see below). Cinematography and sound are fine. Film score is light weight. Subtitles need a good grammatical scrubbing. They are frequently too long and often appear/disappear literally in an eye blink. However, inscriptions (like those on lanterns) are subtitled! Direction is undistinguished and workman like. Acting is uneven, amateurish, and far from riveting. Actors' makeup is atrocious. It subtracts rather than adds to the attractiveness of actresses. Male actor wigs are patently phony looking with visible seam lines. The story's conclusion is ridiculously contrived and as phony as the studio-bound outdoor set it takes place in. The latter seems to suffer from a lack of an adequate budget (if the film was shot linearly, perhaps the budget ran over and cuts were made at the end?). Shots of women perched in a rooftop (to avoid flood water) wearing "their best" colorful kimonos in daylight with an obviously artificial nighttime star field backdrop are far more amusing than dramatic. It's daytime TV soap opera masquerading as a movie. WILLIAM FLANIGAN, PhD.

socrates99 I've always wanted to know about Geishas and the women of old Japan, ever since I first saw pictures of them in high school. Something about their style and how different they were from modern women never failed to intrigue me. And when I grew up, I collected paintings and prints of them which I still have, and read any novels or articles that promised to tell me their secrets. Despite numerous attempts I never really penetrated their personalities until this obscure movie.I only DVRed it thinking it was just another period piece with samurais and bloody battles that would be fun to watch. It was not that at all. In fact there are no sword fights. It's all about the women (not Geishas) in a red light district in Japan in a village by the sea, and especially two of them, Kikuno and O-Shin, both of which are perhaps the most endearing and unforgettable women I've ever encountered in film. And this despite the fact they are playing prostitutes sometime in the 18th century.Their facial expressions, their hand and body movements, the way they walk and laugh, it all had me so enthralled I barely saw the time go by. And yet this movie was created in 2002. How did these modern Japanese actresses resurrect these women so completely and convincingly? I have no idea, but I admit it doesn't matter. The only female performance I find even remotely comparable is of Vivien Leigh as Scarlett O'Hara. But despite Scarlett's undeniable beauty and spirit she can't hold a candle to the sheer magnetism and humanity of O-Shin or the more dignified and mature Kikuno.My only regret is that I hadn't seen this film earlier, and that I will now have to buy this film on DVD because there is no way I can bear deleting it. For me it's a gem of the highest order though I admit I've always wanted to know women like these, and if you've had no similar notion, it might not be your cup of tea. All I can say is I do now feel as if I've been transported back to another time and place and spent time with women who have always caught my attention, and I am completely satisfied that I have gotten very close to the myth if not the reality.Which is not to say I now know everything. Despite having watched their every move here, I still can't say I understand them, not really. I feel I could happily spend a great deal of time with them, there is something unusually pleasurable about them, but they will always be mysteriously beyond my grasp. It's even more exasperating given I can't think of any modern women inhabiting the same emotional space they do. And I have no idea why.

sitenoise The Sea is Watching starts off as an attractive film; rich colors, effective photography, nice framing, fetching prostitutes. Then it goes melodrama, followed by silly, culminating in corny which brought a smile to my face before the surreal kicked in. It never stops looking good, though. I give it high marks for that.There's nothing particularly new or groundbreaking story-wise, but it is a charming, sometimes funny, bittersweet tale of the inhabitants of a samurai-era brothel whose entire district ends up under water. Plot-wise it focuses on the love lives of two of the working girls: Kikuno (Misa Shimizu) plays an elder to the younger girls and enjoys being the object of pursuit, never giving in to the suitors who want to take care of her and take her for their very own; and Oshin (Nagiko Tono) who, against the advice of those around her, seems to fall in love with every one of her clients. One of them, a sweet samurai type, visits her often and convinces her that her "fallen soul" and "soiled body" can become pure again—just like a person's hair, nails, and teeth fall out and grow back. "A body can become pure again ... it would be too horrible for words if it weren't true".Oshin is the main protagonist of the film and is meant to give it an emotional center as her heart breaks and yearns, but it never quite happens. Although Shimizu and Tono give good performances, overall the acting is not one of the film's high points. I recommend the film to those wanting a taste of historical Japanese culture and who enjoy quiet films about love, loss, and friendship. Yes, the ladies are prostitutes but they have feelings too.

Cliff Sloane The film is obviously based on several distinct stories, which would make it a good TV series if done right. The potential is there, making me wish I could read the original short stories. But in this script, there were far too many overly sentimental plot twists and "mass appeal" characterizations.My biggest complaint is that the women were much more like waitresses or airline attendants than they were like prostitutes. They were all weepy "heart of gold" types, quite unlike women who really are "in the life."***** Spoilers here ***** Of the two main stories, the first one was just implausible. Why would the women hold out such hopes for O-shin's marriage to the young samurai? More to the point, why were these women of the streets so distraught over such mundane bad news?In the last story, why on Earth would the fallen-again O-shin lose her head to yet another man? As I said, this is more in keeping with flight attendants than prostitutes.I also found the music terrible, so sweet it made my stomach hurt. It's as though the director couldn't decide whether this was to be like a daytime soap opera or a "slice of life" portrayal of a voiceless strata of society.In conclusion, this seems to be part of a genre that is more common in Asia than elsewhere, fantasies in which kind-hearted naive men help to soften the hearts of prostitutes. I have seen several Thai movies and a few Chinese ones that fit this mold. Compare it to the British film "My Son the Fanatic" and you can see why I find this stuff silly.