DanTheMan 2
Takeshi Kitano is one of the few directors who can bring me to tears in seemingly every manner possible, A Scene at the Sea is no exception. A beautifully realised tale of an outsider who almost unwittingly finds himself embraced by a community he seems virtually indifferent to in his single-minded determination to master a new and chance-discovered obsession. Tethered to only the slightest narrative, the film evokes the experience of early love and disappointment in a manner both sharp and tender. Kitano has managed to excel himself by retaining all the interesting and original traits of his more graphic films, yet managing to tell a story that is just as deep and provocative, only to a more subtle degree. With much of the film playing with no dialogue at all, it's down to the body language and facial expressions of the performers, the shot choice and the editing skills of the director to tell the story, you only need to have seen one of Kitano's other directorial works to know that this is a long way from a tall order. The camera work is extremely sedate and enveloping, managing to capture the beautiful tranquillity of the ocean. The characters do not speak, yet the story never seems to drag at all, with each scene drawing the viewer steadily into this very attractive and insular world that they inhabit. And then there's Joe Hisaishi's music... A haunting mixture of marimba, synthesisers, piano & strings, it augments the atmospheric stillness and compliments the mood of the film perfectly. A hugely important film in Kitano's development as a filmmaker, one in which he discarded his dramatic safety net to tell a small story in a resolutely minimalist fashion and scored a bold, quietly brilliant bulls-eye. There's no violence, precious little dialogue and the tone and pacing vary little throughout, yet the hold exerted by the characters and storytelling is considerable, one that speaks in confident whispers instead of shouting its qualities in the manner of more attention-grabbing early works from any number of younger filmmakers the world over. A Scene at the Sea remains to this day one of his most assured, poetic and yet gently unassuming cinematic achievements, one that can be genuinely moving but never slips for a moment into sentimentality. I love it.
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
01/06/25
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Timur B
Good music, ok story, decent acting, a bit slow, more a postcard than a movie.
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
11/04/23
Full Review
isla s
This is a nice, relaxing watch about a hearing impaired couple who start competing in surf competitions. Understandably, there's very little dialogue - its a film with a genuinely nice 'feel' to it - the sound of the waves lapping etc. You can read a fair amount into the body language of those on screen. It is a little slow and meandering story wise perhaps but I thought it had a nice charm to it and it was fun watching the contestants compete at sea. I liked that music starts to play towards the end of the film, that adds a certain impact to it - instrumental style music, not loud and 'noisy' music. Obviously not the most action packed film by a fair distance, this is regardless a good, subtle film (with a nice ending) which I would recommend, yes.
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
03/31/23
Full Review
Audience Member
Japanese film from 1991, when surfing was the newest, freshest thing.
Being deaf is neither fresh or new but still a theme for this film as the main character is deaf and in general not interested in communication with people.
He's got a girl, though, probably deaf too and she watches him as he hits the waves. He's not any good but he likes it, it's better than moving garbage as he does at work.
There are some contests and stuff for the excitment part, but this is mosty a very quiet and pretty meditative film with few words and a lot of silent lounging and watching. I often like that stuff, but it feels a bit dated and there's not that moving since I never get to know the characters that well.
It may be a film that will haunt me, since it's both sad and all right to look at, but right now, it's nothing much else than an all right, calm flick.
That music is way cool, though, and it's impressive that two non-speaking leads can hold up such a nice poetic bond without talking.
5 out of 10 surfboards.
Rated 2.5/5 Stars •
Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars
01/17/23
Full Review
camille l
Avec A Scene at the Sea, son troisième film, Kitano, qui ne se met pas en scène pour la première fois, conte l'histoire d'un éboueur muet qui décide de se mettre au surf. Dans sa manière si distinctive (de longs plans fixes, un rythme délibérément lent, parfois presque trop, très peu de dialogue), Kitano enfile les ellipses comme des perles, laisse le spectateur comprendre ce qu'il se passe sans jamais lui expliquer, quitte à ce que celui-ci passe totalement à côté de ce qu'il se passe. Il est bien aidé par les acteurs, qui sont parfaits. Claude Maki & Oshima Hiroko sont très touchants, tandis que les seconds rôles sont sympathiques à souhait. Pour la première fois, Joe Hisaishi compose la bande-son pour Kitano et celle-ci est particulièrement réussie. A Scene at the Sea est un drame passionnant et un des films les plus singuliers de son auteur.
Rated 4.5/5 Stars •
Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars
03/31/23
Full Review
Audience Member
honestly it's kinda empty.
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
01/13/23
Full Review
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