MOVIE REVIEW

"The Sea Is Watching" moves beyond its simple premise to exalt classic Japanese themes.

By Kevin Thomas, Times Staff Writer

Kei Kumai's "The Sea Is Watching" is an exquisite period film from a script Akira Kurosawa did not live to direct. It has a softer edge than the master probably would have delivered, but it is deeply affecting and recalls the Kumai film best known in the U.S., the 1974 "Sandakan 8."

Like the earlier film, which called attention to the plight of a woman sold into prostitution in Southeast Asia in the late '20s, it expresses eloquently a philosophical acceptance of life in all its hardships as it introduces us to prostitutes in a mid-19th century brothel in Okabasho, a village east of Edo, which became Tokyo. The brothel is in a bustling red-light district sandwiched between a canal and marshlands bordering the sea.

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One night Fusanosuke (Hidetaka Yoshioka), a hapless scion of a samurai family, has gone out on his very first night of drinking and has drawn his sword, and worse, lost it in a brawl. Fleeing for his life, he takes refuge in a brothel, where a demure young prostitute, O-Shin (Nagiko Tohno), disguises him when his pursuers track him down. The apparently virginal Fusanosuke is in no condition to respond to O-Shin's charms but is sufficiently drawn to her to return for chaste visits. Although she knows she should not, O-Shin falls in love with Fusanosuke, who assures her she can regain her respectability if she gives up prostitution. Three other prostitutes take on O-Shin's clientele in the belief that Fusanosuke intends to marry O-Shin.

We have in place a perfect premise of a story of star-crossed lovers that is a staple of Japanese cinema. But "The Sea Is Watching" moves beyond to become a broader film exalting two intertwined classic Japanese themes: the strength of women to endure and their capacity for self-sacrifice. The culmination of the film is equally unexpected and highly dramatic.

At a press screening, an observer described "The Sea Is Watching" as "Mizoguchi Lite," suggesting that Kenji Mizoguchi's classic films on the life of geisha and prostitutes are darker and more realistic than Kumai's. An accurate observation, but "The Sea Is Watching" is clearly intended as a more lively and finally more romantic film than those of Mizoguchi.

"The Sea Is Watching" is unsparing, however, in its depiction of the lowly status of prostitutes, who lived virtually without rights, but it does offer a ray of hope, in keeping with the later pictures of Kurosawa, who even in his will mentioned his admiration for Kumai's direction of women. (Kurosawa's daughter, Kazuko, designed the subtle, authentic costumes.)

Kumai inspires fine performances, especially from Tohno as the trusting and caring O-Shin, and from Misa Shimizu as Kikuno, a seasoned prostitute O-Shin regards as a protective older sister. Along with Yoshioka's wet-behind-the-ears Fusanosuke, there are crisp portrayals by Masatoshi Nagano as another man in O-Shin's life and Eiji Okuda as the older man who wants to take Kikuno out of the brothel to live with him. Okuda's worldly Ginji observes ruefully that O-Shin "has a good heart. She shouldn't keep giving it away." But that is not what this beautiful — and beautifully crafted — film is all about. It instead celebrates the value of a generous heart at all costs.

'The Sea Is Watching'

MPAA rating: R for some sexuality

Times guidelines: Sexuality, violence

Nagiko Tohno ... O-Shin
Misa Shimizu ... Kikuno
Masatoshi Nagase ... Ryosuke
Hidetaka Yoshioka ... Fusanosuke
Eiji Okuda ... Ginji

A TriStar Pictures release of a Nikkatsu Corp./TriStar Entertainment, Japan, presentation of a Kurosawa production. Director Kei Kumai. Producer Naoto Sarukawa. General producer Masaya Nakamura. Executive producers Haruyuki Machida, Kohichi Miyagawa, Koshiro Ando, Shigehiro Toriyama, Hirotake Yoda, Sunobu Horigone. Screenplay Akira Kurosawa; based on two stories by Syugoro Yamamoto, "The Smell of an Unknown Flower" and "Before the Dew Dries." Cinematographer Kazuo Okuhara. Editor Osamu Inoue. Music Teizo Matsumura. Costumes Kazuko Kurosawa. Production designer Takeo Kimura. In Japanese, with English subtitles. Running time: 1 hour, 59 minutes.

Exclusively at the Cecchi Gori Fine Arts, 8556 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills, (310) 652-1330; and the Laemmle Playhouse 7, 673 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, (626) 844-6500.