The Japanese film The Sea Is Watching (Umi wa miteita) is mostly filmed at a house of prostitution located at Okabasho (east of Edo) between ocean marshlands and a canal. Only is the sea is watching over the geisha house, as the clients are not among the best men in the community. The women do their best to provide food, conversation, and sex to the single men and men who are bored with their wives, but what of their dreams and identities? Some of the men foolishly offer to marry a geisha, but they are insincere, and the experienced women know that most of their customers are untrustworthy. Most of the story centers on O-Shin (played by Nagiko Tahno), the youngest and most recent geisha. One day an attractive young samurai, Fusanosuke (played by Hidetaka Yoshioka), comes into the house. He is in disgrace with his father for getting drunk and losing his sword in a fight, so he takes refuge in the brothel, and O-Shin hides him as the police search the premises. After Fusanosuke finds lodging with his uncle, he tries to visit her again. Overwhelmed with the unrealistic desire to be his wife, O-Shin at first refuses to see. When she finally allows him to see her, he talks to her in vague terms that she interprets to mean that he will run off with her somewhere to live. But finally his father forgives him, so plans proceed for him to marry a woman of his rank, as had been planned for years. When he stops by the geisha house to announce the good news, O-Shin goes berserk, but her life goes on. Next, O-Shin entertains Ryosuke (played by Masatoshi Nagase), who is young but morose and ill-groomed, the very opposite of Fusanosuke. When she gets him to tell the story of his life, he spins a tale of such sadness that O-Shin cries and falls in love with him out of sympathy for his plight. Naturally, her coworkers discourage her from believing Ryosuke, but she persists. One night, as a typhoon is just beginning, a nasty customer tries to steal the moneybox. Ryosuke objects, whereupon the two fight. When Ryosuke stabs the other man, the women urge him to flee the jurisdiction to avoid being arrested. Ryosuke’s actions, in other words, show that he has far more character than any of the geisha’s clients. But soon the river overflows its banks, and high tide fills in the land. Most of the women leave quickly, but O-Shin and Kikuno (played by Misa Shimizu), another geisha, remain until the geisha house becomes a raft without an oar. Earlier, Fusanosuke, a nice guy, proved to be not so nice. Now will Ryosuke, who at first appeared to be telling tall tales, reappear to rescue O-Shin? The Sea Is Watching, directed by Kei Kumai from Akira Kurosawa’s last script, is allegorical, sentimental, and above all feminist. The resilience of the “fallen women,” as Fusanosuke puts it, and the purity of O-Shin’s generosity with her love contrast greatly with the narcissism of most of the men, yet Ryosuke’s hard life so mirrors that of the geisha women that he is clearly a match for O-Shin. MH