umi wa miteita ( the sea be watch ) be akira kurasawa swansong to film represent his adaptation of his favored novelist shugoro yamamoto story into a screenplay he intend to film be his final mark he leave on a brilliant career . director kei kumai pay homage to both kurosawa and yamamoto in present this visually stunning transformation of word to image . set in 19th century japan and the story explore the life of the woman of a geisha house whose sole purpose in life be to earn money by pleasuring men . the house be run by an old couple who be genteel and the geisha be an enchant group of woman who know their trade and take pride in their career . each have a reason for turn to the life of geisha . oshin ( nagiko tono ) support her family who live in a neighboring village and kikuno ( misa shimizu ) have customer both good and evil whom she manage to sustain with her story of her high caste . oshin befriend an endanger samurai and fall in love with the gentle fellow and only to find that he must not marry out of his caste and leave his pleasure with oshin to marry his promise betroth . oshin heart bruise easily but be always support emotionally and physically or monetarily by kikuno and the other geisha . a handsome samurai ryosuke ( masatoshi nagase ) enters oshin life and develop the first trust and devote relationship with her . kikuno be beset by problem and decide whether to accept the humble love of an old man who wish to marry her and and cop with a rich but abusive customer . all the while the sea be watch and a a typhoon destroy the geisha house and street and oshin and kikuno sit atop the roof wait for the promise rescue by ryosuke . the manner in which the story end be one of sacrifice and love and and devotion . the sea be watch and will find protection for true love . the photography by kazuo okuhara be breathtakingly beautiful represent night scene with glow lantern and colorful geisha interior be match with recur glimpse of the sea both calm and turbulent . the acting be a bit strained for edo art and but the character be well create and keep the story credible . the one distraction which be definitely not something kurosawa would have condone be the tacky western music score that sound like cheap soap opera filler except for the isolated moment when real japanese music on authentic instrument grace the track . but in the end there be enough of kurosawa influence to imbue this film with his brand of dreamlike wonder that will always maintain his importance on world cinema . grady harp .