A Scene at the Sea

Shigeru, a young deaf man who works as a garbage collector, lives quietly between his job and walks by the sea with his girlfriend Takako, who is also deaf. One day he comes across a discarded surfboard and takes it home. The find gives him something he has never had before: an ambition. He begins to teach himself to surf, and Takako stays beside him through the long, difficult learning process and the competitions he enters, with the pair sharing a bond that needs no words.

The film was directed by Takeshi Kitano, who also wrote the screenplay. It was his third film as director, following Boiling Point in 1990 and preceding Sonatine in 1993. The cast is led by Claude Maki as Shigeru, with Hiroko Oshima as Takako and supporting turns from Sabu Kawahara, Toshizo Fujiwara, Susumu Terajima and Katsuya Koiso. Masayuki Mori and Takio Yoshida produced for TOHO, Office Kitano and Totsu.

A Scene at the Sea runs 101 minutes and mixes comedy, drama and romance. On TMDB it holds a rating of 7.5 out of 10 from 231 votes, which suggests a small but consistently appreciative audience for one of Kitano's early features.