5 beautiful and heartfelt movies for those who miss the sea

culturologist, writer, film critic, head of cultural projects at the Oliva Group company

The sea theme in movies is often revealed with a touch of romance. Blue-green waves serve as a beautiful background in many movies. The sea is calming, inspiring and uplifting. But there are other movies in which the sea participates in and influences the story. Here are five movies for those who not only miss the sea, but are ready to look at the sea from a completely different perspective.

“Atlantic” (Senegal, 2009, directed by Mati Diop).

In the reviews, this movie is trashed. But it’s worth watching for one reason. The social contract, or what happens when it is broken. The Senegalese movie The Atlantic does a good job of showing that the measure of any social contract is money. If you have money, it means you can cross the ocean without any problems by airplane. If you don’t have money, you’re left with a boat, which is very likely to capsize.

If you have money, you can choose who you marry. If you don’t, you have to agree to a humiliating innocence test. Again, if you have money, the local police treat you with respect, but if you don’t, they keep you at the station to help you catch another person. It’s like that.

This movie was directed by a woman, Mati Diop. The cameraman is also a woman, Claire Maton. As you can imagine, the music for the movie was also written by a woman, Fatima Al Qadiri. But “Atlantic” is not a woman’s movie, although the majority of women-actresses in the picture. Any viewer can try on his life to the plot of the movie and determine with accuracy whether he himself has a choice, as well as to what extent he decides for his well-being.

Senegalese cinema is as practical as it can be. Against the backdrop of beautiful ocean views, the viewer will feel the truth of life.

“Balcony overlooking the sea” (France, Algeria, 2010, directed by Nicole Garcia)

The sea can be a witness of love and participants of history. The sea can be silent and not interfere until the characters sort themselves out.

Once upon a time, she had no chance at love. First, another beautiful blond girl stood between her and the boy she loved, then because of the war in Algeria, her beloved was taken away. That’s about all there is to it. Childish love is childish, that you remember it with a smile.

But she did not forget him years later. When the heroes met again, of course, he recognized her. Not her, but that blond girl. The hero was mistaken. He has long been married, but, it turns out, this marriage can be finalized. Memories of Algeria nevertheless smolder somewhere in the soul against the background of the sea. They hurt everyone, but what if this pain can change something?

“Scenes by the Sea” (Japan, 1991, directed by Takeshi Kitano)

The sea and nothing but the sea. This picture is not only in front of the eyes of the main character, but also in front of the eyes of the viewer after viewing. The Japanese view of the dream is traced in every action of all the characters, although the story begins with a broken windsurfing board. The protagonist Shigeru fixes it to learn this tantalizing sport, but soon the board breaks and the story begins, just like in life.

You have a dream, but everyone laughs at you. No one believes in you except for one person. As soon as something starts to work out, fate provides two paths of development. Japanese logic is such that if you do choose your dream, be prepared for any outcome, because there are no fairy tales in windsurfing, as in life. Dialogues in Takeshi Kitano’s film are minimal, which enhances the understanding of the story and its subtext. The viewer will not see anything unusual, but will understand many details that have so far eluded him in real life.

And then it will turn out that the main character in this movie is not a man dreaming of windsurfing, but the sea and its mood.

“Come on, Son” (Turkey, 2018, directed by Bora Egemen)

The sea can be soothing, especially when the story is exciting and dramatic. We are used to the challenges in a child’s destiny being actively dealt with by the mother. But what if the father
a single father in a similar situation? Caressing waves do not always help to survive a personal problem. The main character has a son growing up with autism.

The man is handsome, young, he has his whole life ahead of him. Instead of pleasures he gets the unknown: will the son speak? Will the child look him in the eye even once? Will the child be able to socialize in society? Lots of questions.

One day, the hero receives the most important advice from the doctor: start talking to your son in the same language as him. Later it becomes clear what that language is.

“Yacht” (UK, Malta, 2020, directed by Winston Azzopardi)

One of the most impressive movies of the last three years. The hero accidentally finds himself on an abandoned yacht. He realizes that there were people on the vessel before him. They weren’t running away or fleeing anywhere. Someone was clearly reading a book, someone was cooking, someone was sleeping in the cabin. But all of these people or person disappeared and things remained untouched.

The yacht is neutral at first, then it became a threat to the hero’s life, and then that hero changed. No, he didn’t go crazy. He didn’t go into agony. Although there was despair, and anger, and surprise, and hope, and again surprise, despair, and anger. At some point, the viewer realizes that the yacht and the water are, in fact, his own life’s journey in reality and the problem is likely significant. The yacht, like the problem in reality, requires a solution. But as soon as a person tries to solve it, this problem, he gets an additional problem. The main difficulty does not disappear.

In the movie, the yacht continued on its way. Its course changed. The hero ran away from it, and then returned again. Although his problem, as it often happens, was solved very simply.