MOVIE REVIEWS : ‘BEYOND SHINING SEA’ IN BACKWATER

Despite some steamy sexual interludes, “Beyond the Shining Sea” at the Little Tokyo Cinema 1) plays like a vintage Lana Turner movie--the kind in which the heroine seems born to be bad.

Poor Ukiko (gorgeous Keiko Matsuzaka). She’s been dumped by both her husband (Toru Minegishi) and her lover, his former assistant, and has taken an overdose of pills in a half-hearted suicide attempt. Full of remorse, she takes refuge with her stern but loving uncle (veteran star Rentaro Mikuni, in a crotchety Lionel Barrymore turn) in his idyllic island community. But there is the virile husband (Tsunehiko Watase) of her plain and frigid cousin (Shinobu Otake) . . . Well, a girl just can’t help it.

And that’s what makes “Beyond the Shining Sea,” which was adapted by Hajime Tamura from a novel by Nobuko Takagi, not merely silly and hopelessly old-fashioned but downright offensive.

This film really does portray women as the weaker sex, with Ukiko depicted as such a victim of her passions that she is astonishingly slow to notice that she’s driving her cousin as mad as Ophelia. At the same time, “Beyond the Shining Sea” has the audacity to congratulate Ukiko on her “emotional honesty” while denying her the capacity to take responsibility for her actions until she’s all but ruined the lives of everyone around her.

A director can often be praised for meeting his material head-on, no matter how intransigent. But Toshiya Fujita’s straight-faced approach becomes merely impersonal, an opportunity wasted for commentary (or satire). Such current and dynamic Japanese films as “Comic Magazine” and “Tampopo” make this slow and long-winded “woman’s picture” seem all the more dated. “Beyond the Shining Sea” (Times-rated Mature for adult themes and situations) is beyond belief.

The Samurai Festival continues in Little Tokyo Cinema 2 with “Hunter in the Dark” and “Wanted, Dead or Alive.” (213) 6687-7077.

‘BEYOND THE SHINING SEA’ A Shochiku presentation. Executive producers Kazyuyoshi Okuyama, Hiroshi Okada. Producer Yoshiyuki Unno. Director Toshiya Fujita. Screenplay Hajime Tamura; based on a novel by Nobuko Takagi. Camera Tatsuo Suzuki. Art director Takeo Kimura. With Keiko Matsuzaka, Tsunehiko Watase, Rentaro Mikuni, Shinobu Otake, Toru Minegishi, Haruko Kato. In Japanese, with English subtitles.

Running time: 2 hours, 8 minutes.

Times-rated: Mature.