“Sophie and the Rising Sun”
****
2016 * R * 1h 45m
This film takes place in Salty Creek, a small fishing village in South Carolina. The year is 1941 and war is raging in Europe, however the United States hasn’t gotten involved yet. One day, a badly beaten Asian man is left on a park bench. His appearance is a mystery and he’s taken in by a kindly woman, Anne Morrison (Margo Martindale.) She nurses him back to health and lets him stay in her garden shed. While the town assumes he’s Chinese, Grover Ohta (Takashi Yamaguchi) is in fact Japanese American.
Mr. Ohta has quite a green thumb, and helps restore Anne’s sadly neglected garden. He introduces several new flowering plants and creates beautiful color palettes. He’s also interested in art and spends his Sundays at the shore painting the striking marshy landscapes. While there, he runs into a fellow artist, Sophie Willis (Julianne Nicholson), a fiercely independent woman who enjoys crabbing, painting, and getting dressed up and attending matinees at the local movie house with Anne. The two strike up a friendship but it’s strictly platonic at first.
She invites him for dinner and the couple spend many nights enjoying each other’s company. Then disaster strikes when the Japanese attack Pearl Harbor. When the town finds out Mr. Ohta is actually Japanese, they naturally turn on him. Walking down a country road one day, a couple of soldiers accost him and nearly beat him to death. Of course, Anne does the honorable thing and hides him out in her late husband’s fishing shack. She has her maid Salome (Lorraine Toussaint) take him food while he recovers from his injuries. When a meddling friend Ruth (Diane Ladd) asks after him, she lies to her and says she put him on a bus and he’s left to be with his family in Canada.
Through a series of flashbacks, we encounter Sophie as a young girl. Ruth, who was a good friend of her mother’s, berates her for playing with black children. One of them is her best friend and Ruth chases her away and tells Sophie it’s wrong for the races to mix. It’s an ugly and revealing incident that sets the tone for Sophie’s relationship with her years later.
When Sophie visits Ohta at the fishing shack, the couple takes their relationship to the next level and they become lovers. It’s definitely taboo, considering Americans attitude towards the Japanese at the time. Will love conquer all and their relationship prevail? Will the townspeople run Mr. Ohta out of town? Will they do him bodily harm or worse? You’ll just have to watch this wonderful movie and find out for yourself.
“Sophie and the Rising Sun” is an absolutely beautiful love story. As a photographer, I really appreciated the striking cinematography. The score contributed significantly to the gentle atmosphere of the film. It ranged from 1940’s era big band jazz, to quiet classical music, and occasionally brief snippets of Japanese sounding songs. The soundtrack added to the overall feel of this movie. I also felt the supporting actors were perfectly cast and gave an accurate portrayal of small town life in the south during the war years. I kept thinking about this movie for days after viewing it. I think you will too!
Note to parents: The film is rated R because of a brief shot of a woman’s breast and a short but tasteful lovemaking scene.
Streaming on Kanopy (Free with your library card), Tubi, and Prime.
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