6.7 / 10
(7 votes)
In 1971, author and film scholar Donald Richie published a poetic travelogue about his explorations of the islands of Japan’s Inland Sea, recording his search for traces of a traditional way of life as well as his own journey of self-discovery. Twenty years later, filmmaker Lucille Carra undertook a parallel trip inspired by Richie’s by-then-classic book, capturing images of hushed beauty and meeting people who still carried on the fading customs that Richie had observed. Interspersed with surprising detours—a visit to a Frank Sinatra-loving monk, a leper colony, an ersatz temple of plywood and plaster—and woven together by Richie’s narration as well as a score by celebrated composer Toru Takemitsu, The Inland Sea is an eye-opening voyage and a profound meditation on what it means to be a foreigner.
Japan,
United States of America
Documentary
56 minutes
1991
Lucille Carra
Travelfilm Company
2001
6.0
1998
5.7
2008
6.5
2020
6.0
2017
5.7
2016
6.5
2011
4.8
2018
5.5
2018
7.5
2016
5.0
2013
4.5
1995
4.9
2001
4.2
2013
0.0
2014
6.8
2016
0.0
2013
5.8
2013
0.0
1933
0.0
2015
0.0