The Sea of Trees
Publisher’s Note: The Sea of Trees is an archetypical journey of forgiveness and healing that reflects the Law of One – when we help another, we heal ourselves.
Movie Spotlight – The Sea of Trees
Produced by Ken Kao
Directed by Gus Van Sant
Starring: Matthew McConaughey, Naomi Watts, and Ken Watanabe
In The Sea of Trees. a powerful story of love and redemption, Matthew McConaughey stars as Arthur Brennan, an American professor who travels to Japan in the midst of a personal crisis. As he wanders through a mysterious forest with a dark past, he experiences flashbacks of his fraught but loving relationship with his wife, Joan (Naomi Watts), and meets an enigmatic stranger, Takumi (Ken Watanabe), who is lost and injured. Arthur devotes himself to saving Takumi and returning him home to safety, and the two embark on a spiritual, life-changing journey of friendship, discovery, and healing—one which may ultimately re-connect Arthur with his love for his wife.
The Sea of Trees opened August 26 in theaters across the US.
Crew and Cast of The Sea of Trees
KEN KAO (PRODUCER) is co-founder and CEO of Waypoint Entertainment, a production, development, and financing company. In 2014, Kao established Bloom, a film distribution, sales, and financing company with veteran international film executive Alex Walton. In addition to representing films as a foreign sales agent, the pair are building a diverse slate of films – from commercial, talent-driven titles to specialty films from proven filmmakers.
GUS VAN SANT (DIRECTOR) has been winning over critics and audiences alike since bursting onto the scene in 1985 with his widely acclaimed feature film Mala Noche, which won the Los Angeles Film Critics Award for Best Independent/Experimental Film of 1987. His body of work includes many hallmarks of independent cinema, notably Drugstore Cowboy, My Own Private Idaho, and Even Cowgirls Get the Blues.
Texas native MATTHEW MCCONAUGHEY (ARTHUR BRENNAN) is one of Hollywood’s most sought-after leading men. A chance meeting in Austin with casting director and producer Don Phillips led him to director Richard Linklater, who launched the actor’s career in the cult classic Dazed and Confused. Since then, he has appeared in over 40 feature films that have grossed over $1 billion; and has become a producer, director, and philanthropist – all the while sticking to his Texas roots and “jk livin” philosophy.
NAOMI WATTS (JOAN BRENNAN) was honored with an Academy Award® nomination for Best Actress for her performance in Juan Antonio Bayona’s The Impossible, starring alongside Ewan McGregor. For her role as a courageous wife and mother struggling to survive the aftermath of a tsunami, she also earned Best Actress nominations from the HFPA for a Golden Globe Award, from the SAG Awards®, the Broadcast Film Critics and she received the Desert Palm Achievement Actress Award at the Palm Springs International Film Festival.
Since KEN WATANABE (TAKUMI NAKAMURA) made his American film debut in Ed Zwick’s The Last Samurai (Oscar, Screen Actors Guild, Critics’ Choice and Golden Globe award nominations) opposite Tom Cruise, the actor has collaborated with some of most significant filmmakers of our time. In 2006, Watanabe portrayed the courageous Japanese General Tadamichi Kuribayashi in Clint Eastwood’s award-winning World War II drama Letters from Iwo Jima. Watanabe first worked with director Christopher Nolan on the 2005 blockbuster Batman Begins and subsequently on Inception. For Rob Marshall, Watanabe starred in Memoirs of a Geisha, the lush screen adaptation of Arthur Golden’s best-selling novel.
