There are two things about this gorgeously filmed and acted film that wrench your gut. There are also two things that make you exclaim … “But wait!”
“Sarogeto” opens with expressive scenes, from the lone figure on a wide expanse of gray beach to a vision of peaked red lips. At some point, we learn that the loving couple featured in “Sarogeto” met in Japan where she, Grace (serenely beautiful Ikumi Yoshimatsu), was a geisha waiting on a table for white men in suits. Despite her white make-up disguising her natural beauty, one of the men, Michael Stanton (Winsor Harmon), is instantly captivated.
They marry and run a successful business in the LA area of California. They end up wealthy enough to hire an “assistant” who has multiple areas of experience, including raising a young boy.
Grace and Michael have a really cool child, Augie, and a really cool, loving relationship. Michael will call Grace from work just to tell her he loves her. When a decision must be made, he respectfully tells her, “You’re the boss.”
Early on, Grace has a CAT scan and follow-up appointment with one of the finest doctors in his field. He shows her an image (it looks like an x-ray) of a mass growing beside her heart that is too dangerous to remove without killing her. Later, we see her medical report with melanoma (skin cancer) stamped on it.
That’s the first “But wait!” While she does have a spot on her chest, why is her diagnosis melanoma when there is a large mass by her heart? Furthermore, since she feels fine, why isn’t chemo, radiation, or immune therapy suggested?
In any case, Grace believes she has an imminently terminal condition. What should she do?
Instead of telling her loving husband, she hires an assistant to eventually take her place as wife and mother. That’s where you get the title, “Sarogeto,” which means surrogate in Japanese.
“Sarogeto” is beautifully filmed and exquisitely acted. Sensitive shadows, light, water, gorgeous profiles, a flowing white dress amidst the pine-needled Aokigahara Forest (Suicide Forest) in Japan float through the story. A repeated lone figure appears on an expanse of beach.
But, here it is, the second “But wait!” Why, amid such supportive nature and familial love, is the idea of surrogacy proposed so prematurely? Is a person destined to die such a potential burden that it’s better to train a replacement and plan a suicide at first notice of a disease?
Plus, since assisted suicide is legal in California, couldn’t Grace plan memorable events and vacations to celebrate life before her denouement?
I’m not sure what Santucci is trying to promote. I’ve been married to a Japanese Nisei so I’m familiar with the culture of respect, responsibility, and humility as well as perfectionism and depression. I was also diagnosed with 3 months to live in 2016. Sure, I didn’t want to go through the pain and incapacitation or be a burden on my family. So, I understand this part of Grace’s deliberations.
But since Grace is uncommunicative with her family, friends and us, we don’t know why she plans so prematurely and without consulting her doctor or husband. What else is motivating Grace? Why is she insisting on taking control of others’ lives, including the lovely young girl she chooses as a replacement?
Santucci might think the reveries of her life, her mother’s death and her father’s rejection, help explain Grace’s pre-emptive plan. Promos for the film state that “Sarogeto” explores “how the clash of East and West can shape one’s life and future” and that this is a “journey of a woman’s search to find peace for her family and spiritual enlightenment.”
I only see a parallel between the white-faced painted geisha Grace once was to the Grace she becomes upon diagnosis. She is hiding her true self while enmeshed in a historic norm she may misinterpret.
Santucci has been a successful entrepreneur in business and has a popular restaurant in Las Vegas. But this is the first time he has directed, written, and produced a full-length feature film. His touch is soft and gorgeous, but his premise of secretly preparing a surrogate, a surprise parting gift if you will, to take over upon death, seems more of a betrayal to her husband and son than a journey towards Japanese spiritual enlightenment.
Credits
Director: Nico Santucci
Writers: Nico Santucci and T. M. Hayes (screenplay)
Producer: Nico Santucci
Assistant Producer: Mella Noir
Cast: Ikumi Yoshimatsu, Eric Roberts, Winsor Harmon, Ruby Park, Koji Niiya, Aki Aleong, Angelica Bridges, and Nikki Nikita.
Cinematographers: Eugene Baiste and Landon Brands
Composers: Jakob Balogh, Martin Tillman, and Keaton Simons (music by)
Release: July 21, 2021, and available on digital platforms as of April 1, 2025
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