Those who are quite knowledgeable about Japan's history and culture will find this subtle, almost opaque historical drama fascinating, but chances are that it will frustrate, puzzle and bore almost anyone else. It is a sort of sequel to the director's 1989 film, Rikyu, which concerns the martyrdom of a Rikyu, a great tea ceremony master in 16th-century Japan. He refused to enthusiastically support the ruling warlord Toyotomi's plan to invade China and bravely told him so and was ordered by the angry but respectful ruler to commit suicide. In a certain sense, that movie showed that their disagreements centered around the meaning of the tea ceremony itself. In this movie, a change in power has resulted in the new ruler appointing Oribe Furuta, one of Rikyu's disciples to the position of tea-master, and he has given Oribe the injunction to be creative. In fulfilling his instructions, the tea-master introduces an artistic concept ripe with religious (and political) overtones which could be called "esthetic imperfection." This is an ideal of beauty whereby a rough-looking object made (or selected) by a great craftsman or artist can be so perfectly harmonious and full of feeling that it vastly outshines more finished and symmetrical pieces and objects. To this day, much of the most valuable pottery in Japan (with the exception of very ancient pieces) reflects this esthetic. In subtle ways, the new tea-master expresses revolutionary discontentedness, which soon inspires an important princess and her culturally influential gardener to enact their own significant but discreet protests.