I've seen plenty of people assume that the girl was deaf just because she didn't speak much. I didn't read it that way. If she was deaf then why would she go into the surf shop to talk about the prices, while he waited outside?
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But if she was not deaf, why did she allow Shigeru to miss his turn at the surfing competition?
Also, she's got a flashing rotating light thing in her house to alert her when there's someone at the door - surely that's a specialist piece of kit for the hearing-impaired?
I think she's just better at communication, with gestures and hand signs, than he is, so she tries to sweet-talk the surf shop people. She blags a lift to the competition, too. And in the short scene at the end, when she gets a lift again from the same guy, they are riding in silence, she doesn't thank him or anything.
A beautiful, thoughtful film, from an amazing director.
Good points -- I'll have to look out for that next time I watch the film. Only seen it once so far.
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