.png)
PG-13
Stars: Ziyi Zhang, Ken Watanabe, Michelle Yeo, Suzuka Ohgo, Mako, Gong Li Director: Rob Marshall
Producer: Steven Spielberg
Music: John Williams
Running Time: 2h 25min
Recently I had lunch with Emi, and I asked her to tell me about the Geisha culture in Japan. Coming from mid-west America, it always sounded so exotic to me, and the women seemed so beautiful. She did an excellent job telling me about the art form of the Geisha and I wanted to know more so that night I remembered there was a movie many years ago about a Geisha. It debuted in 2005 and is called “Memoirs of A Geisha”.
This drama is a fictional account of a nine-year old girl named Chiyo who is sold to a Kyoto geisha house in the 1920’s and it follows her life until after WWII. In the beginning, the event is very traumatic experience for the child because she is separated from her sister who is also sold into a different geisha home. Chiyo is a slave for the house and is mistreated by the lead geisha who brings in the income that keeps the place running. The woman who runs the home changes Chiyo’s name to Sayuri since the young girl is willful and disobedient. She no longer even has her own name.
In time, Sayuri becomes fascinated with the life of a Geisha but the mother of the house refuses to put her though the expensive training. Then by chance Sayuri meets a kind gentleman who pays for her training after he sees something special about the child and she embarks on the rigorous education as a geisha.
Memoirs is based on a novel by the same name written by American author Arthur Golden. I have no idea what kind of research Mr. Golden did to create this story, but I hope he was true to the Geisha culture. The music by John Williams sets a wonderful undertone to this film and the cinematography is lovely. You can certainly see the hand that Steven Spielberg had in the telling of this tale.
The one problem I had with the film was that many of the actresses were Chinese rather than Japanese. I can only blame Hollywood for that! All the actors do a fantastic job however, and the story is both sad and beautiful.
Commentaires