 |
| Director
: |
Rob Marshall
|
| Starring
: |
Ziyi Zhang, Ken Watanabe,
Michelle Yeoh |
|
| The plot of
Memoirs of a Geisha |
A nine-year old girl from a Japanese fishing village
is sold to a geisha house in Kyoto. Able to survive
the harsh treatment and training, she transforms
herself into one of the most desirable geishas
in the land, just as World War II begins to rear
its head. Based on the runaway bestseller by Arthur
Golden. |
Memoirs
of a Geisha Review
|
Review by Todd
McCarthy:
The mysterious world
opened up to readers by Arthur Golden's international
best-seller has been moved to the bigscreen with beauty
and tact in "Memoirs of a Geisha." Long-gestating
project may seem like a risky one for an expensive studio
venture, given the virtually all-Asian cast, but the
combo of the subject's exoticism, the knockout trio
of lead actresses and book-built interest should be
enough to lure substantial audiences internationally
to what is, underneath it all, a conventional Cinderella
story.On a picture exec producer Steven Spielberg long
intended to direct himself, Rob Marshall follows his
smash "Chicago" debut with a consummate piece
of traditional studio craftsmanship that bespeaks fastidious
planning and execution in all departments. From a filmmaking
point of view, this is a work that the old Hollywood
moguls themselves would have been proud to present..more..
Review By Rob
Vaux:
Memoirs of a Geisha
breaks the heart in more ways than one. With a ludicrously
talented cast, a fascinating subject, and a best-selling
novel as a basis, it's hard to imagine how it could
miss. And yet, inexplicably, the results are hollow
and empty: beautiful trappings harnessed in the service
of a tediously pedestrian story. Its focus on the world
of Japanese geisha is breathtaking, but also dumbed
down and filtered through unconscionably Western eyes.
Director Rob Marshall loses the subtlety and grace such
material requires, and instead creates a soap opera
in white pancake, complete with scheming rivals, simplistic
power plays, and a few flat-out catfights. The historic
setting and exotic culture exists as a gimmick: the
only quality separating it from mainstream Hollywood
melodrama. Strip away the kimonos and you're left with
a pumped-up episode of Dynasty.It's a pity, because
the film's truncated glimpses into geisha society are
utterly intoxicating. Geisha are not, as the popular
Western misconception holds, prostitutes. They are instead
trained companions, skilled in refined arts such as
dancing, poetry, and music. They provide pleasure of
countless sublime variations, stimulating the mind as
much as the body, and while they may indeed sleep with
their clients, the transaction lacks the coarseness
of a common streetwalker: rich patrons formally auction
for the privilege of claiming a geisha's virginity.
The details of this life are among the film's principle
pleasures, rendered in flashes of bright color set against
a somber cityscape by the exquisite eye of DP Dion Beebe.Sadly,
such joys are bastardized by a conventional plot that
reshapes them for American audiences. Gone are the sobering
realities of a woman's status in prewar Japan, the complexities
that define and limit the geisha's ability to express
herself..More..
|
