Memoirs of a Geisha

Beat Takeshi

Beat Takeshi

Two-Hip Shakur
This movie looks freaking incredible. I watched the trailer a while ago on apple trailers and I just bought a book called "Memeoirs of a Geisha - A portrait of the film". This book has the most beautiful shots in it from the movie and I highly recommend it for those who love to study the art. There are a ton of images to drool over in it and I think its way worth the money. This, along with the book " Making Pictures: A Century of European Cinematography" will be the books I study for technique and inspiration before a shoot.
 
I wanted to love this movie. But then I watched the trailer.

I still love Zang Ziyi. But it doesn't look like it's off to a great start.

I hope I'm just jaded.
 
well its gotten a huge surge of responseslately from the book people and television. I want to see this becuase Zhang Ziyi finally speaks english and there are alot of great asian actresses. Can't wait.
 
Velvet Jones said:
I love how the supposedly Japanese leads are played by Chinese actors. :huh:
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man i was just thinking that!but look at some of the american and english actors playing all kinds of european roles? the nerve of Don Cheadle playing in hotel rwanda although rather good but still his origin is not from there or maybe? he is african american and she is asian. awe hell we all look alike anyway if you really think about it
 
um it happens all the time in asian. Example there biggest hit now is Initial D.

A Japanese Manga with A Hong Kong Director with both Mainland China and Kong Kong Actors film across asia.

MUSA

All korean Cast except a few including zhang Ziyi about a korean war films in china.
 
I read an interview from the other lead actress and she said that the concept of being a woman in that situation is univeral so it shouldnt matter who plays the part. Thats not verbatum of course but I thought that was an interesting response to the question. Besides, are their any mainstream Japanese actresses around? I cant recall any at the moment.
 
most of them are younger actresses, like kou shibotu and chiaki kiryama and aki maeda aoi maeda
 
Well, I just watched it... Great cast, cinematography, production design, music, everything you would expect... but none of it matters when the movie lacks soul. And that is, unfortunately, how this one felt - soulless. It's actually the same problem I've had with Chicago, Marshall's previous work. As a result the movie is just... well, boring.
Too bad, it could have been really great in the right hands.
 
I just watched this the other day. I got to admit I only watched it for Ziyi Zhang.

I have a lot of Chinese and Japanese friends in Paris and I think the idea of casting Chinese for a film about Geishas is insane. They made two great mistakes, that and the fact that the make-up is not "geisha" at all. This ruins the picture, in the sense one can not take it seriously at all. Though one can still enjoy it on it's own accord.

Some poster said we all look the same, but I think the Chinese actresses look Chinese and not Japanese... It is a bit insulting to the Japanese to make this film in this manner. That said, I remain and always will be a great Ziyi fan.

It was somewhat entertaining, but it was lost along the way in trying to create one of those hollywood bubble love stories... A little realism would have been nice.

Here is an interesting FAQ about the film....
http://www.immortalgeisha.com/faq_memoirs_geisha.php

I will quote two passages from the above FAQ:

Was Memoirs of a Geisha inspired by any real life geisha?

Whilst Memoirs of a Geisha is a fictional story, Arthur Golden did interview two ex-geisha during his researching phase. The first geisha he spoke with was Kiharu Nakamura, whom he spent an evening speaking with. Kiharu-san has her own biography out about her life as a Shimbashi Geisha. The second geisha he spoke with, and whom he gives a lot of credit to in helping him understand the geisha world is Mineko Iwasaki, who was a very famous maiko and geiko in Gion, Kyoto. Mineko-san released her own memoirs about her life recently, called "Geisha, A Life" (or "Geisha of Gion" in countries outside of the U.S.A.). No doubt, elements from these two geisha's lives helped inspired events in Memoirs of a Geisha.


Why was Mineko Iwasaki suing Arthur Golden?

Mineko-san felt betrayed by Arthur Golden, as according to her, he had promised not to mention her name in the book, as the geisha who spoke to him so candidly about her life and yet, at the back of the book, he mentions Mineko-san's name and also during numerous of interviews he undertook after the publication of the novel. This was the main basis for the lawsuit. Mineko-san also believes that Arthur Golden has claimed that she told him that her mizuage cost a record amount, whilst she vehemently denies that she ever went through. In addition, she believes there are many inaccuracies in the book, and that the book has brought shame upon her, her family and the geisha world.​

Beautiful cinematography and if you love unrealistic romantic titanic style hollywood dramas, it is still worth to see.

Personally I am reading Mineko-sama's book rather than Golden's one day.

All the best,

LLD
 
I saw this film last night. I thought it was pretty good, actually. Everything about it was really well done. It was on the subtle side though. :)

John Williams' score (which won the golden globe) was interesting, I have to say. I was expecting something a little different from him. It stays pretty much subtle until the end, where it had a nice string buildup (JW styles!).

I don't see a problem with having a chinese actor as the lead. There are certain features about Japanese, Chinese people etc. that can set them apart. Having said that, that's not always the case, so Ziyi Zhang could easily be passed off as Japanese.

Anyway I'll probably go and see this again in a few weeks.

:)

-Chris
 
Boooooooriiiing.

Despite the superb cinematography, acting, and score.

Interesting note -- had this movie been made 10 years ago, it's quite possible it would have been Michelle Yeoh in the lead instead of in the supporting role.
 
i think this movie is insulting to Japanese actors. There are tons of great Japanese actors that would have been much better suited to the role. But then again, this was a book about geisha written by a white academic, who could never truly understand the inner world of the geisha (because he is not one). The geisha that he interviewed for the book later sued him in court because he misrepresented her story so much. In this way, I guess Hollywood's interpretation of the book is pretty accurate....in that they both were misrepresentations of reality.
This movie was promoted as a love story in Japan, called 'Sayuri', trying to distance itself from being a representation of actual Japanese society. Also, the accents were definitely not Japanese English but rather Chinese, quite distracting for those who are accustomed to one or the other.

Imagine a Japanese businessman trying to write a script about the Hell's Angels. It might be entertaining but probably more a reflection on himself than his subject matter.

Sorry to go off, but Hollywood's treatment of Asian cinema is quite poor, with the exception of Tarantino (who admittedly rips off everything from Asia) and 'Lost In Translation', which was spot-on in depicting life in Tokyo for an expat (and I always wonder how Asian groups in the U.S. thought it was racist....)

じゃーそれで終わります。
どうも。
 
My wife started watching this last night and turned it off after about an hour; she cited 'Not being able to get into it' but acknowledged the technical achievment of photography, costume, score etc...

I'll be watching tonight or manana for a final review. But...

As far as casting a chinese actor in a Japanese role ? Get over it.

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Sorry to go off, but Hollywood's treatment of Asian cinema is quite poor ...
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Is'nt that what Asian Cinema is for ? Or can you elaborate on that one ?

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A couple posters have mentioned that they find it insulting to Japanese that a Chinese woman would play this part; I find that borderline racism.

As another poster stated; with Don Cheadle playing a Rwandan, is that insulting to Rwandans? What about Russel Crowe playing a spaniard in Gladiator or an American Boxer Jim Braddock in Cinderella Man ? How about Antonio Banderas playing Cuban and Mexican ?

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Get over it.
 
John_Hudson said:
A couple posters have mentioned that they find it insulting to Japanese that a Chinese woman would play this part; I find that borderline racism.
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You can look at it from that way, but I definitely agree with their concern. I don't see it as racism, just accuracy. Most people with asian heritage can tell the difference between chinese, japanese, taiwanese, filipino's...etc, saying "they look the same" may be true to people who can't tell the difference, but at the same time, that same asian culture who is going to watch this movie is looking at the screen going "hey, that's a chinese person playing a japanese roll".

I had an asian teaching assistant for a speech class last year, and it was her second week of living in the states. She told us that we all look the same to her. I found that shocking, but we do it to them all the time. We can see the differences in our culture, but not theirs. It's the same way for them.

So I don't think it's racism at all, it's just getting their suspension of disbelief ripped apart by seeing a miss-cast person playing the role.

It'd be like Tom Hanks playing the role of Kunta Kinte in Roots. It'd just stick out too much for the story to be believable.
 
This is a rediculous argument. What about Pacino playing a Cuban? This kind of thing happens all the time. Lou Diamond Phillps plays a wide variety of roles. Be happy we're not in the forties with Sidney Toler playing the part of Charlie Chan. Or David Carradine as Kwai Chang Caine.
 
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