Memoirs of a Geisha

Who said "they look the same"?

All I've seen is people saying "it's a movie, get over it." I think it's a trivial thing to get upset over . . . worrying that if an actor is playing a nationality, they should BE that nationality.

As for the accent, it couldn't be any worse than Kenneth Branagh hitting just about every region in the US with his accent in "Dead Again," but that criticism doesn't come up much.

And hey! What's with all those British bands singing with American accents, anyway? Don't they know any better?
 
I don't see it as racism, just accuracy
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Maybe racism was not the right word and I apologize for that knee-jerk response...

But accuracy ? With that train of thought I can't imagine the roles we would miss. Or does this only apply to Asian actors ?

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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
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No. Come on. That's a bit extreme isn't it ?
 
Hollywood casts to make money. They're not gonna choose a cast of no name actors based on accuracy, that's too big of a risk for a studio to accept. I don't think racism is a factor in their decision, just strict dollars.
 
John_Hudson said:
Maybe racism was not the right word and I apologize for that knee-jerk response...

But accuracy ? With that train of thought I can't imagine the roles we would miss. Or does this only apply to Asian actors ?

No. Come on. That's a bit extreme isn't it ?
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The Tom Hanks thing is very extreme, I was just using it to make a point. I have not seen Memoirs yet, but I'm under the impression that it's supposed to be a glorified historical story? If that's not the case, then accuracy doesn't matter really, I just understand where the people who are objecting to the mis-casting are coming from. I personally am not going to be affected by the subtle change when I watch this film, in fact I can't even tell the difference so it doesn't matter to me.

So I suppose that the ridiculousness of this 'minor detail' (if we can consider it that) is only important to those that can tell the difference.

It'd be like us nerdy film geeks watching a crappy made-for-tv movie and noticing bad framing, a crappy edit or even a boom pole dropping into frame and disliking the movie slightly more because of the error. An average joe couldn't care less but it means something to us and therefore it changes our views of the whole film.

Just trying to play devil's advocate here. :love4:
 
Just to add to your post. If a person is looking for history, a Hollywood movie is not the place to go. There was a program on the History Channel called "History vs Hollywood" (I think) where the historical accuracy of "historical fiction" (oxymoron?) is examined. It's getting so we can't even trust "documentaries" any longer. :Drogar-BigGrin(DBG)
 
Dammit! I guess that means we can no longer enjoy The Godfather...after all Pacino was the only Italian cast in a major role.:undecided

What a ridiculous argument.
 
Wasn't Brando of Italian ancestry? And I thought James Caan shortened his name from Caanoli...:evil:
 
Brando = "mostly Irish" with some Dutch
Caan = German Jewish

Duvall doesn't count, because the Tom Hagen character was adopted, and was never supposed to be Italiano

Edit:
Blaine, i know you were laying on the sarcasm...just reinforcing my case.

By the way...
that's great stuff - Caanoli:D
 
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Thank you Callaghan. Maybe the best example yet.
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On a further note:

Memoirs is not even based on an actual person or on actual events. The character of Sayuri and her story are completley invented. The historical fact's of the Geisha's day to day life, are not.
 
I saw this on dvd last week and really enjoyed it. I do enjoy alot of great Asian cinema that is with subtitles so it was weird to see a very Asian-looking film done in heavily accented English.
However, I quickly got over that and really enjoyed it.

I also saw it on a small tv. I can imagine how cool it looked in a theater
 
Memoirs of a Geisha was banned in China. Why? It had Chinese actors portraying Japanese "whores".

There's some political tension over here between China and Japan, since the Japanese prime-minister started visiting a shrine built in memory of Japanese soldiers that fought in WW2 (which China states as a glorification and validation of WW2 Japanese attrocities, namelly the kill of hundreds of thousands of Chinese in Mainland China.)

The Chinese think it is humiliating for them to have a Chinese actress portraying a Japanese "Geisha", and Vice-Versa. Bottom-line? If this movie was great, this wouldn't be such a topic for debate...
 
I just finished it

I really enjoyed this film. I 100% agree this was one of the best films of the year and worthy of the Oscar acclaim and hype.

As expected, technically this film is perfect in every area: Photography, Art Direction and Costume Design (Which it won all 3 for) and Score ! They are wonderful.

2 solid performances by

Li Gong as Hatsumomo

and

Kaori Momoi as Mother

and neither one recognized by the Academy in a Supporting Role (But Weisz get's nod ? If you actually watched the crapfest that was The Constant Gardener you'd see her performance was nothing that warranted a nomination. In fact, why was the Academy all over the Gardners jock ?)

Not at all a waste of time and after reading this thread, surprised at the negative response. The film, at times, lacks the mandatory Hudson chreshendo / dechreshendo but I found it such a detailed and intricate story I accepted this tone early on. A true tragedy of a love story.


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Li Gong and Ziyi Zhang are easy on the eyes.


That's my take.


4 of 5 Stars


This scene was good times.


Geisha18.jpg



This scene was intense


geisha33.jpg


Did I mention Li was easy on the eyes ?

geisha31.jpg


Something else I found interesting is all of the locations used in the film ? Who says you can't shoot a film (in) Japan in California ?

American River, Sacramento, California, USA
(Pilot Hill Section)

Belasco Theatre - 1060 S. Hill St., Downtown, Los Angeles, California, USA
(Kyoto Dance Hall scene)

El Dorado County, California, USA

Hakone Gardens, Saratoga, California, USA

Huntington Library & Botanical Gardens - 1151 Oxford Road, San Marino, California, USA

Japanese tea garden, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, California, USA

Kyoto, Japan <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< What scene ?

Los Angeles, California, USA

Moss Beach, California, USA
(exteriors)

Presidio, San Francisco, California, USA

Sacramento, California, USA

Sony Pictures Studios - 10202 W. Washington Boulevard, Culver City, California, USA
(studio)

Thousand Oaks, California, USA
(Kyoto Gion district set)

Yamashiro Restaurant - 1999 N. Sycamore Ave., Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

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The film must really be on D-Mac's **** list now.

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As far as the lawsuit is concerned between Mineko Iwasaki and the author Arthur Golden; isnt this just typical anyway ? She grants the guy a 2 week stay and 100 hours of interviews and now is upset that her name was used in the novel of the Japanese version ? Is it possible there never was an agreement to not use her name ? It has already been stated by her and him that about 10% of the book is actually her life; the rest is a novel.

She is so concerned about her name being used; yet she wrote an autobiography about her life ?

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0743444299/qid=1144658592/sr=2-2/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_2/104-6358894-2887137?s=books&v=glance&n=283155

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0743220366/qid=1144658592/sr=2-3/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_3/104-6358894-2887137?s=books&v=glance&n=283155

and what is she suing for ?

"She is now suing him for a portion of the book's profits."

Eh.... That's old news anyways.

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What I really enjoy are the 2 posters that are somehow authorities on the Japanese Geisha world of the 1940's.

I mean, do we want to look at these girls:



web_C204_GentleGeishas.jpg


or THESE 3 BETTIES ?

20three-geisha-hq2.jpg
 
Hey guys

I shot some Super16 last week and we did a telecine and there is this grainy stuff in the darks. We have decided to go with a 3CCD and to shoot only 60i as the grainyness looks horrible and soft to us.
 
I love the grain...reminds me of canvas...wait, I didn't say that? :evil: But I do like that slightly grainy look of film :thumbsup:
 
If you want to see beautiful asian cinema watch any movie by tran anh hung, wong kar wai, or hou hsiao-hien, not this Hollywood disgust.
 
John_Hudson said:
Hey guys

I shot some Super16 last week and we did a telecine and there is this grainy stuff in the darks. We have decided to go with a 3CCD and to shoot only 60i as the grainyness looks horrible and soft to us.
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:evil:
 
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