Memoirs of a Geisha (Movie Review)

Information:
A Sony Pictures Entertainment release of a Columbia Pictures, DreamWorks Pictures and Spyglass Entertainment presentation of an Amblin Entertainment/Red Wagon Entertainment production. Produced by Lucy Fisher, Douglas Wick, Steven Spielberg. Executive producers, Roger Birnbaum, Gary Barber, Patricia Whitcher, Bobby Cohen. Co-producer, John DeLuca. Directed by Rob Marshall. Screenplay, Robin Swicord, based on the novel by Arthur Golden.

Cast:
Sayuri - Ziyi Zhang
The Chairman - Ken Watanabe
Mameha - Michelle Yeoh
Nobu - Koji Yakusho
Pumpkin - Youki Kudoh
Mother - Kaori Momoi
Auntie - Tsai Chin
The Baron - Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa
Chiyo - Suzuka Ohgo
Hatsumomo - Gong Li
Dr. Crab - Randall Duk Kim
Sakamoto - Mako
The General - Kenneth Tsang
Mr. Bekku - Thomas Ikeda
Young Pumpkin - Zoe Weizenbaum
Sayuri Narrator - Shizuko Hoshi

Release Date: 23 December 2005 (USA)

Genre: Drama/romance

Awards: Won 3 Oscars. Another 17 wins & 28 nominations

(Information taken from http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117928913.html?categoryid=31&cs=1)

“Remember, Chiyo, geisha are not courtesans. And we are not wives. We sell our skills, not our bodies. We create another secret world, a place only of beauty. The very word "geisha" means artist and to be a geisha is to be judged as a moving work of art”.
Mameha (Quotation taken from the movie)

I deeply liked it because it is an incredible love story that takes you back on a journey to the past. I almost never watch movies but let me tell you that when I watched this movie, I was completely astonished about its content. I have always liked Japanese culture, especially because of Geishas but after I had the opportunity to watch this amazing movie, I have completely fallen in love with them; they are just astonishing. This movie was originally taken from a book, so I cannot imagine myself reading the book… I would be fascinating! But there must be something more exciting than reading the book and that is: having this Geisha in front of you! Although you are just watching a screen, you feel how her beauty impacts you and how her beautiful eyes shock you. But that is not all. Along the movie you can perceive how hard is to love someone who is out of your reach.

The movie starts in Yoroido -a small fishing village- where a beautiful girl called Chiyo lived with her sister Satsu and her parents. Her father was an old man and her mother was terminally ill. Unexpectedly these two girls’ lives changed when their father has to sell them and they are taken to Gion (geisha district) because he thought they could have a better life there. Chiyo, (the protagonist) is selected to live in the Nitta Okiya (house where geishas are taken care of) but her sister is rejected. Subsequently, Satsu is sent to a brothel in the Miyagawa-Cho district to become a prostitute. After living there and having difficult moments, Chiyo met a man on a bridge, who bought her some shaved ice. Since that moment, Chiyo fell in love with him and decided to become a Geisha at any cost because she thought it was the only way to get close to that person she loved the most. Chiyo has to face many problems and difficulties in order to be with her lover.

This love story takes place when Second War World was about to start. You can feel how living at that time was like, and the heavy atmosphere to breath, not only related to war but also to the bad taste of a frustrated love, frustrated by the situations presented at that time. It is not easy to try to show what you feel but you can’t just because there are external factors that forbid you to do it. She has three options for her life and for that reason, she is confused. On one hand she has a wealthy man she doesn’t love but who could take care of her in a decadent economy left by war or be confess what she really feels to the person she loves who, by the way, is the best friend of the wealthy man.

Their acting performance is the greatest I have ever seen because they perfectly assume the role of living those difficult years for Japan and the culture that existed at that time. It is not easy to represent a Geisha but this actress completely does because of her voice, her corporal expression, her beauty, I mean for everything; she is totally impacting not only because of her beauty but also for the way she acts in the movie.

All in all, I would say that this movie is a masterpiece because it joins things together as if they were pieces of a puzzle and shows them in an excellent elaborated and structured way. The movie is always unpredictable and you rarely know what is going to happen next. It is extremely recommended.

Jhon Anderson