I have the movie Memoirs of a Geisha (2005 Film) and have watched this movie many times.
Memoirs of a Geisha (2005 Film)
The movie was a Arthur Golden's novel before it was made into a movie. The story follows one particular Japanese peasant girl whose father sends her and her sister to a famous geisha house… Her less attractive sister is sent away to a house of prostitution, and Chiyo is given domestic tasks until the time when she can be trained to be a geisha….
They created a beautiful 1930's Japan. The sets and costumes were stunning. Michelle Yeoh, Gong Li, and Ziyi Zhang all gave startling performances (Especially Ziyi Zhang and Gong Li. They were wonderful) It was amazing.
What I especially liked was how they showed the part after World War II - how the Geisha became more and more like the women they despised, the common prostitute. I think Pumpkin best showed this. She was once a quiet, timid girl, but after the Americans came she became a rowdy, sake-drinking, soldier-pleasing "geisha". How the American soldiers polluted this important part of Japanese Culture. This is a story about a few American soldiers mistaken ideas about Japan and geisha filtered through their own ignorance and misconceptions. But even with mistakes I found is dont look at this movie as a fictional story instead as a non-fictional love story. And just be taken away to a far away land and be swept up in the story not the historical factors.
My only qualms about the movie were, the English. It actually turned out better than I expected, but there were still some lines, especially by Ziyi Zhang, that I couldn't understand. All in all I found this movie very beautiful, elegant, story of a young girl who becomes a women and finds true love.
I have this movie and if anyone would like to borrow it please let me know.
Mon Oct 22, 2012 2:43 am