Memoirs of a Geisha

Before we get started let me provide you with a key to assist you in following the following with greater ease. Why is this necessary you ask? Because the Japanese monikers from Memoirs of a Geisha are long and confusing, at least to me, so I believe it's easier to abbreviate, give you a brief description of the main characters and then move on. Trust me you'll appreciate this later.

Key:

Sayuri (Ziyi Zhang): The narrator of this her life story or the young geisha with distinctive light eyes. (Suzuka Ohgo plays her as a child when her name was Chiyo.)

The Chairman (Ken Watanabe): A businessman of importance in Japan. He has been the object of Sayuri's affection since she was a child.

Nobu (Kôji Yakusho): The Chairman's business partner and friend whose face was scarred saving the Chairman's life. Nobu is a gruff man who usually hates geisha but quickly warms to Sayuri's clever charm.

Mameha (Michelle Yeoh): A famed geisha who becomes Sayuri's mentor.

Hatsumomo (Li Gong): A beautiful geisha who lives in the same house as Sayuri but treats her with fervent disdain. She is Sayuri's malevolent enemy.

Pumpkin (Youki Kudoh): A childhood friend of Sayuri's who becomes her competition when they both become geisha.

From here on in these characters with only be referred to by using their first initial.

Sent in Kyoto, Japan before World War II Memoirs of a Geisha is a poignant account of a young girl sold into the life of slavery with the possibility of becoming a geisha once she reaches her teens. At this time geisha were the highly revered in Japan. They were beautiful, elegant, companion and entertainment to men who frequented teahouses in Japan. This doesn't mean to say that these women were prostitutes because they most definitely were not, they were artists (which is what geisha means) only afforded by the wealthy to be a refined attendant with accomplished class. The illusion of sex. The appearance of beauty. From early childhood geisha are trained in how to dance, sing, walk, and pour tea in a specific way to become respected and favorable geisha. The more talented and gracious equal's one's popularity which in turn equals more money. S infuriates the head of her household when she tries to run away to home and is tracked to be a house maid rather than a geisha for the rest of her life. Famed geisha M comes one day to make a proposal to turn S into a top geisha before twenty. The challenge is accepted and M begins the rigorous training to transform awkward S into an elegant beauty who can stop a man in his tracks with a single glance.

Before this miraculous opportunity dropped out of nowhere S as a young

girl suffered the constant abuses of her house's geisha H who brought in the money. H was a stunning geisha with a poisonous personality. To put it bluntly she is a colossal bitch. As soon as S stepped foot in the house at age nine H made it her mission to make her life miserable. She went out of her way to make sure S was unhappy every moment of every day. She did an excellent job. Even when S became an apprentice geisha H would follow her around to ruin her evening and spread rumors of promiscuity to sabotage her reputation. (A geisha who sleeps around, even once (without going though the proper channels) is looked upon with disdain and ostracized in the intimate community)). M manages with her wits to put out the fire before it spreads and S works her way up the geisha ladder.
Also as a young girl a man who was the epitome of a perfect gentleman stopped in the street to treat her with kindness (an action that would never occur), since that day S has done everything she possibly could, without exposing her true feelings, to reunite with this man. She harbors the fantasy that he will remember her from that fateful day and love her immediately and her life will finally be complete and joyous. When she is reunited with the man, C, it is at a sumo match where she is brought to entertain his business partner N. Bitter acidic geisha hating N takes a liking to S's witty banter and allows her to be brought again. His affection for her grows and becomes obvious to all, hampering her hopes of being able to reveal her true feelings for C. She manipulates situations to spend as much time with C as she possibly can, going as far as sabotaging her friendship with N just so her dream can survive, no matter how far fetched. After years of hope she finally has to face the fact that a geisha is never anything more than a geisha, not afforded the chance even to pursue a life that is their own.

(Isn't that confusing?)

Originally a novel by author Arthur Golden (a beautiful novel by the way: highly recommended) Memoirs of a Geisha captured the attention of Hollywood bigwigs Stephen Spielberg, Rob Marshall and Douglas Wick. Writers Wright and Robin Swicord create a screenplay that sticks very close to the novel and director Marshall captures the concept on film. With all this talent it's not surprising that the film is getting as much acclaim as it is. It is slow in parts but there is so much substance to the story that it would be difficult to be true to Golden's

original work without much of the background that is provided.

The same afternoon I saw Memoirs of a Geisha I bought the book. I read the book in four days. I could not put it down. What fascinated me even more was the fact that it was written by an American man. In my opinion that is more than impressive. As I previously mentioned the movie is very true to the Golden's novel but for all my searching I can't find any involvement from Golden associated the film other than the fact that he penned the best selling book. I wonder what he thinks of the film. As for me I really did enjoy it. The book was better but isn't it always.

Movie Grade: A

Synopsis:

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.