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Memoirs of a Geisha

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Memoirs of a Geisha (2005)

December. 06,2005
|
7.3
|
PG-13
| Drama History Romance
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In the years before World War II, a penniless Japanese child is torn from her family to work as a maid in a geisha house.

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VividSimon
2005/12/06

Simply Perfect

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Beanbioca
2005/12/07

As Good As It Gets

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Cleveronix
2005/12/08

A different way of telling a story

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Bob
2005/12/09

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

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ebuttitta
2005/12/10

I read a beautiful novel. Granted, I do not know much about Japanese culture, but the book was filled with information and subtlety that made me feel as though I did. The impression I felt was one of stifled hope under a beautiful mask that finally was able to burst through during the final pages. I cried.Then, I watched the movie, hopeful that it would be the embodiment of all of the emotion that the book had evoked from me. I normally have lower expectations of movie adaptations of books I have read because I understand that it is impossible to fit in every event and detail, but this film, for me, fell short.The beginning of the film was done incorrectly. The story of Sayuri being ripped from her family and subsequently throwing fits and crying was not true to the story and took away a piece of her character. When I read, I was struck by the fact that Sayuri didn't show much emotion more than silent crying and took that to be a cultural response. Sayuri being loud and throwing fits mischaracterized her.Hatsumomo was miscast, and Mameha was not done quite right. The character of Hatsumomo seemed too loud as I imagined her with a kind of quiet cruelty. Mameha was such an important character that I didn't feel she was given enough time or credit for all that she taught and gave to Sayuri. I wanted to see more of them entertaining as geisha. What a night for them would be like. Also, in the book, Mameha clearly plots directly against Hatsumomo, which, to me, was another important detail.The moment in which she meets the Chairman was not nearly as beautiful or heavily emphasized as it should have been. This was the moment when Sayuri was lost and without life direction and then decided to tether all of her hopes and dreams on this one man. Ken Watanabe was perfectly cast, but their meeting was too abrupt and insignificant. Nobu's character wasn't developed nearly enough. It was never truly explained how much he cared for her or the true reason why Sayuri did not want him as a patron. He was also supposed to be more disfigured. I missed this detail, not for the shock factor, but because it is what makes everyone pity him and what helps drive the Chairman to keeping himself away. I feel cheated because the most pivotal scene was changed. Sayuri should never have thrown the Chairman's handkerchief to the wind. She would have kept it always and never parted it with it for anything. She should have laid it in front of the Chairman as he spoke so that he would know that she loved him, too. Then end just wasn't right. The progression of the film was beautiful. I love the score, and I particularly love the scene in which she transforms into a geisha. The scene in which Sayuri danced was absolute heaven. Visually, the movie did many things right. Content-wise, it was a miss for me.

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Filipe Neto
2005/12/11

This movie is a dive into the world of Japanese Geishas. Its a misunderstood profession, full of mysteries even today. However, the film makes everything wonderfully enjoyable, emotional, so intense and engaging that I almost didn't feel the two and a half hours the movie takes. The story begins when young Chyio is sold by her parents to a geisha house. At once, it shows the drama of the separation, and we almost feel the child's excruciating pain in the incessant search for her sister, who quickly becomes the last family she feels she has. Then it will end, as Chyio takes his only remaining path of life: the life in the geisha house, ​​learning their profession by initiative of a mature geisha, who takes her as an apprentice. Other strong themes of the plot are the envy, rivalry between geishas and the difficulty they have to keep a romantic life since they're expected to be single and not behave like prostitutes. In any case, the plot captivates our attention and Chyio, later Sayuri, becomes a character the audience is able to empathize with.Despite having a good Eastern cast, mostly female, the highlight goes to Ken Watanabe, Ziyi Zhang, Suzuka Ohgo and Li Gong. Watanabe is virtually the only sounding name for western audiences, as he has a solid career in Hollywood, but the three female actresses I mentioned have brightened more than he did, as their characters have more presence and prominence than his Administrator. Li Gong is truly hateful as a villain, while the two actresses are the children's/adult version of Chyio/Sayuri. Cinematography, costumes, make-up and art direction are also brilliant and deserves to be congratulated. The film is visually magnificent, and the audience truly understands the effort made to make it realistic and believable. Mistakes or problems? In my opinion, perhaps just the difficult of reconciling English dialogue with specific Japanese terms. If they're terms without strict translation to English this is perfectly understandable. Anyway, since I watched the film with subtitles for European Portuguese, this linguistic issue didn't represent a problem for me, although I admit that English-speaking audiences may feel some difficulty with Japanese terms they don't know.

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Lola A
2005/12/12

I have read the book and as such I was very excited to watch the movie. Given that Les Miserables and Great Gatsby were amazing adaptions of the book I was expecting something similar from this one but was I wrong. The main problem with this adoption is that it lacks the emotion with which Geisha tells the story. She hates it, finds this whole world bizarre but in the movie we do not see it. It is shown as something she finds normal and adapts to it. There is emotion of dislike towards geishas expressed. Maybe the creators were being careful not to insult the culture but without that emotion and Chiyos attitude towards Geishas, the movie looses that what made the book so great. Real-life link: if you are not a modern undefended woman, you fate depends on others and sadly mainly rich man. Plausibility: A 14 year old falls for an older men because the men shows him kindness but why would an old men like the Chairmen fall for a kid so that he sends Mameha to help her become a geisha without being a pedo? There is something shady here that does not fit. But that has more to do with the book then the movie. Storytelling: Follows the book nicely, with the exception that it leaves out the reason why the father sells the girls and that it ends quickly without telling that the chairmen and Chiyo get together and have kids and she moves the states. Casting/ Acting: I liked the fact that the actors were not Westerns but what bugged me a bit was their accent, why would you not cast American actors with the same background to get rid of the accent? Overall, it lacked the emotion that makes the story of the Geisha so great.

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grantss
2005/12/13

Dull and seemingly interminable. Starts slowly, continues going slowly, thinks of speeding up, but then goes slowly, and eventually ends. All this, and the movie didn't really make a point. It is simply one long drifting story.Plus, the whole movie just seems culturally stereotypical and insensitive. Americans, even senior officers in their army, are brash, boorish louts. Japanese women are submissive to the extreme. And don't get me started on Chinese actors/actresses being cast as Japanese...Performances are OK. The standout is probably Susuka Ohgo as the young Chiyo. American characters are not played well at all.

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