David O'ConnellMemoirs of a Geisha
August 21st 2008 04:11
There’s no logical reason to explain why I started watching this film the other night………….unless you consider these two words: ZHANG ZIYI!!!!!! Yes, the allure was too great after looking at this tape on my desk for month after month and dismissing it as merely a chick-flick with vague historical/literary pretensions. But those two mysterious words………ZHANG ZIYI……..and the unsurpassable images of beauty they conjure up took control of my hands, my senses, and I just had to see it through once it began and my first glimpse of that face, those eyes……………….
Ok, belt up!!!! I need to review this thing, damnit!!!
The aforementioned goddess of the screen stars as the newly-named Sayuri, who is sold by her poor peasant parents as a child into the harsh life of training to become a geisha. It’s a horrible life, as she’s virtually a slave for many years and her miserable existence is made more unpleasant at every turn by the sadistic Hatsumomo (Gong Li), who reveals the attributes of the perfect Hollywood bad “guy”! (Sort of!). She’s there to be a thorn in Sayuri’s side and inevitably take a fall to show how good will triumph over evil in the end.
There’s a man Sayuri falls for as a girl, the kind but untouchable Chairman (Ken Watanabe), and her quest will involve overcoming the odds against their love ever prospering as, with the help of her teacher Mameha (Michelle Yeoh), she connives to put herself in his path, whilst deceiving those around her and becoming the greatest geisha ever. The onset of war will thwart her plans for a perfect life for a few years but fate can be a kindly force for girls in Hollywood stories as this film proves.
I do plan to read the book at some point to experience a more fleshed-out version of the cultural richness that has obviously made the original story so popular, for apparently Rob Marshall’s film adaptation of the Arthur Golden bestseller is but a superficial translation - no real surprise considering Hollywood’s track record; as pure, fairly shallow, melodrama though it was watcheable enough, for a few good reasons.
There’s no doubting it’s a lavish production with Oscar winning art direction, costumes, and production design. Then there’s the score by John Williams - his main theme in particular is a captivating one and he fashions a few beautiful variations of it throughout the course of the film.
The most distinguishing mark though is left by Australian cinematographer Dion Beebe’s sumptuous work, with so many beautifully crafted scenes, with exotic tableau’s enhanced by their vibrant colours and sensuous light; some scenes are just breathtakingly beautiful and it’s a shame the screenplay doesn’t always do the dedication of the film's craftsmen full justice. Beebe’s Oscar win was fully justified however.
As for the acting………….well did I mention ZHANG ZIYI??? Clearly she should have won the Oscar, in fact she should win an Oscar every single time she acts……………………if someone films her reading a phone book in Hebrew, I’ll be there!!.................…ok, so maybe she’s not that good! But since she’s clearly the most beautiful woman in the whole wide world I’m going to go easy on her.
The rest of the cast aren’t particularly memorable, even great actors like Gong Li and the formidable Ken Watanabe (who seems a shadow of his God-like presence in The Last Samurai). They give stilted, uneasy performances speaking in English, and this whole film really would have worked a lot better, I felt, as a foreign language film which allows for the nuances of another language to shine through.
Overall, I admit to being reasonably entertained by Memoirs of a Geisha even if it did feel a bit bloated and hollow, and lacking in lessons on the true richness of geisha life.
Now I just need to find a copy of the book………………………hopefully one with pictures, sketches, anything, even incantations for summoning exotic mirages of a dancing, posing, smiling, (dare-I-say-it?), naked ZHANG ZIYI!!!!
Ok, belt up!!!! I need to review this thing, damnit!!!
The aforementioned goddess of the screen stars as the newly-named Sayuri, who is sold by her poor peasant parents as a child into the harsh life of training to become a geisha. It’s a horrible life, as she’s virtually a slave for many years and her miserable existence is made more unpleasant at every turn by the sadistic Hatsumomo (Gong Li), who reveals the attributes of the perfect Hollywood bad “guy”! (Sort of!). She’s there to be a thorn in Sayuri’s side and inevitably take a fall to show how good will triumph over evil in the end.
There’s a man Sayuri falls for as a girl, the kind but untouchable Chairman (Ken Watanabe), and her quest will involve overcoming the odds against their love ever prospering as, with the help of her teacher Mameha (Michelle Yeoh), she connives to put herself in his path, whilst deceiving those around her and becoming the greatest geisha ever. The onset of war will thwart her plans for a perfect life for a few years but fate can be a kindly force for girls in Hollywood stories as this film proves.
I do plan to read the book at some point to experience a more fleshed-out version of the cultural richness that has obviously made the original story so popular, for apparently Rob Marshall’s film adaptation of the Arthur Golden bestseller is but a superficial translation - no real surprise considering Hollywood’s track record; as pure, fairly shallow, melodrama though it was watcheable enough, for a few good reasons.
Sayuri's geisha debut is one of the film's most beautiful scenes
There’s no doubting it’s a lavish production with Oscar winning art direction, costumes, and production design. Then there’s the score by John Williams - his main theme in particular is a captivating one and he fashions a few beautiful variations of it throughout the course of the film.
The most distinguishing mark though is left by Australian cinematographer Dion Beebe’s sumptuous work, with so many beautifully crafted scenes, with exotic tableau’s enhanced by their vibrant colours and sensuous light; some scenes are just breathtakingly beautiful and it’s a shame the screenplay doesn’t always do the dedication of the film's craftsmen full justice. Beebe’s Oscar win was fully justified however.
As for the acting………….well did I mention ZHANG ZIYI??? Clearly she should have won the Oscar, in fact she should win an Oscar every single time she acts……………………if someone films her reading a phone book in Hebrew, I’ll be there!!.................…ok, so maybe she’s not that good! But since she’s clearly the most beautiful woman in the whole wide world I’m going to go easy on her.
Sayuri and the honorable Chairman (Ken Watanabe)
The rest of the cast aren’t particularly memorable, even great actors like Gong Li and the formidable Ken Watanabe (who seems a shadow of his God-like presence in The Last Samurai). They give stilted, uneasy performances speaking in English, and this whole film really would have worked a lot better, I felt, as a foreign language film which allows for the nuances of another language to shine through.
Overall, I admit to being reasonably entertained by Memoirs of a Geisha even if it did feel a bit bloated and hollow, and lacking in lessons on the true richness of geisha life.
Now I just need to find a copy of the book………………………hopefully one with pictures, sketches, anything, even incantations for summoning exotic mirages of a dancing, posing, smiling, (dare-I-say-it?), naked ZHANG ZIYI!!!!
Sayuri with Michelle Yeoh and the evil Gong Li!!
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