2005’s Memoirs of a Geisha offers a tale of love, destiny, and jealousy among other things within a rich tapestry of engaging visuals and a fascinating score. Directed by Rob Marshall (Chicago), Geisha takes us into the world of the Japanese geisha and wraps us up in a different culture despite all of the characters predominantly speaking flawless English with accents. The film would win Oscars for Best Art Direction, Cinematography, and Costume Design. It was nominated for Music, Sound, and Sound Editing.
The cast is a sore point for many because of the notion that there are Chinese actors playing Japanese roles. The film was even banned in China because of this, creating quite a stir throughout the media. The film stars the beautiful Ziyi Zhang as Sayuri, Michelle Yeoh as the wise Mameha, Ken Watanabe as The Chairman, and Li Gong as Hatsumoto. The performances were good enough, although the use of English took some of the steam out of the cultural elements.
The plot is fairly simple and yet gets bogged down in a lot of heavy focusing in on some unnecessary elements. The transition from nobody to celebrated geisha for Sayuri is downright confusing and neglects to play off of the potential for rich character development and a bit more plot clarity. There is a lack of any composition to the “love” between Sayuri and The Chairman, too, which is feebly explained within a rushed final fifteen to twenty minutes of the film in which suddenly we are witnessing a passionate love for the ages.
The first hour and a half of the film is based on the rise of Sayuri while, perplexingly, not really focusing on the rise of Sayuri. Somehow she is a desired geisha (it is somewhat explained that it is because she has beautiful eyes), but we never really get a sense for how massive her reputation is until later on in the film when she becomes a desired companion for damn well everyone in the history of the world. The focus on this forbidden love for a man she cannot have while she doesn’t want the men she can have is off-balance significantly because of the removed way in which the film chooses what to focus on.
The art direction and costumes are, indeed, very stunning. Zhang is beautiful, as is Michelle Yeoh, and the remainder of the cast fill out incredibly in the costumed elegance of the geisha world. The set design and the colour usage throughout the film belies a delicate world that we barely get a peek into. The reality behind the film is that it looks like a glossy photograph of a subject that is barely visible.
Memoirs of a Geisha could have accomplished so much more with its narrative, performances, and incredible look and sound. It didn’t, however, and it failed to bring a complete story to an audience that heard characters, in English, explain their lives without really ever seeing why they were important. The focus and the complexity seems “barely there” with this film and that is too bad. It had a lot of promise.
5.5/10
Trailer:
