When I was young, I saw "The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With The Sea," and I remember thinking that the movie seemed more Asian than English in theme. Only later did I discover that it was actually written by Yukio Mishima, and was, indeed, purely Asian as originally conceived.
Watching "Memoirs of a Geisha" last night, I was nagged by the opposite thought, i.e., that although this movie was set in Japan, it was thematically more aligned to the West. Even the geisha makeup seemed softened to western tastes, with the eyes and mouth accented in a very un-Japanese manner, and the amount of white face powder greatly reduced. Picture sort of a Noh version of a Charles Dickens story, or more appropriately, a Harlequin Romance.
For make no doubt about it, this is a chick flick, containing catty women scheming against each other, improbable love triangles, women seeking inner fulfillment and wallowing in self-pity when their dreams appear to be out of reach, and just incidentally, a plot hole you could push a cow through sideways.
Regarding this last comment (and here comes a spoiler), Sayuri is chagrined when Pumpkin brings the Chairman, rather than Nobu, to her dalliance with the American colonel. Since the Chairman and Nobu are partners, did she think the Chairman wouldn't hear about it from Nobu? In point of fact, Nobu certainly heard about it from some third party. So how did Sayuri think she could be appear a slut to Nobu while still remaining pure to the Chairman? It makes no sense at all, and appears to be merely a plot contrivance to get the characters where the screenwriter wants them for the even more improbable climax (which should have been omitted entirely).
Adding to the problems is a pacing which just plods along. I found myself looking at my watch a number of times, wondering if anything would ever happen, or for that matter, if the movie would ever end.
Why, then, do I give the movie six stars? Well, two are for the photography, which is superb throughout, and one is for John William's score, which while it is not terribly Japanese, is nevertheless effective. That leaves just three stars for the story.
On balance, there are better ways to spend an evening.
Watching "Memoirs of a Geisha" last night, I was nagged by the opposite thought, i.e., that although this movie was set in Japan, it was thematically more aligned to the West. Even the geisha makeup seemed softened to western tastes, with the eyes and mouth accented in a very un-Japanese manner, and the amount of white face powder greatly reduced. Picture sort of a Noh version of a Charles Dickens story, or more appropriately, a Harlequin Romance.
For make no doubt about it, this is a chick flick, containing catty women scheming against each other, improbable love triangles, women seeking inner fulfillment and wallowing in self-pity when their dreams appear to be out of reach, and just incidentally, a plot hole you could push a cow through sideways.
Regarding this last comment (and here comes a spoiler), Sayuri is chagrined when Pumpkin brings the Chairman, rather than Nobu, to her dalliance with the American colonel. Since the Chairman and Nobu are partners, did she think the Chairman wouldn't hear about it from Nobu? In point of fact, Nobu certainly heard about it from some third party. So how did Sayuri think she could be appear a slut to Nobu while still remaining pure to the Chairman? It makes no sense at all, and appears to be merely a plot contrivance to get the characters where the screenwriter wants them for the even more improbable climax (which should have been omitted entirely).
Adding to the problems is a pacing which just plods along. I found myself looking at my watch a number of times, wondering if anything would ever happen, or for that matter, if the movie would ever end.
Why, then, do I give the movie six stars? Well, two are for the photography, which is superb throughout, and one is for John William's score, which while it is not terribly Japanese, is nevertheless effective. That leaves just three stars for the story.
On balance, there are better ways to spend an evening.