Memoirs Of A Geisha (DVD)

'Memoirs of a Geisha' is an amazing novel, and having heard it was going to be made into a film starring Zhang Ziyi and Gong Li (one of my favourite actresses) I was very excited. What I found was a very stylish, beautifully shot costume drama that ultimately didn't have a lot to show for itself.

The novel has a brilliant story and wonderful characters, but in this film the whole story was rushed and condensed, big parts of the novel were missing, and generally the way it was filmed seemed more focused on beautiful imagery and fancy direction rather than intimate storytelling. As a result, it didn't create anything like the drama of the book and I just felt that it was all style and no substance.

In terms of acting, I feel that the film would have been better if they'd had Japanese actresses speaking their own language, or possibly Asian actresses who at least had a good grasp of English. It's not a great thing to say, but the fact is with acting you need to be able to use language effectively, and none of the actors in this film could do that. Their speech was slow, stunted and often mispronounced or misinterpreted words. I'm sure they're good actresses, but just the difficulty with which they spoke the language came across heavily on screen and I felt this crippled the drama somewhat.

That said, I feel that 'Memoirs of a Geisha' is a very mediocre film. If you haven't read the book, than you may like it, if so then you're going to be seriously disappointed. This is an artistic, elaborate showcase of a film, it's not about people, the story is just a very mellow version of the book and the characters are butchered by actresses who can barely communicate coherently. It's all about pretty costumes and make-up and I left the cinema feeling very disappointed.

I had read the book and when I heard the film was being made I was excited, but then I heard bad reviews, but I was still determined to watch it. I am so glad I have, fantastic film, I was hooked, the acting was amazing, the scenery was lovely, the story line flowed, and it was easy to follow. Yes the film is long, but you dont know it whilst watching it, it brought a smile to my face when it was finished a story I wanted to continue and I didnt want to swicth off.

Before watching this film I did not know much about Geishas and what they did. This is a good film because it tells it how it is. The author did a lot of research before writing this story. This is a novel made into a big screen movie.

This is a romantic drama of Syuri looking for love and pursuing it. This is a story of a young girl growing up into adulthood. It is told in first person, she is reading her memoirs.

Syuri is the name she adopted when she became a Geisha.

Firstly from her parents who under tragic circumstances left her. Next from her sister who abandoned her when they decided to escape their separate Geisha houses but Syuri had an accident and her sister left without her. The people she lived with did not show love for her. Syuri finally found the love of her life (she became a Geisha in order to persue this love) but he did not show her his feelings towards her and she began to loose hope.

What I don't understand in this story is how the chairman fell in love with a young girl. He probably fell in love when he bumped into her after their first meeting, when she was an adult.

Another thing, Syuri found out she was secretly helped by the chairman (her love) to become a Geisha. This is ironic because her reason to be a geisha was to draw nearer to her love.

Watch this film to find out what happens to Syuri.

Great acting, good use of colour, very lovely kimonos.

A long film but worth watching.

I was so amazed at this film. I never really knew much about Geisha girls but this film shows the life of a girl from the very start. She is sold by her father with her sister because their mother is sick. They are split up and taken to sperate houses. Chyio (the main character) finds her sister and plans to run away but she has a acident and is taken back to her Geisha house. She is told that she will never be a Geisha girl and must be a servent for the rest of her life.
She then goes through hell and back as she grows up looking for love. She is spotted by the Chairman and a lady called Memaha who takes Chyio as her little sister to teach her how to be a Geisha girl. She is a huge success but then World War 2 starts and she has to go into hiding to save herself.
When she comes back, her little town has completely changed and there is no longer any Geisha schools as any girl can call herself a Geisha girl. The ways that she frew up in have completely changed.
I'm not going to tell you if Chyio finds her Prince Charming though, you will have to watch the film to find out.