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Back Shelf Beauties
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Memoirs of a Geisha Usually, it's Michael Moore or Oliver Stone who put out the controversial movies, but this year's big dust up is over the high minded, period piece, art flick Memoirs of a Geisha. The American writer of the novel, Arthur Golden, was sued by the geisha whose story was told on the pages of his acclaimed book. Steven Spielberg toyed with making the film for a few years, but chose to work on AI:Artificial Intelligence, Minority Report and Catch Me If You Can instead. Finally, the movie - about Japanese customs and culture - goes into production, but it's directed by an American and stars three big name Chinese actresses at a time when relations between China and Japan are strained. At the end of the day, maybe all of the controversy helped, because Memoirs of a Geisha is wonderful movie. Set in the years before World War II, Memoirs of a Geisha is the story of young Chiyo (Suzuka Ohgo) - a Japanese girl from the countryside, who, along with her older sister, is sold into slavery, as their mother is on the verge of death. Since she has some potential, Chiyo is taken in by a geisha house, while her sister is sent away to some place much worse. After losing her entire family, Chiyo is forced to become part of this new geisha family, but she has drawn the ire of the house's leading geisha, Hatsumomo (Gong Li), and the house mother (Kaori Momoi). Over the years, young Chiyo grows into a beautiful young woman who adopts the name Sayuri (Ziyi Zhang), and soon finds herself learning the ways of the geisha from Mameha (Michelle Yeoh), fighting for her future and falling in love with a mysterious, but generous man - the Chairman (Ken Watanabe). Can Sayuri achieve her goals, while chasing after this forbidden love of the Chairman? Memoirs of a Geisha is most memorable for the parts of the film and cast you normally don't notice, and succeeds in ways I find hard to put into words. Director Rob Marshall remarkably has established a challenging tone making the audience aware of the world the characters live in beneath the gloss. He shows the audience how the geisha is celebrated, but often disregarded as a trophy, which is why they so desperately pursue those who show them the least little bit of kindness (the dork and nerd breed of single men in America have been known to do the same thing). Each geisha has a competing sense of regality and sadness, and each one feels equal parts joy and bitterness in the path of their lives. This tone makes us feel the pain each character experiences as they pursue love, get betrayed by trusted friends, and see the end of their culture and lifestyle during World War II. In a way, Marshall shows us how each geisha is trying to make the best of a bad situation, and how they need to draw upon remarkable strength to avoid getting sucked into a destructive spiral. Adding to the tone, Marshall beautifully captures the look of pre-war cities and countrysides to appear like the most gorgeous of paintings. The production team built the entire geisha district on a sound stage out in California, created opulent party scenes, re-created a busy business district and a sumo wrestling arena all looking as if you were really there with incredible attention to detail. He shows us the rituals that dominate life including the artistic and precise application of makeup, dressing and training that transforms each geisha into a queen. From there, Marshall's cast and the script take over. Writer Robin Swicord's (based on the novel by Arthur Golden) script soars as we see and hear the back-biting, politics, double crosses and battles between the competing geishas, which brings out the best in each cast member. More recognizable stars like Zhang, Yeoh and Watanabe are just as good as we would expect, but American audiences are about to be bowled over by two members of the supporting cast. Gong Li, already a huge star in Asia, bursts onto the U.S. and world scene with the movie's best performance. She is the ultimate in adversaries as Li shows us Hatsumomo in all of her beauty and ugliness, never letting up on the poor young child she scolds and attempts to manipulate. Invective drips off her tongue like acid as Li shows us the rage her character feels, her false sense of entitlement and the sick pleasure she gets from exacting pain on others. On the male side of the cast, Koji Yakusho plays Nobu - the Chairman's war hero business partner. He takes his character across the gamut from cold hearted, disinterested client to a man who has passion bursting out of him as he falls for the wrong woman. We feel for the disfigured man who is ashamed of how he looks, who lets someone into his heart without the results he wished. Yakusho is able to bring that heartbreak out in Nobu with a great dash of honor mixed in. Memoirs of a Geisha wanes a little bit towards the end as we see Japan after World War II, but it's an excellent film. 3 ¾ Waffles (Out Of 4) Copyright 2005 - WaffleMovies.com
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