Film: Memoirs of a Geisha
Cast: Ziyi Zhang, Gong Li, Michelle Yeoh, Ken Watanabe
Director: Rob Marshall
They say a geisha is not a prostitute. She is an "artist of the floating world". Her job is "to entertain men". She can be the wife to no man because "she is the wife of nightfall". But her virginity can be auctioned off to the highest bidder. And the story of the "eel and the cave" is a reality, however infrequent it may be. Pardon my ignorance of ancient Japanese culture, but if you take away the arts and music isn’t a geisha, too, a pursuer of the world’s oldest profession?
Memoirs of a Geisha, an adaptation of Arthur Golden’s bestseller, follows the travails of a young girl, Chiyo, from her impoverished childhood near the sea to being a geisha legend. Chiyo (Suzuka Ogho) and her sister are sold off when their parents could not afford to bring them up.
She was working as a slave in the geisha household of Mother (Kaori Momoi) when she has a chance encounter with the Chairman (Watanabe). The young girl with eyes "that had water in them" was enamoured by the kind gentleman who made her smile. But she couldn’t do anything about it. Until one day when Mameha (Yeoh), a famous geisha, comes up with a proposal to take Chiyo (now grown up and played by Zhang) under her wings. Chiyo is renamed Saiyuri and her journey begins towards geisha-hood.
Michelle Yeoh and Ken Watanabe have come up with amazingly restrained performances. Yeoh, in particular, is a delight as the seasoned geisha who cares for the sprightly young girl in whose eyes she sees greatness.
The ‘special appearance by Gong Li’ that we see on the posters is an insult to the great actress. As the rival geisha, Hatsumono, Gong Li is simply superb. She is the one carrying the film and is a marvellous foil to the younger actress. She makes you hate her for her bitchiness, but also pity her for her life.
The last time I saw an actress and said "beauty like this is a sin" was when I saw a fiery young warrior in search of her destiny. I say it again. And guess what, it is the same actress. Ziyi Zhang matches her fragile looks with a credible performance. Her character, despite being the heroine, is not very fleshed out, but still Ziyi brings life to it.
Memoirs of a Geisha (the film, at least) is nothing but a mushy love story. It is a movie of epic proportions, but it does not become an epic simply because the story is not strong enough. The screenplay tries to compress too much into two-and-a-half hours that the last quarter is too rushed, too contrived and too much of a letdown. The change in pace is very evident.
Rob Marshal (Chicago) has done a fabulous job in visualising early 20th century Japan and cinematographer Dion Beebe has given him the assistance to bring it to us. John Williams’ score is both haunting and soothing. The art and visual departments have come together in such a way as to arrest our eyes.
Make no mistake, visually, Memoirs of a Geisha is as lush a period piece as they come. Beyond that it’s just Mills and Boon. To understand the nuances of that time and culture you need at least a 144-episode series, not a 144-minute film, Until then you can tell me as many times a geisha is not a prostitute, but you cannot convince me.
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