I went to see “Sayuri” aka “Memoirs of a Geisha” tonight. My impression of the film is more or less the same as what the critics have said, but here’s some of my observations/opinions in case you’re interested:
The GOOD: Suzuka Ohga who plays young Sayuri gives the best performance. Zhang Ziyi’s English is not bad and the Chinese accents didn’t bother me. The cinematography is very extravagant and rich and every scene is lush. Zhang Ziyi and Gong Li are gorgeous and nice to look at. Zhang Ziyi did a pretty good job as a Geisha but I watched “House of Flying Daggers” this morning so I kept expecting her to pull out a sword or do a flying kung-fu kick. I liked the scene where young Sayuri is running through the red torii to the shrine. It really captures her determination and feel spirit. It’s also the last sequence in the film.
The BAD: I swear at times the music sounding like something from the Peking Opera and I think I heard a gong once or twice. The earlier scenes of Kyoto seemed more like China. Nothing really resembled Gion to me, but then again I’ve only been there once. Kudoh Yuki’s American accent was out of place and the Chinese accents seemed more natural. The soundtrack was a bit “too much”, I didn’t really like it. And they kept showing this establishing shot with a pagoda, in the evening, in the morning etc. I found that a bit obvious. Guess the director feels like he has to hit us over the head with cliche images in every shot else we forget we are in Japan because of the Chinese actresses. Unlike the book, the film doesn’t reveal anything about a Geisha beyond the superficial. Sayuri’s tranformation from chambermaid to Geisha is compressed into a few minutes and we don’t learn anything about a Geisha’s art. Why is Sayuri the best Geisha? What sets her apart? The film is a very watered down version of the book. Only the basic plot and cheesy love story is left. It is weren’t for the spectacular production values, I’d think I was watching a made for TV movie.
Still it’s nice to look at on a big screen.
It’s such a pity if the music seems really like the Peking Opera and some scenes seems more like China, as Kyoto and China are completely different!!
I’m gonna go see the film as soon as I have time! Then I’ll let you know what I think.
How is the reaction to this movie in Japan? I read from newspapers that Japanese audience panned it while cinema-goers in China threatened to boycott it.
When I heard the sound track of Sayuri in Virgin Megastore in NY (actually, it is called “Geisha”), I felt exactlly the same way. The people in Hollywood does no understand the difference between China and Japan still! What a shame!!
I saw that Geisha movie today and I thought it was great. However, by “that Geisha movie” I meant “Gion Bayashi” directed by Kenji Mizoguchi in 1953. As a black and white film made in 1953 I entered the theater expecting a narrow variation of pale shades of business suit grey. Now, I wouldn’t even call the film black and white. It was like an ever-changing tapestry woven of silk-soft, liquid-silver thread that was in continual and simultaneous flux between the darkest tarnish-black, through every value of grey from charcaoal, to pewter, and all washed by the brilliant white light of a full moon rising over the eastern mountains.
In the December 2005 “Cultural News – Widow to Japanese Culture and Art” (http://www.culturalnews.com) there are a couple of quotes I will take out of context. They are by Japanese participants in the Hollywood movie “Memoirs of a Geisha.”
Kaori Momoi (Mama-san):
“Momoi first explained that those who mistake the film for historical accuracy or a biopic (biographical picture) will be missing out. In ‘Memoirs’ she explained, ‘we are like fish swimming around Ryugujo (classic Japanese story of a castle at the bottom of the sea). Just like that ‘Memoirs’ is a fantasy… Japanese geisha speaking English is unthinkable, yet the whole film is in English.’
“Momoi went on to explain that the film is ‘a total imagination,’ pointing even to the styles and way the kimonos were worn, ‘unthinkable from the Japanese point of view,’ yet, Momoi continued to explain, the costume design along with the set design and cinematography helped to create a film that is ‘pure fantasy and visually stunning.’”
Masakazu Yoshizawa (actor as drummer, composer and performer of Japanese shakuhachi flute):
“Yoshizawa prefers working on non-Japan-themed films where he can still use the shakuhachi or other Japanese flutes. ‘I feel more comfortable with that,’ he says. ‘When they make a Japan-themed movie using traditional instruments in kind of a strange way, I feel it distorts our tradition. I feel more comfortable, and have more fun, working on other movies.’”
What do you think they are really trying to say here?
I think all those comments are just lame excuses.
On one hand they say they went to great detail to make sure they were accurate in protraying the Geisha. Many experts were consulted etc. And then on the other hand they turn around and say, it’s a fantasy movie so anything goes.
It seems that “one hand” and “the other hand” you mention above are appendages which belong to two very different groups of people. Yes, I read that the American director and producers wished to portray with some accuracy Arthur Golden’s vision of Japanese geisha but certain paid Japanese performers involved in the production had qualms about being forced to depict inaccurately their own Japanese culture. “Forced”? Yes, or be forced to quit which could result in a legal suit for breach of contract and be forevermore banished from imbibing at the lucrative Hollywood slough.
If a musician is paid to perform John Williams’ compositions how much leeway does he have to tell John Williams that his music has less in common with Japan than China, and not only tell him that but convince him to alter his approach? Not much chance at all.
Yo Yo Ma’s getting his cello to sound like an erhu is superb. But wait a minute. Isn’t an erhu a Chinese instrument?
The director did say that the movie wasn’t about Japan or geisha per se, it was a movie about Arthur Golden’s book. Now if his book was replete with inaccuracies and if the director and producers had little understanding or appreciation of Japan (”What? You’re telling me that this wind chime is used only in the summer because the sound makes Japanese people feel cooler? Oh yeah? Well, I wanna use it as a door bell.” This is a real incident.) can the paid Japanese performers be excused from cringing at the insensitivity and ignorance? I believe they can.
So Persy, did you like MOAG?
So, can you tell that I’m just talking through my hat (man, that’s an old phrase. I wonder where that came from.) by expounding in depth about a movie I have never seen?
I’m still ticked off at having driven an hour out of my way to catch the screening commencing December 9 only to find out only Screen Actors Guild members were allowed entrance. I plan to catch it when it opens nationwide from Friday, December 23.
Thanks for asking. I’ll let you know after I see it.
I keep thinking about the saxophone in “Seven Samurai.” How appropriate was that? Maybe the MOAG issue is not one of artistic license but the question of whether the Chineseness was done intentionally or because the movie makers had no clue about any differences between two rather dissimilar cultures.
I’ll get back to you. Sorry to take up time you would rather be sipping sake.