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Memoirs of a Geisha

A superproduction this with the top Asian actresses of their generation, wonderful scenes of Japan in the 30’s and 40’s and a lavish soundtrack by John Williams.  What more could you want?  Well, this is the upside of an interesting film based on a book which really did give the memoirs of a geisha.  The film version has been made into somewhat of a Hollywood epic with the bad geisha doing her dastardly best to get all the spoils and beat the good geisha into the ground – as well as lots of deprivation scenes as a child plus the anonymous benefactor and the cherry blossom memories of him.I have to agree with critics who argue that such factors as the lazy camerawork are the signs of a fairly loose direction. All the emotional scenes are closeups, all the great drama seems to take place in pouring rain – there are lots of cliches here.

All in all however, it was an interesting picture with a view on geisha life that perhaps we did not know.  Ziyi Zhang is fine as Sayuri, the lead , but it is really Gong Li and Michelle Yeoh with their maturity and acting chops which are a delight to watch.  Gong Li has a whale of a time as the wicked geisha and Michelle is excellent as the mother figure geisha.  The men take second place as even some of the minor female parts are played excellently.

John William’s soundtrack really fitted, even though I am not usually a fan of his fully blown orchestral manouevres.

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