Asian dramas -- even the ones involving fantasy fighting -- have a certain lushness and a complex texture that I believe only Asian directors can truly capture. So having Rob Marshall, a very American director, step in, is a risk, and for two-thirds of the picture he mutes the frenetic editing and lurid visuals used in CHICAGO, slows the pace of the narration, and achieves the goal in making his vision look as authentic as possible.
MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA has a lot of Charles Dickens in its storyline. The tale of Chiyo, the little girl who is sold by her mother to a geisha house, her trials and tribulations, her knowledge and yearning of true love and success as a geisha is almost identical to the Dickensian universe. It even evolves in a similar manner, and its more effective moments are the ones involving Chiyo as a girl (Suzuka Ohgo) becoming friends (and later enemies) with Pumpkin, not understanding why she is in this strange house, why she has been separated from her sister whom she frantically tries to seek out, or why the geisha Hatsumomo (Gong Li) is so mean to her. One touching scene, which becomes the focus of Chiyo's drive, is when she encounters this "prince" of a man, the Chairman (Ken Watanabe). The smile he coaxes out her sad face is the most luminous moment in the entire film, and this event makes Chiyo want to become a better person and reunite with the Chairman. They do meet later on, but the movie mutes their romance after she becomes the geisha Sayori (Zhang Ziyi), and in trying to keep him distant in a casual way -- they don't share as much as a stilted conversation -- somewhat works against the believability of their mutual but restrained love.
What does work is the subtext within the relationships between the two other women and Sayori, intended or not. Hatsumomo explodes in rage against Sayori after being successfully put down the night of her debut that has hints a little of repressed lesbianism. Notice the way Hatsumomo lashes out like a snake: it also seems as if she would be ready to kiss her at any second. Also noteworthy is the relationship that Sayori develops with her mentor Mameha (Michelle Yeoh). I loved it because I've seen Ziyi and Yeoh play rivals in CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON and it was great to see them interact in a completely different way, one that indicates Mameha was the replacement for the sister Sayori lost, one who also lost a chance at love and happiness, and who only knows the life of a geisha.
Where the film falters, somewhat, is in trying to tie in all of the story lines once the last half hour arrives. The invasion of World War II, while intending to show how times change and traditions morph, somehow didn't work on film as it must have on paper. I also felt that Pumpkin's late introduction as a very American-friendly whore with double intentions could have been handled better and seemed to belong in another movie with comic overtones. Granted that her character had becomes, as the mistress of the geisha house had predicted, Hatsumomo's puppet via her actions, but I felt it slowed the story down a little. Another character who did an about-face was Nobu's (Koji Yakusho). There was little-to-no indication he had any interest in Sayori and more than once he rebuffed her or looked bored by her. His sudden declaration of love comes too abrupt and I didn't quite buy it. But it's the problem with staying too close to the source material: sometimes you have to tweak it a little while maintaining its essence.
As usual, there is some fantastic subtle acting from the three leading ladies, all film veterans in their native China and Malaysia, as well as in Ken Watanabe and Koji Yakusho. Yes, it's thirty minutes too long. Yes, the love story is marginal at best. And yes, it would have benefited better had it been done in its native tongue with subtitles, but that would have been at the expense of it having limited availability. However, it is a sumptuous, gorgeous film about the triumph of the spirit of this one girl against the odds around her. And it even has a happy ending.
MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA has a lot of Charles Dickens in its storyline. The tale of Chiyo, the little girl who is sold by her mother to a geisha house, her trials and tribulations, her knowledge and yearning of true love and success as a geisha is almost identical to the Dickensian universe. It even evolves in a similar manner, and its more effective moments are the ones involving Chiyo as a girl (Suzuka Ohgo) becoming friends (and later enemies) with Pumpkin, not understanding why she is in this strange house, why she has been separated from her sister whom she frantically tries to seek out, or why the geisha Hatsumomo (Gong Li) is so mean to her. One touching scene, which becomes the focus of Chiyo's drive, is when she encounters this "prince" of a man, the Chairman (Ken Watanabe). The smile he coaxes out her sad face is the most luminous moment in the entire film, and this event makes Chiyo want to become a better person and reunite with the Chairman. They do meet later on, but the movie mutes their romance after she becomes the geisha Sayori (Zhang Ziyi), and in trying to keep him distant in a casual way -- they don't share as much as a stilted conversation -- somewhat works against the believability of their mutual but restrained love.
What does work is the subtext within the relationships between the two other women and Sayori, intended or not. Hatsumomo explodes in rage against Sayori after being successfully put down the night of her debut that has hints a little of repressed lesbianism. Notice the way Hatsumomo lashes out like a snake: it also seems as if she would be ready to kiss her at any second. Also noteworthy is the relationship that Sayori develops with her mentor Mameha (Michelle Yeoh). I loved it because I've seen Ziyi and Yeoh play rivals in CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON and it was great to see them interact in a completely different way, one that indicates Mameha was the replacement for the sister Sayori lost, one who also lost a chance at love and happiness, and who only knows the life of a geisha.
Where the film falters, somewhat, is in trying to tie in all of the story lines once the last half hour arrives. The invasion of World War II, while intending to show how times change and traditions morph, somehow didn't work on film as it must have on paper. I also felt that Pumpkin's late introduction as a very American-friendly whore with double intentions could have been handled better and seemed to belong in another movie with comic overtones. Granted that her character had becomes, as the mistress of the geisha house had predicted, Hatsumomo's puppet via her actions, but I felt it slowed the story down a little. Another character who did an about-face was Nobu's (Koji Yakusho). There was little-to-no indication he had any interest in Sayori and more than once he rebuffed her or looked bored by her. His sudden declaration of love comes too abrupt and I didn't quite buy it. But it's the problem with staying too close to the source material: sometimes you have to tweak it a little while maintaining its essence.
As usual, there is some fantastic subtle acting from the three leading ladies, all film veterans in their native China and Malaysia, as well as in Ken Watanabe and Koji Yakusho. Yes, it's thirty minutes too long. Yes, the love story is marginal at best. And yes, it would have benefited better had it been done in its native tongue with subtitles, but that would have been at the expense of it having limited availability. However, it is a sumptuous, gorgeous film about the triumph of the spirit of this one girl against the odds around her. And it even has a happy ending.