Memoirs of Geisha

Watched it with Joy n Jonny last Thursday! Do not proceed further if you do not want to read spoilers!

Anyway this movie was supposed to be directed by Steven Spielberg long time ago but then it was shelved in favour of other movies so we waited and waited and waited till Rob Marshall took over the directing of this film.

The casting of the show is a little disappointing. Maggie Cheung was supposed to be the original cast for Sayuri but in the end, Ziyi Zhang was given the role, and the other two key roles, Mameha and Hatsumomo was given to Michelle Yeoh and Gong Li respectively. I was like... "WHAT?!"




I do not actually think they should be using CHINESE actresses to play Japanese. And for those who read the back, the cast is not near ideal... far from it... In the book, Mameha has been described to have exquisite oval face, which is one striking feature of her beauty. She does not quite fit the role ehz?

Hatsumomo is a beautiful woman, even more so than Memeha, with a petite frame and is extremely young (early twenties). Though Gong Li is lovely for her age but it wld have been nice to see someone younger to play the part.



As for the chairman n Nobu, I tot that the CHairman is a kind, reserved middle-aged man who is not particularly handsome, but has a very calm, composed face. At this point of time I must say I like Ken Watanabe a lot, after watching him in The Last Samurai and Batman Begins, but he looks a little too young, and behaves a little too frivolous. Haha. As for Nobu, I’ve always thought of him as physically unappealing (with his grotesquely disfigured face and a missing arm), but with the ability to give a sense of security and well-being to people around him. The Nobu in the show is not too bad (they missed out the missing arm!), but doesn’t stand out as much as he does in the book. I guess, the focus is really on the Chairman and Sayuri, but I do think the unrequited love by Nobu for Sayuri makes the story all the more heartwrenching and lovely.

To the movie’s credit, there are indeed some characters that seemed to have leapt right out of my mind. I am absolutely delighted with the portrayal of Mother, as well as young Chiyo; they are exactly as I’ve always imagined them to be! Kudos to the casting director for finding a girl who resembles Zhang Ziyi, or maybe it’s the eyes. Other than that, the minor characters are rather forgettable: Korin, the ugly geisha (but she’s quite pretty in the show), Pumpkin (Pumpkin has a round face and a slim body, which I only saw in the adult Pumpkin) and the Baron.

The plot... hmm... Generally I can say that the movie tries to adhere to the book, with minor changes here and there, but in my opinion, a few key scenes were missed out. First of all, I think it’s weird that Satsu and Chiyo (not yet the Sayuri we know) were so abruptly seized from their house in Yoroido… after all, I do think that Mr. Tanaka’s involvement with the Sakamoto family and the selling of the girls does contribute a large part to Sayuri’s resolve to make it as a famed geisha. When Sayuri first meets the Chairman at the sumo match in the book (in the show she bumps into him at a teahouse when she was still a maid), she thought the Chairman was Mr. Tanaka in fact. Also, Sayuri did have a danna, a General in the Imperial Army but he doesn’t feature much in the book so I guess that’s why he was left out entirely. And if you think Sayuri is this really chaste and faithful woman, let me tell you that she has a lover named Yasuda Akira (who reminds her of the Chairman). Wahahahahaha!

And now for the scenes that were changed, some to my displeasure. Chiyo’s meeting with her sister in the show is quite different from that in the book, as well as the scene where Sayuri charms a man off his bicycle with one look (in the book the man was carrying trays of food instead of being on a bicycle). I don’t like the part where the Chairman comes to save Sayuri and Mameha from the factories; it was in fact Nobu who does that. The Baron doesn’t force himself (or attempts to force himself) on Sayuri at his residence either; all he does was to undress her and Sayuri doesn’t kick up a fuss in the book too. And who said that the man Sayuri seduces in order to force Nobu to give her up at the end is a Caucasian?!

Not to mention that the fire scene was totally uncalled for; it’s non-existent in the book. Hatsumomo eventually leaves the okiya and drinks herself to death, but she doesn’t burn down the okiya.

In all, though the show is not quite what is in the book, it still is enjoyable - if you have not read the book before.

But I have a word of praise for the show: the flow, the music, the general mood is unbeatable. The book reads like a poem, and the show unravels like a dance. It is at once arresting and mesmerizing, until one feels like one has drunk a cup of superior sake from Sayuri’s hand. Nothing more I can ask for from the director, except, perhaps, the abovementioned grouses I have. :P