Before I begin, I would like to state that I have not read the book. One always comes back unsatisfied when comparing a book with a movie based on it. So is the case with Memoirs of a Geisha, like my friends have told me.
That apart, the best thing about the movie is the art direction, the camera and the screenplay. These things are just mindboggling. For those who prefer Terminator, Rocky and American Pie kind of stuff might be disappointed.
Geisha is an old Japanese way of life, which has almost phased out now. That is all I knew about the subject before I went to watch it (Discovery Channel info.). However, I must say that the movie captures the essence of what a Geisha is all about very well. There are a couple of famous faces in cameo roles in the movie, like Ken Watanabe (Katsumotu in Last Samurai), Michelle Yeoh and Li Gong.
The story revolves around Sayuri, who as a young girl was sold to a Geisha house in Kyoto by her starving parents. Raised for the profession in which there is dirty competition to take away the biggest patrons, Sayuri’s beauty becomes the cause of all her troubles and provokes her temporary fall in life and a bad name. The costumes, make-up, soundtrack and camera effects are brilliant. The cherryblossoms and the Japanese simplicity are just beautiful.
Go and watch the movie with an open mind. Geisha are not prostitutes. Like they say in the movie, its an art form. I found it a little diffcult to understand the concept though. Sex is not as blatant in a Geisha’s life as it would be in a prostitute’s. So, is it just aesthetic excuse for doing the same thing, a procastination by way of art which would culminate in the same thing?
And the movie has already received 6 OSCAR NOMINATIONS. That is another excuse for catching it at yr nearest theatre. Have fun.