MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA

Director: Rob Marshall (Chicago, TV work predominantly choreography)
Starring: Zhang Ziyi, Ken Watanabe, Michelle Yeoh, Youki Kudoh, more

There are movies that I am simply not well-suited to review, and this is one of them. Memoirs of a Geisha is a film about, by, and for women. It's a lush melodrama set in a Japanese period fantasy world that is deeply evoked. Could a man appreciate this film? Absolutely. Am I the man for the job? No, probably not. The audience at my showing was 80% women and 20% their boyfriends/husbands. I fell solidly in category #2.

I think of this story as a shot of Pretty Woman with an exotic Japanese period chaser. I had many of the same problems thinking about Pretty Woman as this film, and in the end I come to some of the same conclusions for both: That both movies may have significant flaws, but they are deeply appreciated by those in the intended audience.

For my part I could view this film intellectually and say I hate that this is a story entirely at odds with anything positive for women’s rights. The women here are helpless slaves learning to love their exotic lives as high-class whores until a rich man comes along and frees them from their bonds. That’s just disappointing to me. No woman in the film, excepting the girls' mistress (pimp), ever learns to stand on their own two feet.

I could view this film artistically and describe the gorgeous film sets and locales that create this world. Of course I could also tell you about the bits of trite dialog and narration, and melodramatic story construction.

I could describe the plot and tell you that this story is about the little girl raised to be the best geisha in her town. She overcomes the nefarious schemes of the other competitive geisha, and finally charges the most money of any geisha in history to lose her virginity! Good for her. I wonder if she gets an asterix next to that stat since she led the league. There is a brief period in the story where World War 2 intercedes, but the war seems to be a tangential affair for this romance. In the end the young geisha gets her man. He’s handsome, and nice, and rich, and just a great catch all around.

I could describe the film in all of these ways (and have), but really, just like in Pretty Woman, this film exists purely for its emotional value. It is a dream where women can rise from their perceived inadequacies and meet the man they hope they can meet. There is nothing wrong with this, and this film works quite well as this fantasy. There’s no difference between this fantasy and many of the film fantasylands that I happen to love, except that it isn’t my personal fantasyland.

In the end, creating a personal fantasyland for the audience is the main entertainment goal of any film. As such I have to applaud this one for greatly succeeding. This has nothing to do with the artistic success of a film however. And for the reasons I noted above, I think that this movie failed on that count.

Standouts: Lush sets and photography, a sweeping romance for the ladies.
Blowouts: Some cheesy melodramatic dialog and plot points, and thematic material I disagreed with.

Grade: C+

1/10/2006