Hello, I'm TheCinemaChick and I review movies. As you may have noted from yesterday's blog, I felt a little distraught. Well, Bridesmaids was such a cinematic abomination that I lost all hope in film. However, since then, I have had several good things happen in my day that I believe that my faith in movies can and will be restored.
So I'm going back to the films that inspired me to learn more about cinematography, script writing and in doing so, I hope to rekindle the thrill I get when I watch movies.
Enough poetics.
Tonight, I want to talk about Memoirs of a Geisha. I have actually written a fifteen page essay on the technical and artistic aspects of it while comparing it as an adaptation of the book. Yeah...and people think being an English major is easy. TAKE THAT!
*clears throat*
The movie is not an accurate representation of the Japanese geisha culture, but it's fairly close. I can make an entire blog on the inaccuracies alone, but I won't. One of the main problems with the film is that it was cast with mainly Chinese actors. It caused a big problem, but in America, I think it was overlooked. Honestly, how many people know offhand that Ziyi Zhang is Chinese?
Now, the book and the movie are very different, but I will only discuss the movie, though I am a fan of both.
The film centers around Chiyo, a poor fisherman's daughter. She and her older sister Satsu are sold to Tanaka, who takes them to Kyoto. Chiyo remains at the okiya while Satsu is taken to the "pleasure district" Don't think about her too much because Satsu's fate is never truly explained. At one point, it says that she ran away and nothing more. Yeah...I'd like to know more too...
Chiyo then meets Pumpkin, who is a girl her age and in training to become a geisha. It is in this scene that Chiyo learns what her own fate will be. She was sold to Mother to become a geisha as well. Chiyo resists this idea and instead plots about how she will escape, find her sister and go home. Obviously she fails or this would be a very short movie. After the final escape attempt where she breaks her arm, Chiyo receives a litter informing her that both her parents have passed away.
Let me backtrack for a moment. Right before finding out her parents are dead, Chiyo catches Hatsumomo having sex with Koichi, which is forbidden. When they are caught, Chiyo rats out the older girl, which causes the okiya to be locked down so she tries to go over the roof. Clearly that did not go so well, but she tried. Also, by this point, Chiyo has destroyed a very expensive kimono belonging to Mameha. Hatsumomo and her friend came home drunk and Hatsumomo told Chiyo do deface the kimono in exchange for information about Satsu. Because of all this, Chiyo is no longer allowed to be in geisha training and must now work as a maid in the okiya to pay off her debts.
Feeling depressed, she sits on a bridge and cries when a man spots her. This is our introduction to The Chairman, who only goes by this name. He cheers Chiyo up and buys her a shave ice, then gives her money. She then donates it to a shrine and vows to become a geisha just so she can see him again. Mameha returns and accepts Chiyo as a little sister, once Chiyo is a young woman. She learns quickly, eventually becoming Sayuri, the most famous geisha in Gion. She even lands the lead in the Spring Dances.
One quick note about adaptations here. If you've seen the film, you know how intense and emotional Sayuri's snow dance is. In reality, it wouldn't be that exciting. I'm not saying it's boring by any means but a lot of the movie was written with the American audience in mind. No offense to us, but like things to be exciting and interesting and attention grabbing. Since the actual geisha culture is so demure, the filmmakers spiced it up a bit to make things seem intriguing.
The jealousy between Hatsumomo, who has taken Pumpkin under her wing, and Sayuri grows. Hatsumomo accuses Sayuri of sleeping with the Baron because while attending a party he throws, she is stripped of her kimono. I'm not sure if there was rape involved, but it is hinted when the line "who would want the plum when someone has already taken a bite?" is mentioned. While all my research tells me it did not happen and it is just Hatsumomo being catty, you have to admit, in the scene, you seriously think the Baron will force himself upon Sayuri.
Hatsumomo learns of Sayuri's long time love of the Chairman which leads to Hatsumomo breaking down completely and setting the okiya on fire. In the film, she vanishes into the mist but the book says she became a pleasure geisha.
And World War II sets in, the geisha's all leave the city. Sayuri ends up doing manual labor, dying fabrics for years until Nobu, the Chairman's associate finds her and brings her back to help entertain the Americans. Pumpkin also returns, but it is clear she has been deeply influenced by Western culture. Her accent has lessened and she is seen smoking with some soldiers. Pumpkin, Sayuri, Nobu and the Chairman go to the Amami islands with the Americans, where Sayuri is caught in a compromising situation with the Colonel. She had intended for Nobu to see this but Pumpkin brought the Chairman in hopes of hurting Sayuri. Pumpkin had once believed that Mother would adopt her and leave her the okiya, but that decision was changed when Sayuri was adopted instead.
Feeling lost and utterly betrayed, they all return home. Sayuri gets a call asking her to go to the teahouse and believes someone has expressed an interest in becoming her danna. A danna is a man who supports a geisha, not to be confused with a pimp or sugar daddy. She believes it to be Nobu, but it turns out to be the Chairman. They express their love, share a kiss and the credits roll.
In the book, it goes to an epilogue of how she grew old and moved to New York with her son to avoid controversy. Though it does out flat out say it, the reader can assume that the Chairman and Sayuri had a child together.
This film did win some Oscars, for Best Costume Design, Best Art Direction and Best Cinematography. Each of those was well deserved in my opinion because the movie manages to portray mood through colors and settings alone. The costumes were absolutely gorgeous and they did a lot to make this happen.
Yeah, it can be seen as a typical romance movie, but the scenery and costumes make up for it. I only had one problem with the movie and I think it's blaringly obvious as to what it is. Chiyo and Pumpkin are the only characters that age at all. The time skip is at least ten years but everyone looks the same. So either everyone has some damn good genes or those two girls will look terrible in their thirties.
I have two favorite scenes. One of them is the dance scene because of the emotional intensity portrayed and the other is when Sayuri stands on a cliff and lets go of the Chairman's handkerchief she has held so long. It's symbolic in that she shows heartbreak without actually saying it or getting all sappy. The scene is nothing but shades of grey and blue as she bids goodbye to the man she's loved. And it is all summed up so well in the voice over, "The heart dies a slow death. Shedding each hope like leaves, until one day there are none. No hopes. Nothing remains."
That's how I feel about a pretty harsh breakup I've recently gone through. I loved him dearly but as each day passes, the pain lessens, fading until it is nothing more but a faint dull throb. The love will never die, but it will become nothing but a memory of what I once had with him.
I've said pretty much all I can on this movie. It's not for everyone but it's worth watching at least twice. Watch it once for the visuals, then again for the plot. Trust me, you will not be disappointed. If you are, I can't help you.
Well, I'm TheCinemaChick and I'm going back to basics. I'm looking at the movies you might not know very well, but should, the movies that inspired me to be who I am now.
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