“You cannot call yourself a true movie hottie
until you can lure boys into movie theaters with
a single look.”
Cinderella Woman
I was lucky enough to travel to Japan a year ago, and at the time, I was in the midst of reading Arthur Golden’s novel. My friend kids, “Why can’t you just wait for the movie like everybody else?”
I saw Kyoto and walked in the alleys of the Gion district, where the story mostly takes place. I imagined Ziyi Zhang all dolled up in a kimono in the setting. Yeah, I couldn’t wait for the movie, until I actually finished the book. While the novel can be engrossing, the ending didn’t satisfy me. When the movie came out in December, the reviews weren’t spectacular (36% on RT) and so I extended my wait until the DVD release. My expectations were low.
“Memoirs of a Geisha” is said to be a retelling of the Cinderella story, set in 1930s Japan. Just like Cinderella, Chiyo loses both her parents at a young age. The orphan grows up in an okiya (a geisha house), where she works as a maid. She finds a friend in another maid named Pumpkin; she discovers an enemy in a scheming geisha named Hatsumomo (Gong Li). Despite an ugly upbringing, Chiyo (Ziyi Zhang) grows up to be a beautiful woman. Under the guidance of the kind geisha Mameha (Michelle Yeoh), Chiyo adopts the geisha name “Sayuri” and matures into a legend in her own right. Despite her repute, Sayuri hardly rises above her troubles. She must get Hatsumomo off her back, stifle her affections towards the compassionate Chairman (Ken Watanabe), and survive an event called “World War II.” Continue reading →