Review of ‘Memoirs of a Geisha’

This film tells us a life story of a Japanese geisha named Chiyo. When she was 9 years she was sold to a geisha house in Kyoto’s Gion direct from a small fishing village due to impoverishment. Subjected to cruel treatment from her owner and Hatsumomo who was the head of geisha for several years, she nearly lost her courage to live. However, after she was encouraged by the chairman by accident, she decided to live for him, the attractive and good man. Despite Hatsumomo’s jealousness, she became a national famous geisha under guidance of Mameha. Her beauty, good artistic and social skills attracted many men with high status, including the chairman. Although they experienced torture of the Second World War and misunderstanding of affection, still they were in love with each other in the end.

It is directed by Rob Marshall, a renowned American director, who was ranked 93rd in Premiere's 2003 annual Power 100 List. The three leading roles, namely, Chiyo, Hatsumomo and Mameha were acted by famous Chinese actresses Ziyi Zhang, Li Gong and Michelle Yeoh respectively.

In this film, the beautiful scenes and the well-designed kimonos attracted me a lot. There are scenes where the color seems to bleed off the screen, and some just look like portraits. The film's photography is outstanding and nearly every scene is visually beautiful. These scenes with beautiful clothes show sumptuous styles. Watching the film in front of TV, you are just like traveling, which makes me relaxed and feels comfortable.

However, I was disappointed with two aspects, that is, the Japanese geishas acted by Chinese actress and the misconceptions between geisha and prostitute were shown on the film. In general, people in the film should be acted by their compatriots, which can be easily accepted by audiences because of not only similar genetic factor but also same cultural background between the fictitious person and actual person. Although film has some educational functions, it is really hard to change people’s effects of stereotype. And also, the film develop a misconception between the two different roles, geisha and prostitute. According to the view of Marshall, geishas are artists and they entertain men. But, more important, they are great dancers and musicians and great conversationalists. They were also the fashionistas of their time, just like supermodels. In this film however, geishas not only do the things mentioned above but also sell their bodies to men for money. In fact, the film does not distinguish geisha from prostitute which may mislead people to regard them as one thing.

Although "Memoirs of a Geisha" deserves a best picture nomination, personally, I don’t think this film is successful. Good film should be two wins: good art and making more money. That means, a film is firstly an art, not the tool for making money. Of course, no more money, no better film. Undoubtedly, Mr. Marshall elaborated it in several aspects (e.g. choosing actors, selecting scenes, designing clothes). However, he put making money on the first place because he let three hot international stars from China act as the Japanese geishas. I don’t think he can not predict the controversal outcome. He only wanted to catch more people’s eyes and sell more tickets. Unfortunately, no better film, no more money, eventually, he failed.