Memoirs of a Geisha (2005)

Director: Rob Marshall
Writers: Robin Swicord (screenplay), Arthur Golden (book)
Rating: PG-13 (mature subject matter, some sexual content)

Main Cast:
Ziyi Zhang ... Chiyo/Sayuri
Ken Watanabe ... The Chairman
Koji Yakusho ... Nobu
Youki Kudoh ... Pumpkin
Li Gong ... Hatsumomo
Kaori Momoi ... Mother

This film is best divided into two sides, at times. The first is the visual: the cinematography, the costumes, the sights and the colors that made Memoirs of a Geisha as stunning as it is for the eye. Everything on screen is so visually appealing that it makes it easy to overlook the jolted nature of Swicord's script.

By bringing the script into question, I don't mean to discount the film entirely. There are still real moments of emotion and truth here. These, unfortunately, felt few and far between once the film jumps from before the war to after it. Where so much time was afforded in the first half hour to the introduction of Chiyo into her new life, the rest of the film rushed along. The script tries to encompass years of emotion but only succeeds, especially for an audience unfamiliar with Golden's novel, in raising questions. Hatsumomo's relationship with Chiyo changes quickly from a tense curiosity to flat out disdain. How and why Nobu and the Chairman have come into contact with this group of Americans after the war is curious. And there are other questions - ones better left for a viewer to ask after they finish watching the movie.

But the rawness of the moment where Chiyo is torn away from her sister is one of many poignant, affecting scenes that luckily were not lost completely in the frantic pace of the script. Above even that, this is a beautiful film: one of rich colors and textures of the past.

Final Rating: B-