Nominated for six Academy Awards and winner of three, Memoirs of a Geisha remains one of the best films of 2005. Veteran Hollywood screenwriter Robin Swicord does an excellent job of adapting Arthur Golden’s best-selling novel for the screen. great. This movie has all the elements of a classic drama: jealousy, politics, intrigue, forbidden love, and a host of internal and external conflicts of various kinds. Viewers in search of a typical Hollywood blockbuster will be sorely disappointed, but those who appreciate a good character-driven film that takes the time to develop its cast’s motivations and build to a climax will discover a splendid gem that offers a welcome escape from reality.
Memoirs of a Geisha is told from the point of view of a nine-year-old Japanese girl named Chiyo (Ziyi Zhang). Born into a poor family of fishermen, Chiyo and her sister are sold into slavery by her father. Chiyo is soon separated from her sister and finds herself in a geisha house where her new teacher, Her Mother (Kaori Momoi), will determine her fate. Although she is only nine years old, Chiyo draws the ire of the much older Hatsumomo (Li Gong), the most celebrated geisha in the house, who accurately perceives Chiyo as a suitable rival.
Li Gong excels at her role as a vengeful but humane adversary, and her character gets Chiyo expelled from the geisha school and sentenced to the life of a common slave. However, Chiyo’s life takes a turn for the better after a chance encounter with the president (Ken Watanabe). Flanked by two geishas, the president extends her kindness to Chiyo, prompting her to develop a lifelong infatuation and dream of one day becoming a geisha. Chiyo’s wish comes true when a geisha from another house, Mameha (Michelle Yeoh), offers to train her personally, leading to inevitable conflict between the two and Hatsumomo and her understudy. Meanwhile, the horrors of war and her lifelong pursuit of the president’s love burden Chiyo with additional hardships.
Although some traditionalists and geisha experts may take issue with the portrayal of geisha in general, the film certainly offers an interesting insight into a world and culture that most Americans will find intriguing. Despite its two hour and twenty-five minute runtime, Memoirs of a Geisha is an engaging film that seems much shorter in length. Like most movies adapted from a novel, those who enjoyed the book will either love it or hate it depending on how well they perceive the move to the big screen. But even those who hate it must admit that the costumes and scenery are exquisite and leave little room for improvement.
At times, the cast speaks with a thick accent that can be confusing at times, but overall, the scenes flow well from one to the next. With the exception of a few American actors near the conclusion (Monk’s Ted Levine plays a US Army colonel), most of the cast is made up of Chinese and Japanese actors and actresses who are relatively unknown to American audiences, although Ken Watanabe could be recognizable due to his recent roles in The Last Samurai (2003) and Batman Begins (2005). Using this cast helps focus the audience’s attention on the merits of the film itself rather than an all-star cast, and this helps, rather than hinders, the film. As such, Memoirs of a Geisha is a movie that most fans of the genre will thoroughly enjoy.
