Memoirs of a Geisha

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » December 28, 2005, 6:44 am

What's not to like about this movie? It's about young women learning how to please men.

One reviewer commented, where else can you find a Chinese woman playing a Japanese geisha that speaks English?

In all seriousness, this movie is excellent. It's a long 2.5 hour movie based around the life of a geisha (based on a book by the same name)

I would pay to see this movie. As it happens, I got an excellent copy just posted to the divx newsgroup to review. It was an unusually high quality copy with sound to go along with it. The movie is visually stunning and benefits from a big screen.(I watched it on my laptop, oops) In the screen caps below, you'll notice all sorts of stars, many from Crouching Tiger. Also, Fast Eddie from the movie, Rising Sun.

There is ZERO action in the movie so expect a well acted drama. The girl that plays the main character in the first part of the movie does an excellent job until it's time for Suzuka Ohgo to take over.

I can see how some would be bothered by the main characters being played by Chinese. I don't know if that would be the equivalent of Eddie Murphy playing Ronald Reagan or not but it didn't bother me. YMMV.

I listened to this one with headphones on and the audio was outstanding. They speak Japanese for like the first five minutes of the movie so don't panic. I conjured up everything I have learned from watching hentai but couldn't understand a word.

Highly recommended*

83/100 (*non action movie)

Screenies:

Crouching Tiger, Last Samurai

Fast Eddie from Rising Sun

The competition

Check it out.

Kwonryu DragonFist · December 28, 2005, 9:38 am

Not only Fast Eddie from Rising Sun but also..

SHANG TSUNG from Mortal Wombat!

Very interesting Winnow, we had a swedish movie critic here that ALSO complained that the geishas were played by chinese ladies insteaf of japanese!

This is a movie i won't watch, but then again, i'm pretty narrowminded in my movie taste.

Momopi · Post by **Momopi** » December 28, 2005, 11:01 am

This was easily one of the best movies I have seen this year. For some reason this movie sort of reminds me of a movie I saw maybe 5 or so years ago called Snow Falling on Cedars which was a truly great movie as well. I guess it's because they were both roughly the same time period love stories with japanese characters.

Zaelath · Post by **Zaelath** » December 28, 2005, 11:25 am

I'll watch just about anything with Ziyi Zhang in it...

Fairweather Pure · Post by **Fairweather Pure** » December 28, 2005, 11:54 am

Snow Falling on Cedars

Snow Falling on Cedars had some of the best visuals I've seen in recent years. It was a snooze fest IMO, but the cinematography was worth the price of admission.

Hesten · Post by **Hesten** » December 28, 2005, 4:51 pm

So did Ziyi Zhang learn english now?

Ill watch it, but its not a movie ill go in the theater to watch, and i doubt ill buy it, unless at a bargain bin (13$ or so here in DK).

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » December 28, 2005, 5:10 pm

Hesten wrote:So did Ziyi Zhang learn english now?

She faked it well enough if she didn't learn it. She had to speak English with a Japanese accent. That would be like me trying to speak Danish with a Swedish accent. Ö!

I screwed up the names in my first post. Suzuka Ohgo is the actress that plays the lead character in the first part of the movie. Thank god I cleared that up!

Legenae · Post by **Legenae** » December 29, 2005, 3:13 am

I really want to see this movie. I have yet to read the book, but it is my top seller for Fiction.

Hesten · Post by **Hesten** » December 29, 2005, 5:36 am

Winnow wrote:
Hesten wrote:So did Ziyi Zhang learn english now?
She faked it well enough if she didn't learn it. She had to speak English with a Japanese accent. That would be like me trying to speak Danish with a Swedish accent. Ö!

I screwed up the names in my first post. Suzuka Ohgo is the actress that plays the lead character in the first part of the movie. Thank god I cleared that up!

Heh, i remember reading that she knew next to no english when they made Crouching Tiger, so was wondering

Deward · Post by **Deward** » December 29, 2005, 11:54 am

I doubt most americans could tell the difference between chinese and japanese people. I have all sorts of asian friends and I doubt I could tell most of their nationalities apart. Just don't call them Hmong. For some reason they don't like that.

Clatis · Post by **Clatis** » December 29, 2005, 12:04 pm

were there tits?

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » December 29, 2005, 12:18 pm

Clatis wrote:were there tits?

Nope! These are geisha damnit! Not common whores!

Clatis · Post by **Clatis** » December 29, 2005, 2:55 pm

Winnow wrote:
Clatis wrote:were there tits?
Nope! These are geisha damnit! Not common whores!

pfft, then I will not be viewing this movie.

Leonaerd · Post by **Leonaerd** » December 29, 2005, 3:47 pm

I conjured up everything I have learned from watching hentai but couldn't understand a word.

Leonaerd · Post by **Leonaerd** » January 3, 2006, 3:25 am

Just saw it today. Other than a couple fairly bland characters and a couple spoken sentences that simply didn't come across as being the least bit understandable, this was an extremely fun movie to watch. Like Winnow said (if I remember correctly), the presentation and costume designs were superb. Unlike Kong, this long movie doesn't have parts which leave you strumming your fingers in bored anticipation for the next scene to start, which is impressive for a 2.5 hour movie, by any standards.

Zaelath · Post by **Zaelath** » January 3, 2006, 4:08 am

(with transparent background) =p

Leonaerd · Post by **Leonaerd** » January 3, 2006, 6:21 pm

Ooooh how'd you do that?

Zaelath · Post by **Zaelath** » January 4, 2006, 5:31 am

Leonaerd wrote:Ooooh how'd you do that?

http://www.irfanview.com/

save as png, select transparent colour, done

Kylere · Post by **Kylere** » January 4, 2006, 9:59 am

Geisha is worth seeing. The only people whining about it at work seem to be the Pabst Blue Ribbon types, and the idiots who want to make it about Japan versus China.

Considering Japans past vis a vis China, they need to STFU. Hell the brits did not whine this much when an American was selected to play their "typical" english girl.

Besides which, white people played blue-eyed natives for decades and the world never ended, and since they selected one of the few truly beautiful women in the world for the lead it should not be a big deal. ANd hell the "young pumpkin" cahracter was played by a girl named Zoe Weizenbaum which is a sign that people need to get over it.

masteen · Post by **masteen** » January 5, 2006, 5:50 pm

So there's no hot Asian ass in this? 0/10