Memoirs of a Geisha (2005)

Editor's Note Arthur Golden's blockbuster bestseller, MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA, has been brilliantly brought to the big screen by Oscar-nominated director Rob Marshall (CHICAGO). The film opens in a remote Japanese fishing village in 1929, where two sisters, Chiyo and Satsu, are sold by their troubled father to people who place Chiyo in a classy geisha house known as an okiya in Gion and Satsu in a much more vulgar and dangerous district. Chiyo becomes a maid to Hatsumomo, a cold, controlling, and calculating geisha who is instantly jealous of Chiyo's unusual, beautiful eyes and childish innocence. Chiyo is befriended by Pumpkin, another maid at the okiya, but the two are soon driven apart. Chiyo is shown compassion by the Chairman and another, more successful geisha, Mameha, who takes her under her wing as her "little sister," furthering the battle between Chiyo, now called Sayuri, and Hatsumomo. As Sayuri is trained in the art of being a geisha, learning how to walk, talk, dance, and serve (up to a point) in order to please and honor her distinguished male clients, World War II looms on the horizon, threatening to upend Japan and its old ways. MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA is a lush, sweeping historical and romantic epic, featuring gorgeous period costumes, primarily the exquisite kimono worn by the geisha. Ziyi Zhang (HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS) is outstanding as Sayuri, who stands up to the oppressive Hatsumomo (the effervescent Gong Li), while Michelle Yeoh, who starred with Zhang in CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON, is splendid as the wise and elegant Mameha. Ken Watanabe (THE LAST SAMURAI), Koji Yakusho (SHALL WE DANCE?), and Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa (ELEKTRA) are among the men who take an interest in Sayuri, who is continually faced with difficult choices that will shape her destiny, just as Japan's destiny is changing shape with the coming of the West. John Williams's soaring score is enhanced by solos from virtuosos Yo-Yo Ma and Itzhak Perlman.

	Ken Watanabe
	Koji Yakusho
	Ziyi Zhang
	Mako
	Gong Li
	Michelle Khan
	John Williams - Composer
	Douglas Wick - Producer
	Gary Barber - Executive Producer
	Itzhak Perlman - Additional Music/Songs
	Roger Birnbaum - Producer
	Doug Wright - Screenwriter
	Bobby Cohen - Executive Producer
	Robin Swicord - Screenwriter
	Yo-Yo Ma - Additional Music/Songs
	Lucy Fisher - Producer
	Steven Spielberg - Producer
	Dion Beebe - Director of Photography
	Patricia Whitcher - Executive Producer
	Rob Marshall - Director

Rolling Stone
3 stars out of 5 -- "Zhang is loveliness incarnate. And the great Michelle Yeoh, her co-star in CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON, possesses a touching gravity..." 12/15/2005 p.162

New York Times
"The exquisite Ms. Gong looks like a gift that keeps on giving when trussed up in silk, but she and the film come most alive when her hair tumbles down and she sashays about the okiya, stirring the air with her tremulous rage." 12/09/2005 p.E1-E13

Uncut
"As beautiful-looking a film as you'll see....Often magical." 02/01/2006 p.98

Sight and Sound
"On the evidence of Marshall's film, the geishas are like highly trained birds kept in intricately woven bamboo cages; they are made temporarily fascinating by the skills of the film's true artists -- its troika of fine leading actresses..." 02/01/2006 p.71-72

Widescreen Review
"Dion Beebe's gorgeous cinematography is delivered with sharp images..." 04/01/2006 p.59