Memoirs of a Geisha is not the first, nor the last, movie that subjects another culture to the crude lens of American exoticism. I would not say Rob Marshall failed completely. If you would like a little bit of delight from an aesthetically pleasing picture with a dubious authenticity and realism, this movie delivers it. (Michelle Yeoh seems to be the only one trying a little bit of those, but it did not quite work for some reason.) So, let me re-address the question: Can a group of American men and Chinese actresses render the world of a geisha? The answer, I guess, really depends on what you are looking for. They lacked the kind of extreme femininity and excessive felicity of the delicately mechanical gesture and movements of traditional Japanese ladies you see in custom dramas of Japanese production. The look and accent are not the only problems. This is a seductive and evocative epic on an intimate scale, which tells the extraordinary story of a geisha girl. About Memoirs of a Geisha Speaking to us with the wisdom of age and in a voice at once haunting and immediate, Nitta Sayuri tells the story of her life as a geisha. However, they remain utterly Chinese throughout this movie. (This movie was so crowded by famous Chinese idols that I found myself inadvertently searching for Joan Chen among the cast.) To be fair, all three main actors (Gong Li in particular) show strong performances that made me sympathetic to Rob Marshall's choices. Memoirs of a Geisha was written by the eponymous American author, Arthur Golden. On the other hand, the American director was not able to pull the Japanese out of Chinese actresses. And throughout her struggle, we know of her secret love for the only man who ever showed. We follow Sayuri's life: her early years in a small fishing village and as a geisha in Gion. There were ample displays of exquisite beauty - the trailing tails of silk kimonos, the subtle allure of hand gestures, and the captivating scene of kabuki dance theater. In the 1920s, 9-year-old Chiyo (Suzuka Ohgo) gets sold to a geisha house. Contemporary / American English Memoirs of a Geisha is one of the great stories of our time. It had a story to tell (although it crumbles in the end),images to show, and material to present. Truth be told, this movie was not as bad as its trailer led me to expect it to be. Can a group of American men and Chinese actresses render the world of a Japanese geisha? The answer is yes, with stunning beauty and regrettable flaws.
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