Memoirs Of A Geisha
How It Rates: ***1/2Starring: Ziyi Zhang, Ken Watanabe, Gong Li
Rated: PG-13
Red Flags: Two Sex Scenes
A geisha does not sell her body, we are told, only her art: providing entertainment and conversation for Japanese men, many of whom are stuck in arranged marriages. And yet it's the geisha's life that is also arranged, with its rules and expectations. Affection is superficial and serves only the requirements of the job. They are prostitutes who do not dispense sex and yet are denied the chance to seek true love.
This is the story of Chiyo, sold into slavery as a 9-year-old girl in pre-World War II Japan. Her new mistress runs a geisha house, and Chiyo is soon introduced to the mysterious trade, while seeking out a sister who was taken from her at the time she was sold. So much of Memoirs is better if I dispense with plot details, although I will tell you Chiyo faces a rival geisha who lives under the same roof. As Chiyo hones her skills, she is seeking out the man who offered her the equivalent of a popsicle, the one man she longs for out of love.
Rob Marshall (Chicago) directs with efficiency and beauty. So many shots in this film are wonderfully lit and composed, making the picture a shoo-in for Oscar nods in cinematography and art direction. If I have one quarrel with the film, it's that a little too much mystery surrounds the life of a geisha and its expectations, and I would've liked a little more set up.
But it's hard not to get absorbed in this film with its awesome visuals and John Williams score, featuring cellist Yo-Yo Ma. The geisha is a moving work of art, one scene explains. So is this film.
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