Memoirs of a Geisha (2005)

While I just watched this film recently, I read the novel well over a decade ago, maybe even two.  Even though I studied the history and culture of Japan, while reading the novel I came across a few things that I thought were insightful into the world of geisha, though there were quite a few things that seemed a bit off.  Still, it was a very entertaining story, and an incredible novel.

One other thing that is really irking, is the insistence on having Asian characters with blue or non-brown eyes.  Eye color often comes up in various films and stories, but it is a color that NEVER occurs in Asian people.  Writers dwell on the uniqueness of eye color, as if says something special about the character, but it is nothing that any person has any control over, and after first notice is soon forgotten.  The only time I am not irked with it is in Big Trouble in Little China, which was largely a fantasy film.

Watching the film, the film gave me the constant feeling of "this is not Japan"  While the sets and building seemed reminiscent of Japan, something was off and there none of the famous landmarks of Kyoto were shown, where the story was set and where I lived for several years, with the exception of two, one of which was the red "tori" gates of Fushinirari. The other was a small river, with buildings built up against the rivers edge.

It was definitely an odd choice to have the three main actresses be extremely famous Chinese actresses, all of whom I had seen in many other Chinese films.  With the exception of Michelle Yeoh, who is from Malaysia, I had never heard either of the other two actresses speak in English.  Checking after watching the film, it said that their dialogue had to be pieced together from several takes, as their pronunciation was often off and difficult to understand.

The biggest problem is the film doesn't give the impression of having Japanese culture.  It is clearly what westerners think Japan and Geisha are.  The actresses acted and reacted in the way that western women would.  It made for intense scenes, but didn't really make for a great film.

One other very odd thing was that when one of the characters made an offering at a temple, when the shook the rope, inside of the rattling sound that the "bell" makes they replaced the sound with that of the huge temple bell, which is certainly over 2 meters in height.