Memoirs of a Geisha

Memoirs of a Geisha was a historical fiction novel written in 1997 by American author, Arthur Golden, which told the story of a young woman’s many struggles on her path to becoming a geisha in Japan during the backdrop of World War II. Being a best-selling book for over two years, the story managed to grab people’s attention in the west but was met with its fair share of criticism for its depictions of the geisha lifestyle, which many saw as inaccurate. This came after the author was sued by Mineko Iwasaki, a retired geisha that Golden interviewed, for sourcing her within his novel despite wishing for anonymity in fears of retaliation from others in the industry (she would receive a serious backlash and death threats for her involvement with the book). This controversial energy only lingered when it was adapted into a Hollywood film produced by Amblin Entertainment and DreamWorks in 2005, as it too also had its fair share of lovers and haters. After being sold by her father and separated from her sister, a young Chiyo Sakamoto (played by Suzuka Ohgo) is taken in by Kayoko Nitta, otherwise known as “Mother” (played by Kaori Momoi) to live in her okiya (a lodging house for aspiring geisha) and be trained to one day become a geisha. Throughout her years of preparation, she is met with hostility by Hatsumomo (played by Gong Li), the okiya’s resident geisha, who is threatened by Chiyo’s potential and tries to sabotage her at every moment, but a now teenage Chiyo (now played by Zhang Ziyi) eventually finds success under the tutelage of Mameha (played by Michelle Yeoh), one of the district’s most prominent geisha, and grows into one of the most celebrated geishas in all of Japan. Throughout her training, her goal has been to earn the favor of Chairmen Ken Iwamura (played by Ken Watanabe), a man who showed her kindness years ago who she now wishes to be with, but with constant conflicts coming from others vying for her as well as the ever-looming threat of World War II throughout the country, will she ever achieve her goal or just continue existing in this careless lifestyle? Being moderately successful at the box office and earning three Oscars at the Academy Awards after being nominated for six, Memoirs of a Geisha was a polarizing film that offered stylish visuals and impressive performances but did so while sacrificing an in-depth plot and a proper authentic portrayal of what it’s representing.

The first problem that plagues this movie is despite being a project that supposedly wished to give insight into the work ethic behind a geisha, it doesn’t achieve this or even really feel like it is truly attempting to. Even when it was just a book, the story was criticized for giving a ”westernized” portrayal of the profession rather than a legitimate one, which was one of the main reasons the movie did so poorly in Japan. While it never claimed to be entirely accurate, it runs the risk on exoticizing a staple part of Japanese culture, and this movie doesn’t correct that misstep. Pushing this baggage aside, the movie on its own feels well made, is paced and structured soundly, contains a lot of the same beats as the book, and manages to squeeze all of it into its running time without feeling overcrowded. The narrative may fail in capturing the complexities that should naturally come from this environment, but as a traditional story of a person being stuck in a new place and rising within the ranks to earn a spot at the top, it works with that framework decently enough and is helped out by its script. While it is strange that no people of Japanese origin helped out behind the scenes, screenwriter Robin Swicord seems to use her past experience with adapting female-based properties like the 1994 film version of Little Women and Matilda, in constructing this female-dominant story. While it doesn’t feel very much like something out of its own country (which was essentially what the originally story was already) and can be a bit soap-operay with how it handles its drama and romantic conflict (which are also a bit forced), the way that it handles its main characters and their emotional problems are decently engaging from a basic cinematic level. There’s also a fair chunk of cinematic flair to this movie which helps the material feel livelier and more active, as without it, it could very easily come across as slow-moving and dull. Despite only being his second directing job after Chicago, director Rob Marshall is known for having an eye for time appropriate visuals as well as bringing a sense of flair and kinetic energy into his films, and that can be felt in this picture from the way the characters are portrayed, to the visuals and how they are shown off, to just the overall flow and delivery of the plot, so he makes the most of what he’s been given.

As if it didn’t already have enough to deal with, a lot of controversy was also thrown at the casting of its three leads, mainly because none of the chosen were Japanese, with Zhang Ziyi and Gong Li being Chinese, and Michelle Yeoh being Malaysian. Some within the Asian community found it offense to have non-Japanese actors portray a specifically Japanese stories within the backdrop of World War II, a very painful period that has left a sour spot on both Japan and China. These controversies shouldn’t be placed on the actors (at least not to the point of being aggressive and hurtful towards them), but it is a bizarre decision because the rest of the cast were Japanese, so not doing the same with the leads is a little ridiculous. With that said, from a purely acting standpoint, all three are very impressive and do a great job with their parts. Zhang Ziyi has a ‘’Disney princess’’ quality to her that makes her very likeable, genuine, and relatable in most of her scenes, and watching the cracks in her typical ‘’geisha’’ persona which reveal her true snark makes her continually fun to watch and prevents her from feeling like a lifeless doll. Even though the character is pretty basic and her whole purpose being to get with this much older man is a little weird, she still does a great job and offers up a character who you want to see succeed. Gong Li is actually very strong as the antagonist, carrying this presence and attitude that feels constantly drunk but also incredibly deadly at the same time, like she’s a broken individual who could do something reckless at any moment, but is still smart enough to know how to play the room and manipulate people to fit her situation. It’s a really fun role that is easy and enjoyable to hate but also carries a hint of tragedy due to knowing how she’s been mistreated and stripped of her own desires by working in the system. It makes her understandable, but never to the level that it makes her overly sympathetic, she’s a really great character and the movie does lose a bit of steam once she departs around the halfway point. Michelle Yeoh’s role is a little by-the-numbers and feels pretty expected for what she can deliver, but she still carries herself pretty nicely with the same level of usual grace, composure and feeling of experience, and her and Ziyi still retain good chemistry from their time together on Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (where they essentially played the same kind of roles). Others like Kōji Yakusho, Youki Kudoh, Randall Duk Kim, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa and Ken Watanabe do well in their parts, although Watanabe’s focus as a love interest is weird due to the clear age difference between the two (he met her for the first time when she’s like ten, so it is kind of gross).

Despite Japan having a look and style that could be beautifully realized on film, the visuals in this feature aren’t trying to go overly extravagant or replicate a more hyper realized portrayal of Japan that has been shown off in other Hollywood movies. It instead goes for a more realistic look that shows some of the less picturesque components of the area, and it does so through an art direction by Patrick M. Sullivan that retains some pretty, cinematic touches, but otherwise feels more down-to-earth and natural, with cramped living quarters constantly being bombarded with frequent rain and misty overcasts against period appropriate as well as industry appropriate iconography, attires and attitudes. Despite a less extreme style that is more squalid than stylish, the movie is still very nice looking and the people behind the camera no doubt had a great time designing, fitting, and portraying these various outfits as well as creating these sets. The costume design by four-time Oscar winner, Colleen Atwood is very striking, beautifully detailed, feels appropriate for the culture as well as the time period, and is clearly a highlight for the film (winning an Oscar for Costume Design alongside Sullivan’s win for Art Direction) and complements the production design by John Myhre and Gretchen Rau very nicely. While there were certain moments that were filmed in Japan, a majority of it was done on sound stages within California because some of the creatives noticed that modern Japan didn’t quite have the same feel as how it was back during World War II, and while it’s a shame that this prevented them from filming on location, it does make sense and allowed them to go full force in capturing the look of war-stricken Japan. Even knowing this, the film doesn’t come across as fabricated and even manages to get some truly impressive shots from cinematographer, Dion Beebe, that eithers get some great breathtaking sweeping imagery of the landscapes (particularly whenever a mountain is involved) or can make even just a generic location look stylized and visually pleasant (enough to also get him the Oscar). The music by the great John Williams contains a nice and somber but also culturally appropriate melody, that even if it does feel constructed from a western standpoint and doesn’t contain the flourish that usual Japanese music would have, doesn’t feel out of place, and still sounds pretty nice (it’s John Williams, he barely ever fails).

Memoirs of a Geisha is ironically like a geisha in many ways, in that it uses glamour, simple grace and tons of eye-catching add-ons in order to distract people with elegance and beauty, while the complex person hiding behind the mask is left silent in the process. When it comes to these kind of cultural stories, especially those that seem to have no involvement from said culture within the creative team (which just feels pointless nowadays), this one at least doesn’t feel like it’s trying to harm the culture of a geisha but is instead just misrepresenting something that they don’t know the full story about (which also rings true for the original author). With this movie, you aren’t going to get something that effectively replicates the real experiences of a person within the industry, or a narrative that has any true sense of depth or nuance, but you will get something that is decently constructed, well-acted and visually pleasing. There are no doubt other stories that portray this kind of narrative in a much more authentic manner, but as one that’s targeted at a mainstream western audience during the early 2000s, it could’ve been a lot worse. Weird to see a Japanese film so afraid to speak in Japanese (when they do speak it, it isn’t even subtitled, it’s bizarre), check it out and decide for yourself if you view this film as controversial or just heavily misguided.