32 replies to this topic

[綺麗な氷]

I can't believe there hasn't been a topic for this yet!
Anyway, people talking about this movie and I wonder if anyone here has been to see it.
Yet another movie Zhang Ziyi is in. Portraying a Japanese person no less.
I'm looking for people here to tell me if it's worth going to see or not.(though I probably already will because of some things people have said over at Tokyo-Nights forum)

[SDSUMarcus01]

Well...

First off, I read the book. I'm kinda iffy on the book. At first I really liked it, but the second half just killed it for me.

That being said, I went into the movie and I didn't expect anything except for beautiful scenery.

It had beautiful scenery all right, but the rest of the movie was a mess. It was really boring at some points and they liked to change a lot of the stuff from the book. Unfortunately, they didn't change the stuff I hoped they would.

That and they cut out a lot of stuff from the book and then left some things in that don't really make sense without the stuff they cut out.

It's your call. I wish the entire movie was in Japanese rather than English because hearing Chinese accents instead of Japanese ones was painful. That kind of stuff just bugs me.

[yggg]

i recall that the book was rather inaccurate to begin with, and does not reflect the real geisha culture

some interesting discussion here: http://www.kanai.net...09/21/12h34m49s

[SDSUMarcus01]

Of course the book was inaccurate. It was written by a WHITE MAN. He also ripped off the story of Sayo Masuda, though Mineko Iwasaki was the one who sued him. I've read both of their books.

[yggg]

maybe u can tell us more

[SDSUMarcus01]

What did you want to know exactly?

Sayo Masuda was a "hot springs" Geisha (and debuted in 1940). Her story is extremely sad. It's like you take the story of Chiyo (Memoirs) and then make it worse. LOL. But the thing is, it's almost exactly the same. In fact, it was pretty frustrating at how much Golden ripped off her story. Her story took place around the same time period as Memoirs as well.

Mineko Iwasaki was a Geisha in Kyoto. She was the most famous Geisha in Gion at one point (sound familiar as well?). Though I will say that her story is MUCH happier than either Memoirs or Masuda's. Mineko was a Geisha in the late 50s - 60s.

Iwasaki stands by the idea that Geisha never gave sex for pay. Masuda says it was a common occurance. Too major differences though, Masuda was in Chiba Peninusula region while Iwasaki was in Gion, Kyoto. Kyoto having much more money and glamor for Geishas. The second difference is that Iwasaki was a Geisha AFTER laws were passed against child labor and prostitution.

I would highly recommend: Autobiography of a Geisha by Sayo Masuda and Geisha, A Life by Mineko Iwasaki. Both were much better than the trash Golden pumped out.

No... I'm not a Geisha fanboy, I just had to burn the crap Golden wrote out of my mind with real stories. I guess I prefer autobiographies now to fiction.

Oh yah, Iwasaki sued Golden because he revealed her identity and stole her story. They settled out of court.

I personally think Golden stole a LOT more from Masuda than Iwasaki but Masuda lives a life of secrecy. Only her editor knows how to contact her and she refuses to meet with the public about her story. Hell, she didn't even meet with the woman who translated her story into English. She just sent the translator one letter of thanks and hopes.

[綺麗な氷]

i recall that the book was rather inaccurate to begin with, and does not reflect the real geisha culture

some interesting discussion here: http://www.kanai.net...09/21/12h34m49s

lol, I didn't figure it did. Geez, movies are like, never accurate.
And according to peoples responses i'm not sure I want to go see it now.
Ripping off a story like that...bad.

[hu5h]

I really liked the movie though It is very beautiful and eventhough they don't speak japanese like they should, I don't feel it has a bad effect on the movie. It did move me at one point and it is like I said very beautiful. I would reccomnd watching it eventhough it maybe is a rip :huh

[RyeCrimsonMoon]

I really liked the movie though It is very beautiful and eventhough they don't speak japanese like they should, I don't feel it has a bad effect on the movie. It did move me at one point and it is like I said very beautiful. I would reccomnd watching it eventhough it maybe is a rip :huh

So did I! I enjoyed it a lot, but I enjoyed the beginning much more then the end. I guess it was much more obvious to me which were Japanese and Chinese by the way they said the Japanese words. It's annoying, but only if you put too much thought into it.

Now, I don't know about all the "he stole this and he took this" stuff, 'cause I haven't read/heard of the two titles SDSUMarcus01 mentioned ;

[MOGXIII]

i recall that the book was rather inaccurate to begin with, and does not reflect the real geisha culture

some interesting discussion here: http://www.kanai.net...09/21/12h34m49s

lol, I didn't figure it did. Geez, movies are like, never accurate.
And according to peoples responses i'm not sure I want to go see it now.
Ripping off a story like that...bad.

Hmm.. I know some *bookworms* and those who do *research* on this topic.. and most of them agree that the story is not really quite accurate (not exact) since it's being seen thru the eyes of a non-Japanese. (ie. Gaijins)

I'm not complaining since I don't know the story much, and I don't read these type of stuff.. heheh..

One thing for sure, Japanese culture is quite intimidating.. heheh. :wink:

[nilay]

its a nice chick flick
so if u are a chick check out this flick

[MOGXIII]

its a nice chick flick
so if u are a chick check out this flick

http://www.youtube.c...Y&search=geisha

ps. though I would have preferred to place this in the "kuso" section..

[綺麗な氷]

http://www.youtube.c...Y&search=geisha

Oh good grief. ::
And Bobby Lee up to his usual thing again...cross dressing.

[nilay]

heh that was entertaining ... i kind of agree with the over hyped stuff and the same old stuff....

[Eri-chan]

I hear they banned this in China, because Ziyi Zhang was portraying a Japanese person, is this true??
If it is then sorry I think its a whole load of **** because Its only a film. Its not really that important a film is for someone to enjoy not sit through it thinking "Uh-oh! Shes not Japanese!" and then NOT enjoy it. And I know some people out in the world are delibriatley not enjoying the film because they know this. Shes an actress, its HER JOB.

[MOGXIII]

I hear they banned this in China, because Ziyi Zhang was portraying a Japanese person, is this true??
If it is then sorry I think its a whole load of **** because Its only a film. Its not really that important a film is for someone to enjoy not sit through it thinking "Uh-oh! Shes not Japanese!" and then NOT enjoy it. And I know some people out in the world are delibriatley not enjoying the film because they know this. Shes an actress, its HER JOB.

^ *ahem.. just let me remind you that Japan & China have yet to resolve a sensitive issue regarding their past, especially regarding the 'visiting graves' thing.
Just google about it if you don't know about it. :wink:

..and yes, sad to hear such thing happens because of politics..

Edited by mogxiii, 16 February 2006 - 04:40 AM.

[Binkybob]

I cant imagine walking in her shoes!

[Kaeseki]

Well, this is ancient. I'll give my two cents anyhow!

I read the book and saw the movie. I thought the movie stayed true to the book within reason. Sure, lots of good stuff in the book didn't make it to the screen. But they did a decent enough job given time constraints of feature length movies. The only thing I dislike was all the Chinese actresses. The girls playing young Chiyo and Satsu were obviously Japanese but they were it as far as the women characters go. All the other actresses looked obviously Chinese and their Chinese accented English was so distracting! I wish there were more Japanese actresses in the movie.

[ｍｉｃｃｈｉｐｙｏｎ☆]

I love this movie, even though it annoys me that they speak English AND japanese...
It would've been a great movie if they would have just spoke 1 language, buut.
And I kinda dislike the Chinese actresses too..
Why they just didn't choose real japanese actresses.. ;__; oh whatever. the movie is still great.

[Rice-chan]

I saw the movie, read the book and I loved it
I still find it funny for a Hollywood film (is it american production? I thought so..) about japanese Geisha to star chinese actresses
and that one guy from Quest Crew!
But they did a great job I think~

And I totally adore the OST for the movie

I have this on my Ipod