Memoirs of a Geisha

In Japan, right before WWII a young girl and her sister were sold into slavery in the pleasure district of Japan. Chiyo (Sukuka Ohgo) is sold to a geisha house where she is a servant. She tries to escape with her sister, but she doesn't make it and her sister leaves without her. One of the geishas, Hatsumomo (Li Gong) doesn't like her and gets her into trouble at every opportunity. The only friend she has in a girl called Pumpkin, (Zoe Weizenbaum). Pumpkin is studying to be a geisha but after all the trouble Chiyo has caused the geisha house, she will not be studying to become a geisha. Instead she stays a servant.  She meets a Chairman (Ken Watanabe) who is taken in by her blue eyes. He talks to one of the most famous geishas Mameha (Michelle Yeoh) to get her to teach Chiyo how to be one. 

Chiyo, now called Sayuri (Ziyi Zhang) must learn quickly if she has any hope of becoming a geisha and buying back her freedom and becoming the next in line to own the geisha house. Hatsumomo has taken Pumpkin (Youki Kudoh) as a student and is trying to get Pumpkin named as the new owner of the geisha house. Hatsumomo  and Mameha both plot, where Sayuri is like a game piece caught in the middle.  Her only goal is the meet the Chairmen once again.

WWII happens and everything come crashing down. Sayuri spends years in the mountains, hiding from the Americans, only to be called again when the Chairmen has need of her. He is trying to get the Americans to sign off on a business deal. Thrown together once again, Sayuri tries to win him over while trying to deal with the new world the Americans have brought to Japan.

This movie was beautiful. The costumes were gorgeous, the acting was superb, the set was perfect, everything was great. I usually don't enjoy artsy movies, but I love the Japanese culture, so it sort of balanced out.  It was a romantic film, but at the same time, not really. I'm just wondering why, with all the great Japanese actors out there, that some of the ones in the movie were Chinese or Malaysian. I know that Michelle Yeoh and Ziyi Zhang are big names after Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon but I doubt anyone went to go see this movie specifically for them.

There was only one main problem I had with this movie, that it was in English. I mean, we're in Japan, why aren't we speaking Japanese? Maybe they didn't want subtitles. That's strange. I wouldn't of minded subtitles. With the people speaking English, you couldn't tell when they were speaking 'Japanese' or English. I really doubt they would be speaking English when everyone is Japanese. And how did Sayuri learn English in the first place? I doubt that was one of the things you had to learn when becoming a geisha. And after the American's took over, she was up in the mountains, I don't think they had time to teach her English. That part made no sense. Also I hate the name Pumpkin. I don't think that was her name. Why didn't they leave it as whatever it was in Japanese, like they did with all the other characters.

Anyway, it was a great movie. It was rich with culture of pre WWII Japan.

GRADE: 8.5/10