After Chiyo spots her in a passionate clinch with a man, Mother berates Hatsumomo with, “Do you think a geisha is free to love? Never!” Her one weakness is men, with whom she lustily consorts in ways inappropriate to her highly defined role in life. Exceptionally beautiful, she is also arrogant and tempestuous - a diva among geisha, who gives Chiyo a hard time from the outset. Ruling the roost at the cramped compound is Hatsumomo (Gong Li).
Nine-year-old Chiyo (Suzuka Ohgo), who has unusual deep gray eyes, is retained to join another girl, Pumpkin, doing menial tasks with the prospect of one day being trained to be a geisha. In fact, this narration (by Shizuko Hoshi) helps the picture make it over the tricky language hurdle by serving as a graceful English-lingo bridge between a childhood prologue, which is performed in Japanese, and subsequent action in which two sisters from a remote fishing village, their mother dying, are sent by an elderly father to live in bustling Gion district of Kyoto.Įvaluated for suitability at an okiya - or geisha household - by an imperious woman known as Mother (a fabulously crusty Kaori Momoi), the older sister is turned away. Hewing faithfully to the general lines, if not all the specifics, of the 1997 novel, script by Robin Swicord boasts a well-carpentered three-act structure framed by sensitive narration in which the mature geisha Sayuri looks back on her life and a world quickly disappearing. Outside of Asia, most viewers could care less, and there’s no denying that you don’t want to take your eyes off these actresses for a second. There are arguments to be made on both sides, but this is more a fable than a realistic picture, and Asian audiences for decades have accommodated generalized “oriental” casting in Hollywood pics. 10, the day after its domestic release, and where Gong and Zhang are exceptionally popular. Issue also leaves open the question of audience response in Japan, where the film opens Dec. From a filmmaking point of view, this is a work that the old Hollywood moguls themselves would have been proud to present.ĭespite its refined nature, “Geisha” is mainstream rather than highbrow fare, and reception among the intelligentsia may be negatively affected by the casting of famous Chinese thesps Ziyi Zhang, Michelle Yeoh and Gong Li as the three celebrated pre-WWII Japanese geisha, no matter how good they are in the picture.
On a picture exec producer Steven Spielberg long intended to direct himself, Rob Marshall follows his smash “Chicago” debut with a consummate piece of traditional studio craftsmanship that bespeaks fastidious planning and execution in all departments.
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