unmemorable
Memoirs of a Geisha dir. Rob Marshall; starring Ziyi Zhang, Michelle Yeoh, Ken Watanabe, Gong Li
Sweeping Japanese epic or blatant Karate Kid rip off? Chiyo is an undisciplined servant girl, bullied by the mean yet highly regarded Geisha, Hatsumomo (Li). Along comes Mr. Miyagi, sorry, Mameha (Yeoh) who transforms the scruffy tyke into Sayuri, the greatest Geisha in all Japan.
It even has a training montage! However, director Marshall is more interested in showing historically accurate buildings and costumes than having an actual plot, so it’s less ‘wax on, wax off’, more ‘kimono on, audience switch off’. Even if actors are applying genuine Geisha face-paint it doesn’t escape the fact that you are watching a scene about face-paint application. Hardly riveting stuff. Memoirs is a horribly bastardised version of proper Asian cinema.
Under American direction Chinese actors Zhang and Yeoh are cast as Japanese characters because presumably Western audiences won’t notice the nationality difference. A greater crime is the decision to have the largely non-English speaking cast speaking English dialogue, leading to awkward pronunciation which undermines the delicate physicality of the central performances. The actors involved have all done great work in the past; it’s horrible to see them impeded so pointlessly.
In its conclusion the film proclaims, “These are not the memoirs of an Empress, nor of a Queen. These are the memoirs of another kind.” Correct. These are the memoirs of a tacky American filmmaker trying to cash in on a fascinating subject matter that deserves far better treatment than this.
12th Jan 2005