*Memoirs of a Geisha

A 2005 film adaptation of the novel of the same title. The film was nominated and won numerous awards, including nominations for six Academy Awards, and eventually won three: Best Cinematography, Best Art Direction and Best Costume Design. So I suppose it's worth the recollection after 4 years...



Behind The Scene
Produced by Steven Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment and Spyglass Entertainment; the film is beautifully directed by Rob Marshall. Main roles go to prominent fixtures of Chinese Cinema, instead of Japanese actresses -which became critics highlights. The cast comprises of familiarly distinguished names: Zhang Zi Yi, Gong Li and Michelle Yeoh as leading women; aside Ken Watanabe.

Storyline
Set in a mysterious exotic world, which still casts a potent spell today, Nitta Sayuri reveals how she transcended her fishing-village roots and became one of Japan's most celebrated geisha. It begins in a poor fishing village in 1929, when, as a nine-year-old girl with unusual blue-gray eyes, she is taken from her home and sold into slavery to a renowned geisha house.

We witness her transformation as she learns the rigorous arts of the geisha: dance and music; wearing kimono, elaborate makeup, and hair; pouring sake to reveal just a touch of inner wrist; competing with a jealous rival for men's solicitude and the money that goes with it.

Despite heart-breaking treacheries, the girl blossoms into a legendary geisha under the guidance of her mentor. Beautiful and accomplished, Sayuri captivates the most powerful men of her day, but is haunted by her secret love for the one man who is out of her reach, the mysterious Chairman.

I was infatuated with the journey: an evolution from a girl, tossed by fate into a tragic life; to a fully realized woman who chooses and makes her own way in the course of life.