| Comments on "Memoirs of a Geisha / SAYURI |
| "I enjoyed it, even though I wished that there had been more scenes showing
the development of the relationship between Sayuri and Nobu. I thought that considering Koji had a lot of problems speaking English, it didn't show and he gave his typical many layered perfomance. The Chairman is a difficult role because he is a shadowy figure in the book; maybe their "love" scene could have been longer at the end. It was lovely to hear Ken and Koji speak English! It is a pity that the film-makers felt the need to make Hatsumomo start a fire, and Sayuri to involve herself with an American. The claustrophobic nature of the okiya for someone at the bottom of the ladder was well conveyed. More observation regarding Koji's Nobu: I thought he was very good at conveying the vulnerability under Nobu's brusque manner, which made him respond to Sayuri's comments about looks not mattering. (Well, words to this effect). This made her special in his eyes. Considering how few scenes he was actually in, he did an excellent job." Jan.17, 06 ( UK fan) "Frankly, I loved the film. I thought the acting was superb on every level. The film was half over when I realized Koji was speaking English! I was so engrossed in the story. If he learnt English to do the film, he has done a wonderful job of mastering it. If he spoke phonetically, he did a wonderful job there too. In any case, although I understand the criticisms on many levels, I don't agree with all of them. I can understand more, the feelings of Kaori Shoji (Japan Times), and she is probably right when she complains it was Hollywood razzle dazzle, but we all know that Hollywood does that, especially for American audiences, but from my perspective I wanted to enjoy a film about geisha and that art form and especially, to see beautiful kimono worn by beautiful women, and of course, to gaze at Mr. Yakusho and enjoy his acting. It is hard to make a treasured book into a film that pleases everybody. " Jan. 18, 06 (S.H., NY) I recently read the book, and I saw the movie last week. I must say that the book was more fascinating than the movie. The movie was missing of much main information that it made the movie fractured. I was very disappointed. When I read the book, I was so drawn into the story. I sympathized with the character of Nobu, I guess it was because of what he went through in the war. He was described as such an interesting fellow, both physically and in his personality. I was expecting to see him with bigger burns in his face, and of course without an arm. While I saw the movie, it felt like if it had been chopped apart and then pasted back again missing the most important parts. I wonder why they didn't just make it a 2 1/2 hour movie instead of a 1 1/2 movie. Like that they would have been able to add more important scenes to the movie. " Jan. 20 ( Blanca, Norther California, USA) |
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| Created on January 16, 2006 |
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