Geisha

[ebear215]

being the Japanese fan I am I saw the trailer's for Memoirs Of A Geisha and was naturaly drawn to it.

Now Im dying to read the book and Im wondering if anyone here has read the book and what do they think about it?

[AJBryant]

It's a load of crap. Don't waste your time.


Tony

[ebear215]

Really?

[Txkun]

I didn't read the book but I'm thinking as AJBryant that it's crap.

I read that:
1) the author of the book said it was from a real experience, and he was said to have some interviews with a geisha
2) at the end of the book he says it's all fictous (?)
3) the geisha interviewed when could read the japanese version of the book was really angry and sued the author for the bad and wrong way he depicted geisha and their world.

A movie based on the book will improve? I really doubt it but who knows...

[skrhgh3b]

I read the book several years ago. It was an engaging read, but ultimately had a disappointing resolution. It's a book with an idea more than a story, but I would still recommend it if you're interested. The movie, on the other hand, does look like a load of crap.

[KT]

Memoirs of a Geisha. I think it might be ok.. My issue is.. It's about a japanese geisha in english AND ALL THE CAST MEMBERS ARE CHINESE!! (except for a few.. like Watanabe Ken. I look at the commercial.. "hmm.. this looks interesting.. hey... Thats Ziyi Zhang.. She's chinese... somethings wrong there.. " I looked at all the cast members.. They are all chinese or close to it. Michelle Yoeh, shes in it too. Ziyi and Michelle are both from crouching tiger hidden dragon (A mandrin chinese movie) And Ziyi is also from House of flying daggers.. (another mandrin chinese movie) I have both.. so i recognized Ziyi right away. I would probably buy it.. but It would probably displease me because the cast members aren't japanese (which I think they SHOULD be.. Since it IS about a GEISHA which is JAPANESE) Lol I have nothing against Chinese.. I have a couple chinese movies(stated upove) which are really good.

(kehe house of flying daggers [also know as 'Shi mian mai fu' in mandrin] has a japanese/chinese actor named Takeshi Kaneshiro ^-^ He's cute. I thought you looked only chinese.. he can speak Mandarin, Japanese, Cantonese, English and Taiwanese.. sweet.)

But other then that.. I think they should of made the whole cast japanese and make the movie in japanese with english subtitles. It would be awsome that way.

^-^


Signing out; KT

[ebear215]

KT wrote:
Memoirs of a Geisha. I think it might be ok.. My issue is.. It's about a japanese geisha in english AND ALL THE CAST MEMBERS ARE CHINESE!! (except for a few.. like Watanabe Ken. I look at the commercial.. "hmm.. this looks interesting.. hey... Thats Ziyi Zhang.. She's chinese... somethings wrong there.. " I looked at all the cast members.. They are all chinese or close to it. Michelle Yoeh, shes in it too. Ziyi and Michelle are both from crouching tiger hidden dragon (A mandrin chinese movie) And Ziyi is also from House of flying daggers.. (another mandrin chinese movie) I have both.. so i recognized Ziyi right away. I would probably buy it.. but It would probably displease me because the cast members aren't japanese (which I think they SHOULD be.. Since it IS about a GEISHA which is JAPANESE) KT

Yea that kinda got to me too. They have a shortage of asian people in Hollywood so they use whoever looks asian to play the parts. I guess they think people wont notice... I sure did though. Dispite the main character being Chinese it looks like she did a pretty good job playing the role. It can be really hard to walk in those tall Geisha shoes and that dance she had to do!

[KT]

Ziyi learned to dance a long while ago. Learning dace helps with martial arts and such. Like the dance in House of flying daggers she had to learn. Shes awsome.

[natemb]

I can say nothing about the accuracy of the book, but I read it and enjoyed it. (this was before I had any particular interest in Japan)

As for the movie, I was complaining to my Japanese friend about the same things (English language, few Japansese actors). In her opinion, it's not too bad to make the movie in English because it's based on a book in English, and she said the reason they used Chinese actors is because there are very few Japanese who can act well in English. Do people have any good counterexamples?

Also, is there anyone here who's seen the movie and can give us their opinion??

[AJBryant]

This photo alone should tell you all you need to know about how "accurate" and well done the film is.



This sort of mistake is absolutely unforgivable, and totally inexplicable.

I'm stunned beyond belief.

Tony

[ebear215]

OMG! THE KIMONO IS ON WRONG!

DIDN'T ANYONE DO SOME RESEARCH BEFORE MAKING THE MOVIE!
THATS LIKE THE #1 RULE IN KIMONOS. LEFT ALWAYS GOES OVER RIGHT

Its actualy kinda funny. In Japan you wrap the kimono left side over right. However in funerals they wrap the dead person's kimono right side over left. LOL

[skrhgh3b]

i don't care what she's wearing or how she's wearing it, she's gorgeous

[AJBryant]

THE KIMONO IS ON WRONG!

Bingo.

Tony

[ebear215]

skrhgh3b wrote:
i don't care what she's wearing or how she's wearing it, she's gorgeous

they do that on purpose. This movie was filmed in Japan a least.

[AJBryant]

they do that on purpose. This movie was filmed in Japan a least.

Yes, ALL the mistakes were "on purpose."

Tony