Ian Lewis' Blog

Went to see Memoirs of a Geisha over the weekend. It's a story of a girl who is sold to a geisha house in Japan, becomes a very famous geisha in , and falls in a love with a dashing, handsome man known as "the chairman".

Well, I have to admit that I liked the movie a lot more than I thought that I would. The choice of Chinese actresses for many of the main roles didn't play out as badly as I thought it would. Though almost the entire film is in english. The movie is quite effective at portraying at presenting to westerners the lives of Geisha, their purpose, culture, rivalries etc, if you're willing to forgive that it shown from a somewhat western perspective.

Anyway, it's a good movie. If you haven't seen it I suggest you do though I believe the best way to understand Japan is to watch Japanese movies. Akira Kurasawa movies are a good place to start, as they are popular with western audiences (though they are mostly samurai movies). Shizuko Mishima at about.com has a a good set of movies with english subtitles. I've seen most of them are all are quite good though devoid of any geisha themed movies.