Memoirs of a Geisha
Memoirs of a Geisha is based on the best selling novel by Arthur Golden, this movie, produced by Rob Marshall, is an excellent piece of work. Japan in the first part of the 20th century, with it’s houses, industries and everything that comes along… is very well portrayed. The music score by John Williams completes the visual elements, an issue that makes that movie an aesthetic piece of art.
You won’t find all star actors, but still you can recognize Ken Watanabe (in the role of the Chairman) from The Last Samurai, Michelle Yeoh (in the role of Mameha) from Tomorrow Never Dies and Zhang Ziyi (in the role of Chiyo/Sayuri) from Hero. Two-thumbs up for Suzuka Ohgo (in the role of young Chiyo), a Japanese actress with eyes so blue – just in the movie - you might get sea-sick just by looking at them.
The plot: Chiyo, a 7-year old girl from the fishing village of Yoroido, is sold and sent away, with her sister, by her penniless family to a geisha house in the city of Kyoto. At first, her sole goal is to find her sister, Satsu, from whom she has been separated during her travel to Kyoto. After an attempted escape, she resigns herself to become a Geisha, a “moving work of art” who sells her skills and not her body. Adopting the name of Sayuri, she faces ferocious competition from Hatsumoto, the house’s most prominent earner, and must frays her way to become the most prominent Geisha of Japan and attract the looks of The Chairman, the man she falls in love with.
Although the production and cast mixture is successful, something is missing in the movie. I would call it lack of emotional scenes, at some points the movie seems to be so mute. I was expecting more romance and heart-breaking parts; too bad, it could have hit the Oscars… Still, the movie is a very good alternative for the book. More information on the Official Memoirs of a Geisha Web Site.
Google Arab
Some people do associate terrorism with the Middle East and the Arab world. Obviously not directly, but still news and speeches do offer glimpses of that notion.
Google goes a step forward unintentionally probably, but whatever. Here’s something to laugh about.
Search “irhab” (the Arabic equivalent of terrorism) on Google and you’ll get a message saying “Did you mean: arab”.
