J. Johnson
Feb. 24, 2006
|
We have these great theatres in San Francisco. One is called the 4 Star. It is constantly under siege by their realtor, a Lutheran Church, who wants to evict them, but somehow, it keeps hanging on.
The 4 Star is an old theatre that has none of the amenities of the multiplexes, but has the charm. The kinds of people frequenting the the 4Star are left over hippies, people who talk to themselves, or those like me who hardly know what end is up.
The other day on the last lap of my run, I ran into the 4 Star to see Walk The Line. I was finally in the mood to see the Johnny and June Carter Cash story and the well-known Folsom Prison concert. At the 4 Star, they show no previews, so the movie immediately started. About twenty minutes into the film the "light bulb comes on" and I realize I am not at Folsom Prison hearing Johnny and June sing, but I am in Japan. Realizing that I fit right in with the 4 Star crowd, I decided to stay and watch the movie, which I eventually realized was Memoirs of a Geisha .
In Memoirs of a Geisha a young girl is sold to a geisha house; she becomes a maid for the house; by chance she meets the Chairman who inspires her to become a geisha; she meets her mentor who trains her; she thinks about the Chairman, an older married man, and falls in love with him; she becomes the most popular geisha in Osaka; World War II happens and she losses everything; she fights back to become a geisha to help the Chairman regain his wealth. Can she make a comeback? See the movie. I don't want to be a spoiler.
According to dictionary.com a geisha is one of a class of professional women in Japan trained from girlhood in conversation, dancing, and singing in order to entertain professional or social gatherings of men. It is reiterated over and over in the movie how a geisha can not fall in love, in essence, she is married to her job. So you can see how the main character, Sayuri, must feel when she falls in love with the Chairman, an older wealthy man who is married with children. She can entertain him, perhaps sexually, but love is forbidden.
A bidding war was even started on who can take Sayuri's virginity. Let's just say the right man did not win.
No sex scenes were in the movie , but lots of suggestive flirting and a suggestive rape scene.
The cinematography was spectacular and the music, by John Williams, terrific.
The movie also had a lot of nuances which I had not heard about. One such nuance was how Americans were portrayed in the film after World War II. The Americans came off as lecherous men ready to use their power to hop in the sack with a mysterious Japanese woman/or geisha. What few Japanese customs the Americans observed were more or less to eventually arrive at the garden spot of nirvana: hot tub and the payoff. But Memoirs of a
Geisha was not too over the top in bashing the Americans and I'm sure that some of it was true. We don't do very well with the spoils of war; it is not in our nature.
The theme of Geisha, however, was not about Americans and who they are. The movie remained true to the love story. If you want to see a good film about Americans in Japan after World War II, see Sayonara, one of my all time favorite movies, starring Marlon Brando. His best film I think. Naturally, he plays himself, but he's a heroic American in all ways.
Overall, I liked Memoirs of a Geisha despite the fact that Johnny and June did not make an appearance. The movie was reasonably tender, nuanced, and mysterious, with spectacular cinematography and music. See it on DVD.
Two parachutes.
|
My Grandma Has a Blackberry 
Now Available: Newly revised paperback General Lee:Father of the Airborne.