Archive for December 27th, 2005

2005.12.27

Memoirs and Memories

I just got back from Memoirs of a Geisha. Not too bad. A bit long. I had no real desire to see it and, as is usual when my expectations are low, I ended up enjoying it. Someday, just once, I want to see Cary-hiroyuki Tagawa play a good guy. I’m sure he has at some point in his career but I’ve yet to see it.

I didn’t like the big dance scene. This was the only thing I thought was blatantly out of place and out of time. It was modern dance, big and open, but supposedly done by a geisha, who is a cultural icon of traditional Japanese close and formal culture. There was nothing terribly diminutive and refined about it.

I loved seeing the Japanese Tea Garden used in the movie, though. It was interesting to see how many different locations they used it for. I found it an interesting lesson in how to reuse space to represent different times and places. The only thing that confused me was the pagoda in the pond at the end; they must have built that specifically for the film.

It’s a pretty good film. If you don’t get around to seeing it in the theater then definitely take some time to see it when it comes out on DVD. I hear there was controversy about it, but I don’t see why. Then again, I rarely do understand the purists anyways.