gkanai wrote:That Geisha movie is a trainwreck waiting to happen. How are they going to market a geisha movie in Japan where the 3 female leads are not Japanese? Did "Lost in Translation" make it in Japan? Of course not.

cstaylor wrote:I wonder if the majority of the American public that sees this movie would even notice the difference if the actress was Chinese or Japanese?

cstaylor wrote:I wonder if the majority of the American public that sees this movie would even notice the difference if the actress was Chinese or Japanese?

Previously, Danwei had told us about the alleged nude photographs of Chinese actress Zhang Ziyi in the new movie Memoirs of a Geisha (see sample below). By now, it is clear that these poor-quality photographs were taken from some other movie(s) (see Kaiju Shakedown: Zhang Ziyi Definitely Not Naked). But when the film gets released in December, Zhang Ziyi may still have a nude scene or more. What then? Undoubtedly, this will re-ignite the issue of whether it was a national disgrace for a Chinese woman to be screwed by a Japanese man (or Japanese men). As an anti-dote, the following is a translation of an article at New Century Net (backup copy is here)

She is not being screwed by just one Japanese person, for she is being screwed by every Japanese person! She is not the only person to be screwed by the Japanese people, for every Chinese person is being screwed by the Japanese people! She let shame fall on the Chinese people! How could such a person deserve to be a Chinese?

...Then there was the matter of finding an actress to play Sayuri, the fisherman's daughter torn from her family to work as a servant in a geisha house and to later become a legendary geisha herself. The part required someone who could be credible playing both a 15-year-old girl and a 30-year-old woman, someone who could dance, speak English and, yes, carry a movie. The part went to Ziyi Zhang..."She has an Audrey Hepburn glow," Wick says. "You get the innocence, but she's also credible, with the glamour and sophistication." Says the 26-year-old Zhang: "It's amazing to find this role. The character is so true, both to the culture and to women. I can't believe an American man wrote it."

...Sony began to examine and evaluate its decision-making procedures. "Nobody wants to be where we are today," says Amy Pascal, head of the motion picture group for Sony Pictures Entertainment. "And we've got to figure out how it happened." Sony recently sought out a financial partner for the upcoming, $85-million adaptation of "Memoirs of a Geisha"...

...The people marketing "Memoirs of a Geisha" know a thing of beauty when they see it. They're banking that you will, too. The print ad for the Dec. 9 film is a tight shot of the bewitching, insanely gorgeous Ziyi Zhang, star of the movie version of the best-selling Arthur Golden novel. Her eyes are tinged blue like a Hokkaido sky; her lips are as red as sea coral. You can practically feel the layers of a silk kimono, hear the snap of gold fans and paper parasols, see the fluttering petals of cherry blossoms...It's intoxicating. And brilliantly deliberate. If one movie had a natural tie-in to beauty and fashion this year it's "Memoirs." Both Banana Republic and Fresh (a boutique beauty brand) will enjoy tremendous exposure courtesy of exclusive partnerships with Sony..."The movie is a lot about beauty," said Lev Glazman, co-founder of Fresh along with his wife and business partner, Alina Roytberg. "Everything about geisha has to be understated. It has to have an understated sensuality. It must create an air around you that is clean, deep and sensual...This line is so different in the way we're positioning it because it's linked to the movie and the movie is all about beauty," said Glazman, adding that when he first read the book he instantly saw the beauty. "Geisha treated themselves to the finest of everything. We wanted this to be like a day in the life of a geisha."

...director Rob Marshall triumphs in bringing Arthur Golden's 1997 worldwide best seller lusciously to life as a sumptuous love story...Marshall, whose first big film, the 2002 musical Chicago, won the Oscar for best picture, here tops that effort, in dramatic breadth and emotional depth...Memoirs of a Geisha is the Cinderella story, with Sayuri as the young heroine, Mameha as the fairy godmother, Hatsumomo as the evil stepmother and the Chairman as Sayuri's prince charming...Amy Pascal, Sony Pictures' movie chief, says of her studio's $80 million investment, which is cheap for a film of such grand range, but a lot for one without bankable Western names. "I'm hoping the film appeals to people who have ever been in love."

I am not the demographic intended for a movie like Memoirs of a Geisha...I didn't much care for the movie. It bored me. I didn't really care for any of the characters or their fates. I felt the Sayuri/Hatsumomo rivalry could have been taken out of an episode of Dynasty. I kind of had a feeling where it was all headed in the end, and it was just a matter of going through a lot (and I mean A LOT) of plot points to get there. What would have made a fascinating read, I didn't feel translated all that well to the screen. That's not to say it doesn't try, though. for as much as I didn't like the movie, it doesn't mean I abhor it, or wouldn't recommend it to people who might actually enjoy this...Visually, it's beautiful. Dion Bebe is the cinematographer, and photographs lush colors and textures in a very calming, serene manner. Great color palette. And the music by John Williams is top notch...The actors are decent, although there is something to be said about a movie featuring an all Asian cast that practically forces them to speak English. I feel it would have worked better if the film was subtitled, but that might turn a lot of people off.

Oh, on the actor front, I have to bring this one thing up, and it's probably the only time you will ever see these two movies mentioned in the same paragraph. Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa stars in the film as the lecherous Baron, who is the primary sponsor of Michelle Yeoh's Geisha, even though he lusts after Sayuri. In one scene, the Baron brings Sayuri into his house to offer her a kimono, and winds up assaulting her sexually. (Although she does not lose her virginity, a point that means a lot later on in the film). But the scene is almost a direct shot for shot of Tagawa's OTHER lecherous sexual assault scene from that masterpiece of cinema Showdown in Little Tokyo, which starred Dolph Lundgren and Brandon Lee. Now, like I said, I'm probably the ONLY person in the theater who would have picked that up, but if it's there, I have to point it out. The sad thing is, I prefer the scene from Showdown, but I think it's because it's shorter, has nudity, and ends with a beheading.

The movie version, directed by "Chicago's" Rob Marshall and written by Robin Swicord, has, frankly, Americanized the story. The filmmakers have made the characters crasser, they ignore nuances within geisha tradition and give characters attitudes and dialogue highly unlikely for Depression-era Japan. The heroine, who in time becomes a legendary geisha, is modeled in the film more after a willful, modern American teen than a young Japanese woman...more...

Question: Why start with the characters speaking Japanese and then segue into English?

Marshall: The reason is because I wanted to enter into this world in somewhat sort of an authentic way, like we're appearing into a world. One of the things we did throughout the movie was shoot the movie through materials, through bamboo, through silks, things like that, to give a sense that we're appearing into a unique world, a hidden world. I wanted to start the movie in Japanese so you'd have a sense of disorientation and feel that you're in a place that's foreign and odd to you. And then once the voiceover begins you understand that it's being narrated and being told as a memoir. As soon as the English voice takes over then the rest of the movie is translated to us in English.

...Zhang also researched geishas and disagrees with the criticism that the film romanticizes the life of the geisha. "I think geisha are artists as well as very strong and independent" she maintains. "Of course they live in a very special world and have a very strict code of conduct. For instance, if they loved somebody, they had to hide their true feelings. I think, if it were me, I couldn't do that, I'd just tell the person. I couldn't wait for ten years!" she adds laughingly. "They are very brave and not at all like servants, but very well respected in Japan."

Noriye's hope is that Memoirs of a Geisha, the movie that is having its world premiere in Tokyo on Tuesday, will inspire international interest and respect. Foreigners, who she sees now about twice a month, might be more inclined to engage a geisha because of it, she thinks. "I've heard that the geisha of Kyoto are not happy at all with the movie," she says shaking her head at the lost opportunity to promote one of the most recognisably Japanese of icons.

Mulboyne wrote:no Japanese actress has the international appeal of Zhang, Gong Li or Yeoh.

kamome wrote:Maybe there are no Japanese actresses who currently have such international appeal, but what's wrong with taking an unknown and making her a star? I bet many in the Japanese acting community are thinking this. Certainly, there are talented J-actresses out there.

kamome wrote:If any movie could propel a Japanese actress to international superstardom, it would be this one. Maybe there are no Japanese actresses who currently have such international appeal, but what's wrong with taking an unknown and making her a star? I bet many in the Japanese acting community are thinking this. Certainly, there are talented J-actresses out there.

I think the movie is perpetuating a catch-22 by claiming there are no internationally appealing J-actresses and then refusing to cast one who could grow into that role.

Marshall did look for a Japanese actor who could carry the film - if only because he was keenly aware of the Japanese box office - but he couldn't find one. That doesn't surprise me at all. There are some fantastic actors in Japan but the ability to work with a Hollywood director on a foreign language film requires a particular set of skills - one of which is convincing people you can handle the role and the pressure. Japanese actors seem terribly unambitious. The only one I've seen actively soliciting a role in a Hollywood film recently is Norika Fujiwara who fancies herself as a Bond girl. When leading French actor Gerard Depardieu wanted bigger roles, he moved to the U.S. and tried furiously to learn English. Even Zhang Ziyi, who got her break in a Chinese film, has spent time and effort in the US. Yuki Kudoh got a similar, if less important, break in "Mystery Train" and has made the most of it. Very few Japanese actors have made the effort to get work in Hollywood. That's no bad thing if they don't like Hollywood but many of them often mention in interviews that they would like to be "considered" for a role in a big US production and the media in Japan always regard it as a great achievement when someone does get a role.

And yet almost no major actors have engaged a competent agent to represent them overseas or moved to the US to build a profile or built up their language and acting skills. Part of the problem is the treadmill of acting in Japan. If you have made it in any way as an actor, your workload is enormous. You would have to take a break from work in Japan to devote enough time to gain entry to the US film world and this looks, to most actors, like career suicide because once you're off the radar, you're out. Your promotion company would also throw a fit if you passed up work to live in the US. Sonny Chiba did and, for a long time, it looked like he'd made a huge mistake. The other problem is the Japanese media world's insularity. Few people realize the value of using US agents to represent them or their clients. And yet foreign businessmen are constantly told of the need for a Japanese partner, mentor or patron to help them navigate a particular industry's local challenges. The same is true in Hollywood