thoughts on memoirs of a giesha (39)

1 Name: Couch Potato 2006-01-02 13:01 ID:pUOkZVTN

i just saw the movie i thought it was very well done i just would like to know what others think of the movie.....it cant be possible for a asian to have blue eyes can it?

2 Name: Doku Otoko 2006-01-04 09:37 ID:GPpxjmH7

That was an okay movie. There was barely any character development so I didnt get to know any of the characters in the film that well besides the main character. There were certain scenes in the film that were supposed to trigger some deep emotional response but I was too distanced from the characters to feel any emotions for them. But King Kong. THAT is a VERY GOOD movie that is VERY emotionally powerful and exciting in terms of action sequences as well.

3 Name: Couch Potato 2006-01-05 07:00 ID:pUOkZVTN

king kong sucked

4 Name: Couch Potato 2006-01-05 09:31 ID:ejJ3CLCw

The part at the end when the geishas could suddenly fluently speak English with the American folks was kind of a disturbing plot hole.

5 Name: Couch Potato 2006-01-06 18:42 ID:LBzMTQjG

It was okay.

needed more japanese language (lol weaboo)

6 Name: Couch Potato 2006-01-09 05:45 ID:pUOkZVTN

agreed

7 Name: Couch Potato 2006-01-10 07:00 ID:aQN1azMl

it was too long for the type of movie that it is

8 Name: Couch Potato 2006-01-10 18:37 ID:Heaven

>>1

read the book, she had blue eyes

9 Name: galford 2006-01-11 01:57 ID:bN5LEJ3I

my eyes may be blue, but i have samurai spirit!

10 Name: Couch Potato 2006-01-11 17:08 ID:66JN8VYm

>>9

orly

11 Name: Couch Potato 2006-01-14 13:50 ID:3whdDEyk

Book > Movie.

12 Name: 三島 2006-01-27 15:27 ID:ps/RxfZX

Yes it is certain for Japanese to have blue eyes, I forgot though my uncle told me of people who do in Northern Jpn
I have friend who has grey eye color, her grandmother also have

RE: movie/英語

日本のもありますそしても一番でいる。
その中国人ごみおもともい。

13 Name: Couch Potato : 2006-03-09 02:32 ID:PnFxdmht

I liked it. There were obviously a lot of loose ends and stuff, for being made for lazy Americans that don't want to read subtitles. I felt it really missed the Asian flare. It really lacked scenery shots and the real feel of being in Japan. It felt like everything was perfect; especially the sakura tree in the garden. I needed more seasonal changes and vegetation variations.

The heavy accents made it difficult to understand too. They could have kept their Japanese names instead of translating them as well. I mean, Pumpkin is called Pumpkin while the others held Japanese names? Weird.

14 Name: Couch Potato : 2006-03-11 00:23 ID:taWcz0Mu

it sucked, lucy luu isnt japanese in my book....

15 Name: Couch Potato : 2006-03-11 00:24 ID:taWcz0Mu

isnt even close in acting or nothing.

16 Name: Couch Potato : 2006-03-11 09:47 ID:GkNZG52U

some chinese have blue eyes. in fact, there are chinese people that look like every other type of ppl out there. china is huge. people near the north look like russians, west look indian ect. and as japan is a spawn of china, it's only natural they have ppl with blue eyes as well.

17 Name: Couch Potato : 2006-03-22 03:25 ID:/SzB1c93

My wife is from northern Japan and has grey eyes. Her grandmother was part-Ainu and had the same eye color. Some of the Ainu (from Hokkaido) are known to have blue eyes, and since many of them hid their identity and married with Japanese there are now some Japanese who also have blue, green or grey eyes.

18 Name: Couch Potato : 2006-04-03 20:58 ID:/pYnc0CO

It was pretty boring.

19 Name: Couch Potato : 2006-04-20 04:25 ID:3BvWP3Ep

i am in love with a japanese girl with blue eyes sigh

20 Name: Couch Potato : 2006-05-05 16:43 ID:qNNsDmh3

I disliked the transition from japanese to english.

If they were really speaking Japanese, then it wouldnt make sense for the Americans to understand them....can anyone clear this up? :3

21 Name: Couch Potato : 2006-05-17 05:57 ID:GkNZG52U

lol it's funny how even though they're japanese, they speak english with a chinese accent. casting chinese actresses to speak english like a japanese when they can't really speak english to begin with.

22 Name: James [HIMBO] : 2007-01-03 21:23 ID:VU+HE8bp

>>14

Lucy Liu isn't in Memoirs of a Geisha, if you're referring to the main character, it's Ziyi Zhang.

23 Name: Couch Potato : 2007-01-12 18:37 ID:8oNYF9/z

http://www.lizadalby.com/Geisha%20tea-eyes.html <-- a page by the woman who was hired as a consult for the movie, it has some info on why the movie was as american as it was (besides the obvious bit of that it was made by Americans, based on an American book), rather than actually having more genuine geisha details. The woman has actually gotten some Geisha training, which is what the page is about.

24 Name: Fraaaaag : 2007-01-15 01:43 ID:zm3nV1nn

it was a good movie, i loved the scenery.
but i think it was a bad move 2 hire chinese actors 4 japanese roles.
and it did have that bitter taste of american directing in it.

25 Name: natti : 2007-03-18 10:54 ID:cMjdQ2/b

I love this movie!The story is so wonderful and the actors are great<3

26 Name: Couch Potato : 2007-03-20 01:30 ID:oBrXg1gl

I thought it was a silly movie, they didn't even look Japanese. And it presents a silly fabrication of wartime Geishas. No, for the last time, Geishas are NOT courtesans.

That and it's a petty Hollywood Cinderella story, it has the weak underbelly of a film with no soul or personality. It's... Expendable, very expendable, and insincere. To its credit, it had nice production values, but what a waste of money on a hollow screenplay.

Oh, and for crying out loud, if you're going to have your characters speak English instead of Japanese, why do you give them phony Japanese accents??? Why? It's just distracting. And silly.

27 Name: Couch Potato : 2007-03-20 01:33 ID:oBrXg1gl

Despite the director's most elaborate efforts to the contrary, it didn't feel Japanese at all, Perhaps because of those very efforts.

28 Name: Couch Potato : 2007-03-31 22:42 ID:U3PsyvUx

Chinese actors portraying Japanese characters that speak in English. Brilliant!

29 Name: Couch Potato : 2007-05-16 14:13 ID:5WVLvDyN

>>23
" Yet geisha today are living anachronisms. The style of beauty they preserve is more and more out of synch with modern ideals. The film Memoirs of a Geisha has a problem with this that the novel did not. In their mind’s eye, readers can imagine the characters in the novel as beautiful. The image they conjure up may or may not be culturally accurate, but it doesn’t matter—we know that Sayuri is head-turningly gorgeous. But the film has to show that she is beautiful. At the very least, the director and producers have to believe it themselves in order to make their audience believe it. The problem is that a real geisha’s beauty is something of an acquired taste, and try as they might, they just couldn’t acquire it. Exotic? Yes. Alluring? No.

At one point during filming I overheard a couple of the light and sound crew debating whether they would want to kiss a mouth that looked like that tiny red rosebud on a white mask. They both chuckled and said they would pass. This made me think. All along I had been arguing strenuously for a more authentic geisha look in hair and make-up, but this was the moment when I realized that could not happen. For this film to work, the most important thing was that the geisha be beautiful to blue eyes, not to tea-eyes.

Much has been made of the fact that three of the major roles are played by Chinese actresses rather than Japanese. To my mind that is not an issue. The fact that the film is in English is the major leap from verisimilitude. Everything else is secondary. These are great actresses—had they been dressed in accurate kimono, worn true geisha make-up and hairstyles, they could certainly have been made to look like real geisha. But that was the problem.

30 Name: Couch Potato : 2007-05-16 14:13 ID:5WVLvDyN

>>29
Even in Japan now, many young people find “the geisha look” old-fashioned and off-putting. Kyoto’s apprentice maiko are between the ages of 17 and 20. They are keenly aware of modern beauty trends even as they paint their faces white. Nowadays they experiment with eyelash curlers and lighter coats of makeup more in line with western notions of beauty. In fact, though they do not recognize themselves in the fantasy world of the film, they are likely to be fans of ZiYi Zhang and even be influenced by her fully lipsticked mouth. They think about how that would look instead of the small dab of red they traditionally brush on the center of their lower lip. I expect we will see a few full-lipped maiko in the streets of Kyoto as a result.

Japanese curiosity about the novel sparked a surge of interest among young girls wanting to become geisha in the 1990s. Undoubtedly the movie will have the same effect. Many modern Japanese women have come to hate the word “geisha,” as embodying a stereotype of docile servility. Yet, ironically, the new wave of foreign attention has given real geisha a glamorous new cachet in Japan. Once again the geisha “mothers” will have to work to separate the serious from the starry-eyed as they interview the wannabes. Over the years I myself have received dozens of letters from other blue eyes wanting to know how they too can become geisha. My recommendation would be to start taking shamisen lessons now.

31 Post deleted.

32 Name: !TA0T5gpKEQ : 2007-10-31 01:18 ID:15TJ9Ogf

butthole rice was all I remember

33 Name: Couch Potato : 2007-11-03 14:57 ID:P2MP2i4B

glorified prostitutes are still prostitutes
oh
the movie sucked...why
one old bondwhore and one ugly zhang make bad poopoo
also
...IT WAS BORING... NOTHING HAPPENS

34 Name: Couch Potato : 2007-11-05 12:28 ID:WUZrHXJ/

read the novel, its better.

35 Name: Couch Potato : 2007-11-06 06:43 ID:1Ol1DuCO

Loved it! Ken Watanabe is wonderful. The whole movie was spent me wanting to be a geisha and being in awe of him.

36 Name: Couch Potato : 2007-11-10 20:27 ID:Heaven

shit sucks, sage

37 Name: rabz : 2008-03-29 20:56 ID:RG+xWXhk

jst saw da movie its awesom have no idea abt japanese culture or about gieshas but im definitly curious now

38 Name: Couch Potato : 2008-03-31 17:34 ID:AQWeEaEl

>>Over the years I myself have received dozens of letters from other blue eyes wanting to know how they too can become geisha. My recommendation would be to not even bother you pig disgusting gaijin whore.

fixed.

39 Name: Couch Potato : 2008-04-06 13:09 ID:Heaven

lol

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