And yes, I understand that the word that perhaps stands out the most is "looking", as it pertains to the appearance of the film instead of the film itself. Let me explain...but first with the problems many have...
Yes, Memoirs of a Geisha is a fictional tale. Yes, Memoirs of a Geisha is English language yet taking place in Japan many many many years ago. Yes, Memoirs of a Geisha is flawed compared to the extravagance and excellence of the book. Yes Memoirs of a Geisha is more lush than full, pretty than ripe with flavor, visual rather than grand.
All that aside...
this is a movie about Japan in this age, pure and simple. while reading the book I took away a knowledge of a subculture that I never fully understood (yet thought I did) and became more acquainted with something I never knew existed entirely. When I watched the film I came away not with an understanding of the Geisha (the book did that), but with an understanding of the era and time and place and so on with which the Geisha in the film exists. This is more like a companion piece to an indomitable novel than an adaptation of said novel. While the novel lets you into the world of the Geisha, this lets you into the world of the world of the Geisha, if that makes sense. And while I would rather have seen a tremendously faithful adaptation and subsequent transformation of the words into visage, I do admire that somehow such was not done and instead we see the full canvass for the first time, the story through words and the world through visual context. While I (again) would rather have seen the world fully realized, I admit that seeing it in this manor is no less grandiose.
Yes, Memoirs of a Geisha is a fictional tale. Yes, Memoirs of a Geisha is English language yet taking place in Japan many many many years ago. Yes, Memoirs of a Geisha is flawed compared to the extravagance and excellence of the book. Yes Memoirs of a Geisha is more lush than full, pretty than ripe with flavor, visual rather than grand.
All that aside...
this is a movie about Japan in this age, pure and simple. while reading the book I took away a knowledge of a subculture that I never fully understood (yet thought I did) and became more acquainted with something I never knew existed entirely. When I watched the film I came away not with an understanding of the Geisha (the book did that), but with an understanding of the era and time and place and so on with which the Geisha in the film exists. This is more like a companion piece to an indomitable novel than an adaptation of said novel. While the novel lets you into the world of the Geisha, this lets you into the world of the world of the Geisha, if that makes sense. And while I would rather have seen a tremendously faithful adaptation and subsequent transformation of the words into visage, I do admire that somehow such was not done and instead we see the full canvass for the first time, the story through words and the world through visual context. While I (again) would rather have seen the world fully realized, I admit that seeing it in this manor is no less grandiose.