"we sell our skills, not our bodies."

caught memoirs of a geisha with dear dear on its opening day. i thought it was rather nice, the kimonos, the sceneries, and the little chiyo melted my heart! was reading some of the comments about it on internet, and there were people describing the show as insipid, boring, and the characters 'implausible'. if i wasnt mistaken i would think those who said that were actually americans. they crititised zhang ziyi's lousy performance. honestly..i thought she was great. her acting kind of reminded me of zhou xun in perhaps love. subtle, no loud displays of emotions, rather it's her eyes and facial expressions that convey all the messages. you feel her pains. unspoken emotions. maybe westerners are not used to such quiet means of expression, you think so? they like to talk, and thrash it all out.


little chiyo: just a wish.."cant you tell that every step i have taken..is for you.."


what is life without you

anyway a few things that struck me weird abt the movie was: 1. why didnt the director get japanese actresses? afterall it's a movie about japan! so i was kpo enough to go n read the message boards and find out what people thought. apparently rob marshall opened up the auditions to all the asian countries but very few japanese actresses went because they couldnt speak english. and marshall didnt exactly made it a point that he MUST use japanese actresses. so i concluded that there are a few reasons why chinese actresses were used..

1. star power: rob marshall isnt exactly a very BIG name with americans, so he needed to borrow strength on actresses like zhang ziyi, gong li and michelle yeoh who are relatively more well known in america than most japanese actresses.

2. talent before race. it's all about..acting right?

3. chinese, japanese, koreans, thai...all the same...what is the difference?? haha. to most americans that is. actually it's quite difficult to differenciate isnt it, unless you hear them speak.

gong li is so beautiful..guys, you're gonna love her.


hatsumomo.."it's not for a geisha to feel.."


three beautiful women = trouble


girls fight

another thing that i didnt like abt the film..why must speak english?? so the answer i got was..cos the target audience is the english-speaking market. of course most would still prefer japanese dubbed. but i supposed..it's better to hear chinese speaking bad english in an english film than chinese speaking bad japanese in an english film right?? anyway the english wasnt THAT bad, just weird.



sayuri: "She paints her face to hide her face. Her eyes are deep water. It is not for Geisha to want. It is not for geisha to feel. Geisha is an artist of the floating world. She dances, she sings. She entertains you, whatever you want. The rest is shadows, the rest is secret. "

..and i insist that geishas are not prostitutes!! as my bf still believe so..to me, prositutes are women who have sex as a profession to earn money. but geishas are artists, they dance, they sing, they entertain. okok despite selling their mizuage (virginity)..but that's it mah.. you have sex ONCE for money means you're a prostitute meh?? anyway i think it's not so much for the money than..status. how one geisha stand amongst so many others. the price speaks of her desirability. ok lar i admit, maybe i'm just more inclined to believe in the romantic notions that geishas seem to symbolise: elegance, classy, beauty and fine taste.



Mameha: "Remember, Chiyo, geisha are not courtesans. And we are not wives. We sell our skills, not our bodies. We create another secret world, a place only of beauty. The very word "geisha" means artist and to be a geisha is to be judged as a moving work of art. "


finally..a place in his world.."i love you.."

haha so this is my long long entry on the film! doubt anyone will bother to read till here.. but i needed to pour our my thoughts. all in all...forget abt weird accents, forget abt races, think about pretty women, stunning views, resplendent costumes, brilliant acting..i still love the show.