Memoirs of a Geisha [Blu-ray]
by Rob Marshall
![Memoirs of a Geisha [Blu-ray]](/images/Memoirs-of-a-Geisha-Blu-ray-B000TGJ808-L.jpg)
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Blu-ray details
Actor: Ken Watanabe, Michelle Yeoh, Suzuka Ohgo, Togo Igawa, Ziyi ZhangDirector: Rob Marshall
Brand: Sony
Writer: Arthur Golden
Writer: Robin Swicord
Blu-ray: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); Portuguese (Subtitled); Korean (Subtitled); Thai (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1; Japanese (Original Language); French (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 5.1
Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: Anamorphic Widescreen, 2.35:1
Running Time: 145 minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: 2007-09-25
Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Blu-ray Reviews of Memoirs of a Geisha [Blu-ray]
Blu-ray Review: Visualy spectacular and exceedingly well crafted
Summary: 5 Stars
Memoirs of a Geisha is a wonderfully crafted film. Director Rob Marshall director of photography Dion Beebe put together one of the most stunningly beautiful films I've seen in a very long time. This is the best blue-ray transfer I've seen yet. It is the benchmark for blue-ray discs in my collection now. The colors of the geisha scenes are rich and vibrant. The reds and whites and pinks are exquisite. They convey the wealth and affluence of the class of society the geisha entertain. This is in stark contrast to the gray and brown colors that dominate the working class settings of the kimono makers shop and fishing village. The costumes and make-up will give you a feeling of being transported back in time. The blue-ray transfer brings out the detailed of the embroidery and the beautiful colors of the geisha kimonos (of which there are a stunning number used).
The performances from all of the women in this film are first class. Li Gong's performance as Hatsummomo the resident and aging geisha, who is threatened by Chiyo's (played wonderfully by Suzuka Ohgo) arrival, is superb. Gong's performance benefits from having a much darker and perhaps wider emotional range for her character to work in. Ohgo plays a much more emotionally reserved Chiyo character. But the subtly of her performance should not be overlooked. Sold into the life of a geisha she disciplines herself to hide her feelings from the world. Living behind the painted geisha face she endures waiting for her chance at love.
Ken Watanabe as the chairmen, the object of Chiyo's affections, is great as usual. The male characters in this film do not get the same opportunity to display their excellent acting skills. The exist on the periphery of the geisha world. Entertained by the geisha but neither they nor the geisha are allowed to enter each other's world.
John William's score is subtle and rich. Williams is the best writer of original movie scores working today. With cello solos by Yo-yo Ma and violin solos by Itzhak Perlman the sound track is a delight to hear. Sound effects are used well and add to the ambiance of most scenes.
The film is wonderful and the blue-ray transfer marks this as a must own blue-ray disc.
Description of Memoirs of a Geisha [Blu-ray]
MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA - Blu-Ray MovieChicago director Rob Marshall's pretty but empty (or pretty empty) film has all the elements of an Oscar® contender: solid adaptation (from Arthur Golden's bestseller), beautiful locale, good acting, lush cinematography. But there's something missing at the heart, which leaves the viewer sucked in, then left completely detached from what's going on.
It's hard to find fault with the fascinating story, which traces a young girl's determination to free herself from the imprisonment of scullery maid to geisha, then from the imprisonment of geisha to a woman allowed to love. Chiyo (Suzuka Ohgo), a young girl with curious blue eyes, is sold to a geisha house and doomed to pay off her debt as a cleaning girl until a stranger named The Chairman (Ken Watanabe) shows her kindness. She is inspired to work hard and become a geisha in order to be near the Chairman, with whom she has fallen in love. An experienced geisha (Michelle Yeoh) chooses to adopt her as an apprentice and to use as a pawn against her rival, the wicked, legendary Hatsumomo (Gong Li). Chiyo (played as an older woman by Ziyi Zhang), now renamed Sayuri, becomes the talk of the town, but as her path crosses again and again with the Chairman's, she finds the closer she gets to him the further away he seems. Her newfound "freedom" turns out to be trapping, as men are allowed to bid on everything from her time to her virginity.
Some controversy swirled around casting Chinese actresses in the three main Japanese roles, but Zhang, Yeoh and Gong in particular ably prove they're the best for the part. It's admirable that all the actors attempted to speak Japanese-accented English, but some of the dialogue will still prove difficult to understand; perhaps it contributes to some of the emotion feeling stilted. Geisha has all the ingredients of a sweeping, heartbreaking epic and follows the recipe to a T, but in the end it's all dressed up with no place to go.--Ellen A. Kim
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