Memoirs of a Geisha Movie Review

Me and my sisters watched Memoirs of a Geisha at Glorietta yesterday afternoon in celebration of our birthdays (Feb 21st and 22nd)

Story: Before her mother dies, the main character Chiyo and her older sister Satsu are taken to Gion by one, Mr Tanaka. Her sister is sold to a brothel and Chiyo is sold to an okiya, a house for geisha.

With her unusual blue-grey eyes, Chiyo is to train to become a geisha, but is constantly antagonized by Hatsumomo, the top geisha of the Nitta okiya. The arrogant Hatsumomo recognises Chiyo’s potential and is upset at any hint of competition. Due to Hatsumomo’s machinations, Chiyo is reduced to becoming a maid in the okiya, ostensibly with no future of becoming a geisha.

An encounter with the wealthy and benevolent Chairman changes her luck. Chiyo wins the eye of the most successful geisha in Gion, Mameha, who is despised by Hatsumomo because she outshines her in every aspect and cannot be toppled because, unlike Hatsumomo, Mameha has earned her independence as a geisha. She adopts Chiyo as her apprentice and trains Chiyo to rival Hatsumomo. Chiyo’s entrance into apprenticeship is marked by being given a new name: Sayuri.

With her success and her virginity sold, Sayuri not only becomes a highly successful geisha, she manages to pay off all the debts that bound her to the Nitta okiya when she was a maid and also is adopted by the mistress of the okiya. The outbreak of World War Two, a theme foreshadowed by growing reference to the Japanese military, represents, structurally, another major challenge for the heroine. Her successes are quickly made irrelevant, and her physical beauty is tarnished by manual labour and a lack of food. The life of luxury is replaced by a new reality; her personal dark valley.

During her time as a geisha before the war, she encounters the Chairman again, but finds it impossible to get close to him as she desires. Instead, she finds herself constantly being pushed to be with Nobu, the Chairman’s most trusted friend. It is Nobu that saves Sayuri from the harsh labour of the war until Gion is able to open again on the condition that she will allow him to become her patron, despite the fact that it is the Chairman she desires. Sayuri and Mameha destroy Hatsumomo’s reputation entirely thereafter and Hatsumomo is thrown out of the okiya.

However, it is not until she puts herself in an undesirable position that Sayuri’s desire to be with the Chairman truly frees her to pursue her own destiny. When the Chairman frees her from the okiya to become his mistress, she sets up a lavish teahouse for Japanese businessmen in New York so that he may save face in Japan when his daughter is about to marry a man set to be the Chairman’s heir.

Source: Wikipedia
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Visit the movie site here : http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/memoirsofageisha/

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