Thank
you for visiting memoirsofageisha.ORG --
--
where good writing meets good sense
JAN
17 , 2006: MY FIRST REVIEW OF THE FILM
It's
been over a month since this film was released, and I finally
made the time to go see it for myself. I took considerable
effort to write a review based entirely on the film's merits,
and NOT on my knowledge of Japanese culture or my views
on Orientals. Please
have a read!
DEC.
9, 2005: PROFESSIONAL VINDICATION!
The
review of this film by The
New York Times on Friday, Dec 9, 2005, takes the same
basic position that I have been writing since I first put
up this site:
But even the formidable Ms. Gong cannot surmount the
ruinous decision to have her and Ms. Zhang, along with the poorly
used Mr. Yakusho, deliver their lines in vaguely
British-sounding English that imparts an unnatural halting
quality to much
of their dialogue.
I
have maintained for years that this
foolish language/accent decision would be the worst part
of this movie, aside from
the fundamentally
weak characters and total lack of a real story in the original
book.
I
will be going to see the movie this weekend or next, and
will be putting up my own review soon afterwards. Hang
onto your topknots!
--KEISUKE
HOASHI, DEC 9 2005
ESSAY: JANUARY 9. 2005
Will the names of Zhang Ziyi and Michelle Yeoh
guarantee "Memoirs of a
Geisha" will be a huge hit? Find out in "The
Chicken or the Egg."
If
you are among the many who are ...
- A
fan of Arthur Golden's best-selling novel "Memoirs
of a Geisha";
- Entranced
by the book's descriptions of an exotic, secret world,
and;
- Excited
by the upcoming film
...
Then
you absolutely, positively MUST read the commentaries on
this site. Immediately.
Hypnotized
by the book's pretentiously flowery prose and exotic setting,
most readers seem to completely miss the real
shortcomings of the book -- which, emphatically, have
very little to do with race, ethnicity, or cultural accuracy.
This
site tips the balance back towards critical responsibility.
- "Stereotyping
and Mysogyny" is the first in a series of
essays that strips away the exoticized trappings of
the book, to expose the fundamental issues for which
it
should
have
been critiqued.
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