Review of Memoirs of a Geisha (2005) by Ahmedaiman1999 — 21 Apr 2020

On the surface, everything looks splendid. And I don't just mean the stunning cinematography and the lush production design and beautiful costumes; but I also mean the interesting world the story takes place in. Unfortunately, once you dig deeper, you'd find out that this glamorous surface is almost everything the movie's got. I mean, I haven't read Arthur Golden's book, but I feel like there's more to a "geisha" than what I saw here. Actually, I feel like there's a decent dystopian protagonist buried underneath the kimonos and the white make-up.

Keeping the shallowness of the story ـــthat left much to be desiredـــ and the monotony caused by the overlong runtime ـــthat gone completely wasted in telling a well-worn story instead of exploring the promising world and developing the charactersـــ aside, the storytelling is blatantly flawed. For it seems that the movie's concern isn't to make you emotionally invested in the characters as much as just to show off the technical prowess of the production, leaving all the turning points feel totally bland, scattered every once in a while. The first act that centers around Chiyo is enjoyable, though. I don't think the sub-plot of Chiyo and her sister moved me as much as I should, and I definitely didn't buy the awkward romance that developed from this act onwards; but I found Chiyo's "bringing-up" in the geisha house and her enmity with Hatsumomo ـــonly at this pointـــ moderately interesting. (4.