Review of Memoirs of a Geisha (2005) by Susan B — 28 May 2010

Beautifully shot, an artistic choreography of life, as you'd expect from Rob Marshall, who also directed Chicago. The story of a young girl reluctantly sold by her poor parents to be trained as a geisha, and who eventually rises to the top of her profession (which to my education, was not prostitution).

The plot plods along a little in the first half of the film, so you have to watch this for the visual recreation of an era. Ziyi Zhang as Sayuri is beautiful but her acting's a little wooden, Ken Watanabe as always, is brilliant, but the surprise is Li Gong as the treacherous Hatsumomo.