that memoirs in the spotlight

yesterday i watched 'memoirs of a geisha' sneak preview show.

i read the book when the novel got some publicity when madonna decided to portray hatsumomo in her nothing really matters videoclips from her ray of light album, even donning full geisha costume in her grammy openings.

that was back in 1999.

i remember going from book shop to book shop to find this novel. i was still studying in japan at that time, and english novels were not exactly abundant in supply.

i've never heard of arthur golden before, and i'm not really a memoir fan 'coz let's face it non-fiction is 90% boring, but hey, the biggest celebrity not only read it, but influenced by it, so it must be good, right?

so when i heard stefen spielberg was going to turn this into film, i was excited. moreover, he has such a cool choice of actresses. i like zhang ziyi and michelle yeoh. i've lost count how many times i see they fight in crouching toger hidden dragon in that wooden house. as for gong li, never seen her on the big screen before but she does have this long-fingernailed-villain look in her.

ok back to the movie. the sceneries, from falling cherry blossoms to bustling streets of gion, were breathtaking. zhang ziyi and gong li are gorgeous donning geisha clothes and make ups. the moves and dances were delicate and simply beautiful. i can almost taste the culture out of my tongue tip. i heard they had to attend geisha lesson for six weeks, walking with thin slice of paper in between knees while balance sth on their head and i must say, it showed.

i like the scenes when zhang ziyi exchanged war of words with gong li in the tea house. ppl should learn that you know, a very feminin and classy way to bitch around. indeed words are sharper than swords when used affectively. though sometimes i couldn't but aware that the words were merely dialogues written for the movie when hearing zhang ziyi's cheeky lines, 'coz zhang ziyi and good command in english do not exactly go hand in hand.

the movie got a bit draggy at the end after the world war scenes but still in overall i'll give it 7 over 10.

a memoirs indeed.


...ed