Message from mgalvez

[Anonymous]

I saw this movie for a variey of reasons. 1) It has been on my list of movies I wanted to watch 2)I read the book, and 3)It was nominated for 6 academy awards (it must have done something right).

I definently enjoyed it. I found it very informative. I had allready read the book and others on geisha so I noticed that it did cover many aspects of the culture in a way for "westerners" to become more aware of the culture. My husband watched and realized himself that no...they (or least many) are not prostitutes, but that they are educated in the arts. It was very sad but interesting how the main character's family sold her, and the path her life would lead because of that. I liked how they showed how one becomes a geisha, and how one becomes proud of their art. I was absolutly facinated with their customs. I thought the story flowed well. Apparently one concern that has caused controversy was that the main character was Chinese, not Japanese. This did not bother me at all, but I am interested to research more why it is an issue. One item I came across was if the lead character could really understand and represent the character she was playing. I know this is not nearly enough, however, on the DVD there are the extra features I love to watch when the movie intrigues me enough to be curious about things behind the scenes.
The DVD includes these extra features:
The look of geisha (Wardrobe, hair & Makeup) ( There are meanings behind how this is done that tell you certain things about the geisha- such as if she has lost her virginity which they refer to as mizu-age, if she is apprentice, real,etc...) (This is also described in great detail in the book.)
Music
Geisha BOOT CAMP- how the actresses became geisha
Geisha dance
COmmentary