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Continuing with the
31 Days of Oscar Blogathon 2014
hosted by...
Once Upon A Screen...
this week's theme is "Music, Costumes, Cinematography,Writing, etc, You name it, it's in...
And I can't think of a better choice to talk about than the 2005 film adaption of Arthur Golden's hugely popular book, MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA...
Another one of Marshall's co-horts, Colleen Atwood, who had taken home the Oscar for costume design on CHICAGO, took it home again for MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA.
As did John Myhre and Gretchen Rau, in Best Art Direction, Myhre previously winning for CHICAGO and Rue doing the set decortation for 2003 film THE LAST SAMURI...
Marshall, had won Best Director for CHICAGO and his previous life as a Tony Nominated choreographer on Broadway definitely shows in both films. But alas, Marshall wasn't even nominated for Best Director in 2005, the honor going to Ang Lee for his work on BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN...
A odd Hollywood thing, Lee had directed CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON in 2000...
which happens to star MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA's two leading ladies.
Less violent and directed by "a white guy", MEMIORS OF A GEISHA is a film oozing with art, from the vary first frame of a turbulent sea and the silhouetted, almost wordless back story of their father selling Chiyo and her older sister Satsu, as their mother lay dying.
Taken to the city of Kyoto and separated from all she knew, Chiyo becomes an indentured servant to "Mother" and her Geisha House, the picture frame zooms in, to echo the tight quarters and the entrapment of Chiyo, who is befriended by Pumpkin in the attic...
Beauty is first revealed in Chiyo's life in the shaking out of an elaborately embroidered kimono, as Chiyo assists in the dressing of Hatsumomo, who will become her nemesis....
But very little light comes into Chiyo's life until she meets The Chairman and when he stops to cheer her up, sitting on a bridge, the sun is shining and sky is bright, a backdrop cherry blossoms and Geishas, framed in the curved railing of the bridge...
and now with the purpose of becoming Geisha and seeing him again, Chiyo runs to the shrine to make an offering.
Filmed through the Orange Gateway of the Fushimi Inari Shrine in Kyoto, it was one of the few scenes filmed in Japan, most of vintage Kyoto built and filmed in California.
The passage of time is beautifully shown with the cherry blossoms floating up from the shrine and snowflakes turning the skies gray and descending on a more modern Kyoto, complete with the new sound of an electric radio in the background and Zhang Ziyi's first appearence, fifteen and more beautiful...
dressed in grey as a servant girl then Hatsumomo and Pumpkin, making her debut as an apprentice Geisha, in their glorious kimonos. As they leave, Chiyo watches them through the bars of the front sliding door reminding us of her imprisonment in the Geisha House.
But then comes a visitor, Mameha, with a proposition for "Mother" and in the next scene, the dark heavy curtains are pulled down from the windows and light and freedom comes to Chiyo...
But in the voice over, she declares "The two greatest Geishas in the world, in a war over me."
Her first meeting at Mameha's house, is bathed in golden light and surround by Art Deco lamps signaling the change in the era, but n the following montage, Mameha teaches Chiyo the ancient ways of the Geisha, light filtering through the bath house or by soft candle light Chiyo painting her face and neck white, the powdered dust in the air.
Mameha also gives her a new name, Sayuri and on her first outing, in a man filled, smoked filled tea house she peaks the interest of the nobleman who are their clients, including the Chairman, who Sayuri still loves, and the Chairman's business partner, Nobu, who was wounded in a past war and the Chairman is indebted to...
Darkness and light are used throughout MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA as is a strong vanishing points like the Orange Gateway in Koyoto or the tree lined drive to Mameha's Danna, her benefactor who has become bored with the great Geisha, country estate...
and the light is shut away as The Baron takes Sayuri into his inner rooms, three ornate golden doors sliding shut behind her, one after another and then he forcibly unwraps her from her beautiful kimono, a hint of what is behind the secret, if not elegant world of the Courtesan, what Geisha were, whether Mameha's believed it or not.
Yeah, this is the part as a woman and a mother of young woman, I have to switch off a few light bulbs going off in my head and try to tell myself, it is good to know history, even history that is not all too kind to woman getting old, as in Mameha's case or to young girls starting out like Sayuri. This is not a post on men's....leanings or the many versions of kept woman throughout history..... look for a post on that in the future. But there is some argument to the accuracy of the Mizuage in the film. One of author Arthur Golden's sources, actually sued him after the book came out, you can read about it Here
"The very word Geisha, means artist and to be a Geisha is to be judge as a moving work of art," Mameha tells Sayuri and after riviting dance performance, snow and light swirling around her...
The price paid for Sayuri's deflowering breaks all known records for a Geisha in Kyoto.
But war is coming to Japan and the life of a true Geisha is coming to an end.
Nobu and the Chairman get Mameha and Sayuri to safety...
Sayuri, growing up in the hills, through the long war, living and working for a kimono maker, the red dye washing down the stream a reminder of the war and lose of life far away from her. But the war comes to an end and as US serviceman stationed in the Pacific want companionship, the Geisha is reborn and Nobu comes to get her and ask for her help, though the Chairman is against it.
Reborn into a modern and Western occupied world...
Sayuri goes to meet the Chairman, her grey kimono almost the same shade as the silver bomber plane behind her and gladly entertains the military brass to get approval for Nobu and the Chairman's business endeavors. But Sayuri can not fathom a life with Nobu as her Danne and so skeems to remove herself from his affection.
But she does not account for the hatred of Pumpkin...
the air dirty for the scenes of the US Military's takeover of Japan and Pumpkin fulfilling the troops expectations for the new Geishas.
Not as cool with living in Sayuri's shadow as she lets on, Pumpkin betrays Sayuri's plot to be released from Nobu, sending the Chairman instead to witness her indiscretions, lit by candlelight, the light and the joy gone from her life again....
Sayrui visits the turbulent sea, and in a beautiful gesture of a Geisha lets the Chairman's handkerchief go onto the wind...
and then returns to Mother and the Geisha House, the house again dark and badly lit again. But there are mouths to feed and debts to pay, so Syuri becomes Geisha once more and goes to meet a very important client at the Tea House and it is the Chairman and as golden leaves, symbolizing the Fall of their life together, instead of cherry blossoms in the spring, he confesses he is the source of all of Mameha's scheming and Sayuri confesses her constant love for him...
If ever there was a film in need of no words, it would be MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA, from the first scene of the silhouetted turbulent sea, to the last of the tea house's luscious garden, we can summarize and be taken to another world by what we see, alone. The work of great cinematography, costumes and art direction laying out a rich story on the screen in front of us in need of no words.
For more interesting post this second week of the Blogathon, be sure to visit the Hosts' blogs above, who will have links to other's ponderings.
I love this film! The costumes and the set are so beautiful, and it's a wonderful compliment to the book...in my opinion all the wins were justified.
ReplyDeleteThanks for a wonderful post