Memoirs of a Geisha (2005)

Directed by Rob Marshall. Starring Ziyi Zhang, Michelle Yeoh, Ken Watanabe, Gong Li, Kaori Momoi, Kôji Yakusho, Youki Kudoh, Suzuka Ohgo, Tsai Chin, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, Mako, Elizabeth Sung, Randall Duk Kim, Samantha Futerman, Ted Levine, Kenneth Tsang. [PG-13]

A sumptuous but stubborn period epic showcasing the geisha lifestyle through the observations and experiences of a poor girl sold to an okiya in 1930s Japan. Played as an adult by Zhang, she has a mentor (Yeoh), a petty rival (Li), and an urbane gentleman (Watanabe) she fancies, which means she and the others are trapped in a simmering soap opera too silly to take at face value, but too restricted to savor as sentimental kitsch. Criticized upon release (primarily in the Asian community) for its dubious non-Japanese casting and dialects; for Western audiences who may not even notice, the problem is that for all the film’s lush trappings and melodramatic scheming and swooning, the film is surprisingly anemic and badly directed (even the basic guideline techniques seem to elude Marshall at times). Score composed by John Williams. The art direction, costuming, and photography all won Academy Awards. Co-produced by Steven Spielberg, who was initially slated to direct early in pre-production before stepping down.

58/100