Based on Arthur Golden’s best-selling novel, Memoirs of a Geisha movie follows Nitta Sayuri (Ziyi Zhang) on her journey of transcending her fishing-village roots and becoming one of Japan’s most celebrated geisha, all while being hopelessly in love with a man (Ken Watanabe) much older and higher in ranks and status than her.

Memoirs of a Geisha is a 2005 American epic drama film based on the 1997 novel of the same name by Arthur Golden, produced by Steven Spielberg and Douglas Wick, and directed by Rob Marshall. The film was released in the United States on December 9, 2005, by Columbia Pictures and DreamWorks Pictures, with the latter receiving studio credit only.

The movie tells the story of a young Japanese girl, Chiyo Sakamoto, who is sold by her impoverished family to a geisha house (okiya) in order to support them by training as and eventually becoming a geisha. It mostly centers around the sacrifices and hardships faced by a pre-WWII geisha and the challenges posed by the war and a modernizing world to geisha society.

Memoirs of a Geisha stars Ziyi Zhang, Ken Watanabe, Gong Li, Michelle Yeoh, Youki Kudoh, Suzuka Ohgo, and Samantha Futerman.

Production was split between southern and northern California and a number of locations in Kyoto, including the Kiyomizu temple and the Fushimi Inari shrine.

Memoirs of a Geisha was nominated for and won numerous awards, including nominations for six Academy Awards, and eventually won three: Best Cinematography, Best Art Direction, and Best Costume Design. The acting, visuals, sets, costumes, and the musical score (composed by John Williams) were praised, but the film was criticized for casting Chinese actresses as Japanese women and for its style over substance approach. The Japanese release of the film was titled Sayuri, the titular character’s geisha name.

The movie was released to mixed reviews from western critics and was moderately successful at the box office.

I watched the film on a DVD. Going in, I was already familiar with all the slamming critics had given, not in detail though. But I didn’t really care, since my opinion was what mattered the most. And I was absolutely happy with the unique experience of witnessing the becoming of a beautiful woman under not so favourable circumstances and her story of falling and being in love. For me, Memoirs of a Geisha was one of the most satisfying movies in a long time.

To begin with, the visuals were just perfection. The soundtrack was a masterpiece that fit the overall atmosphere so well. The film was also carefully pieced together, never dragged, and flowed nicely. I normally don’t like voice-overs, but here it really held the movie together and helped to move the story along and transition seamlessly.

As for the accents, the problem had definitely been exaggerated. I thought the actors pulled off this minor issue admirably and didn’t hurt their performances in the process at all.

Talking about performances, I thought Zhang Ziyi did an amazing job showing all the emotions the main character of hers had in anticipation of, during, and after all the events that took place in what seemed to be a chain reaction. Ken Watanabe was also good, but his screen time was understandably shorter. All the secondary characters were also portrayed amazingly. Honestly, I had no complaints whatsoever.

Memoirs of a Geisha was such a beautiful cinematographic piece. I read the book, but I liked the movie better (please, don’t come at me).