There has been a lot of controversy over the casting of Chinese actresses in the film "Memoirs of a Geisha", but it's not the mixed ethnicities of the cast that makes Rob Marshall's stilted adaptation of Arthur Golden's celebrated novel such a bore. The most jarring part of "Memoirs" is the fact that a movie so intrinsically Japanese is being performed in English with Asian accents. Is it so verboten to imagine a movie about the life of a Geisha done in Japanese with English subtitles?
When you read Mr. Golden's novel, you are able to read the English words but still imagine the characters as authentic Japanese Geisha speaking in their native language. It's Mr. Golden's job as the writer to paint that portrait in your head as you read his book. When the same scenes are put on screen, using accents with varying degrees of intelligibility, all authenticity flies out the window. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing but respect for anyone who's multi-lingual. It's not the quality of the accents that is the problem, it's the fact that there is never a true feeling of place in the film. It doesn't help that the script, adapted by Robin Swicord and Doug Wright, doesn't give the actors much to say, resorting instead to a voice-over which comes uncomfortably close to sounding like a fortune cookie (yes, I know, those are also Chinese).
Aside from the dialogue, Mr. Marshall and cinematographer Dion Beebe (they worked together on
"Chicago") make sure the film looks good, staging a series of postcard-worthy scenes in which to unfold the plot, which is your standard story of unrequited love.
Ziyi Zhang and Michelle Yeoh from the wildly superior
"Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" play the titular Geisha, Sayuri, and her mentor Mameha. Both actresses acquit themselves well, but neither brings any of the energy or ferocity with which they battled in "Crouching Tiger" (despite one kimono-clad catfight with a cartoonishly evil rival played by Gong Li). The always-reliable Ken Watanabe adds an air of gravity to the proceedings, but the real surprise performance of the film comes from the remarkable young Suzuka Ohgo, who plays Sayuri as a child. Her vulnerability and passion propel the films opening moments until the character grows up into the beautiful but icy Ms. Zhang.
There's a moment in the film, after World War II, when Sayuri returns to her village to find it a zoo of soldiers. The ways of her past are gone. In that short sequence, there's a glimpse of a movie that could have been. A statement about the old ways of Japan overrun by modern sensibilities. But it's a short moment, and it takes a long while to get there. I'm sure there's a good movie to be made about the lives of the Geisha, but this isn't it. And if I ever see it, I'm almost certain it will have subtitles.
