Sayuri

So, last night I went to AEON with Cindy, Ann and Minako for sushi and to see Sayuri (Japanese title for Memoirs of a Geisha). It is cool that all of Japan has a movie that is only on eight screens in the U.S., considering we have to wait ‘til fucking MARCH for Narnia, and other assorted delayed releases.

I was way excited to see the movie before, but got a bit sketched out after I read a few surprisingly-not-amazing reviews and heard from a few people who only said it was “okay.” So, I went in wanting to like it, but scared that I wouldn’t. Overall, it was very disappointing.

Let me say that I did have high expectations, as I loved the book, and figured Rob Marshall would do an amazing job, as I loved Chicago. However, it was SO obviously made by a big group of white people. And this is coming from a white person! First of all, I think the decision to have it be in English was a mistake. It sounded awkward to have it in a million different accents and it would have been more natural in Japanese. It also is weird and annoying (to me) to listen to keigo and stuff translated into English. Like, “You do the me the distinct honor of blah blah blah suck up blah” makes sense in Japanese, but in English is just drawn-out and irritating. No longer it’s such a long movie!

I am also disappointed in Rob Marshall’s directing. I think it should have been made by a Japanese director, as it would have been more of a subtle “ya know, this is Japan” kind of feel rather than Rob Marshall’s (and probably any gaijin director’s) feel of “ooooo, this is Jaaaaaaapaaaaaaaaaan!” Like, it was TOO Japanese, if that makes any sense? I realize the novel is, too, but it works better in the book than on screen. Actually, everything about the book works better on page than screen.

However, having bitched about all of this, it wasn’t an awful movie or anything, it just wasn’t nearly as good as I was expecting it to be. The actress who played Sayuri was impressive, though. Her English was a lot better than I was expecting, and you could tell she was a good actress, as her facial expressions were very powerful.

I would talk about more, but most people haven’t seen it, so I won’t spoil too much. I’m curious to see how it does in America…