69 out of 74 people found the following review helpful:

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Pure escapism

Lovetoad from , 16th February, 2006

As a big fan of the book I was really looking forward seeing M of a G on the big screen and I was not disappointed. Ok it changed the story slightly and gave it a "happy ending" and missed bits out but dont all films adapted from novels (especially american made films who tend to be heavy handed with the saccharine)? The film is beautiful, the scenery and sets are beautiful and the women are exquisitely beautiful.

For me the joy of this book is in the detail (eg the descriptions of the amazing and very expensive kimono and learning to play the samishen) and there was not enough of that in the film but thats just my thing and, I suppose, could have been boring on screen if not scripted/filmed sensitively and thoughtfully.

Go see this film and be transported to another world and time for a couple of hours and, if you havent already, read the book!!!!

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46 out of 58 people found the following review helpful:

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A good movie in itself but....

A Customer from Ascot, England, 13th February, 2006

'Memoirs of a Geisha' is a beautiful, moving and highly in depth novel that I read in two days flat because I couldn't put it down. If you have read the novel and enjoyed it as much as I did, you will be disappointed with this film.

As with most movie adaptations, hugely important parts of the story are missed out (in this case, the entire first section of the book is ignored), characters are changed (the most noticable being the character of Nobu, who is meant to be massively scarred and missing arm from the war, but instead has two arms and a few minor burns on his face) and there are parts that are somewhat modified (the film has a happy ending with Sayuri and the Chairman getting together and having what roughly resembles a happily ever after, whereas in the book Sayuri has to cope with the chairman's death and lives the last years of her life alone in New York). The oversights in the film are really quite unexcusable. Extra bits are added in, important parts are taken out, central characters are left out and of course, the major problem with the film, which is set in pre-1950's Japan, is the fact that the three main parts are played by Chinese actors. It's a great shame that such a beautiful and provoking story has been changed so much when it really didn't need to be at all.

If I had seen this film without reading the book, I expect I would have enjoyed it much more. To the films credit, it looks absolutely beautiful. The really promising Chinese actress Ziyi Zhang steals the show as Sayuri, just as she did in House Of Flying Daggers and Hero. Another area where the film falls down is the way it adheres to so many western stereotypes of traditional Japanese lifestyle, it's almost sickening not to mention ridiculously inaccurate. Even some of the music used in the 'traditional Japanese dances' was Chinese! You get the feeling Rob Marshall did very little research into the subject matter, if any, and decided insted to make a kitsch picture postcard version of traditional Japan.

In itself, the film is enjoyable but as an adaptation and accure portrayal of the time, it is exceedingly poor. If you really want to experience the story, read the book.

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38 out of 46 people found the following review helpful:

Memoirs of an invisible man

Mbub from Westbury, Wilts, 15th May, 2007

This film is about a girl/womans stuggle as a Geisha. The heading refers to me, as I am a man and didn't get this movie from the off and I left the room after 5 minutes. I feel that this film will appeal to a limit audience, mostly woman, who will love the costumes and scenery. The lady wife did say that it was a good film, but was too long winded, having been at least 2 1/2 hours in length.

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21 out of 24 people found the following review helpful:

Wonderful!

A Customer from Woking, 16th March, 2006

I, too, have read the book by Arthur Golden and it is, without a doubt, one of the best novels I've ever read. However, I have learnt that films rarely, if ever, do a book justice and so try to view the film in it's own right and not as a direct comparison to the novel. Memoirs of a Geshia is a long book and a long film. I see that other reviewers have complained about it's length, yet in the same breath have complained that important parts of the story were missed out. Yes, big sections of the book were omitted, but if they hadn't been could you imagine how long the film would have been?! The director had a very difficult job and I think he would have found it impossible to keep everyone happy. I, personally, think this is a wonderful, beautiful, touching, gripping film and definitely one of the best I've seen for sometime.

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Excellent depiction of the Geisha but a little drawn out

SherrifofNottingham from , 14th March, 2010

Too drawn out -could have been half an hour shorter. The Director seemed to want to cover too much of the book in the film which was unnecessary.

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Oh-so-so-so!

chartley74 from , 6th March, 2010

This suffers from being far too ambitious in its scope and it consequently fails to really engage. The story unfolds without any real depth, moving from one set-piece to the next with lots of lingering shots of the scenery, but no real character development. Beautifully shot, but ultimately pretty dull; if you've read the book this might be worth watching. If you haven't, then get something else.

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very Jane Eyre

A Customer from Ballachulish, 25th February, 2010

enjoyed this, as title says very Jane Eyre but obviously in a different culture.

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Surprisingly good

Onmeedsun from , 12th February, 2010

Didn't think I would like this film - too girly etc, but it held my interest all the way thru'. Excellent in depth view of the characters

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