Review – Memoirs of a Geisha

Early on this picture started to remind me of Gone with the Wind. They both feature young women straining against rigid social structure, elaborate and expensive pageantry, and (here’s the real kicker) how wonderful things were before the war came and destroyed everything. The repeated references to Manchuria are as disruptive to this story as the Confederacy is in the Mitchell movie. The plot and characters are also straight out of a Harlequin romance. That notwithstanding, the technical quality (particularly the cinematography, art direction and costume design) are impressive stuff. The final product is thus a lot like the geisha themselves: beautiful and enigmatic, but not really designed for a long-term relationship. Mildly amusing