 | ON: Content is age-appropriate for kids this age. |
 | PAUSE: Know your child; some content may not be right for some kids. |
 | OFF: Not age-appropriate for kids this age. |
 | NOT FOR KIDS: Not appropriate for kids any age. |
Memoirs of a Geisha
- Review Date: March 26, 2006
- PG-13
- Genre: Drama
- 2005
Common Sense Media says
Gorgeous, but slow-moving and not meant for kids.
Parents say
QUALITY
Kids say
QUALITY
What parents need to know
Parents need to know that while this film is beautiful, it's slow-moving and occasionally scary, not designed for young children. The film includes some images of streets under siege (China and Japan are at war), as well as tensions inside the geisha house (one character sets fire to the house, leading to some frightening images). The film begins with the traumatic scene of a young girl sold to a geisha house by her poor parents, and shows her upset when she's forcibly separated from her sister, who works at another house.
What's the story?
In MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA, Sayuri (played as an adult by Ziyi Zhang) is sold by her poor family to a geisha house, or okiya, when she's just nine; her blue eyes make her look "special" and Hatsumomo (Gong Li) is immediately jealous, threatening the child. The film westernizes Sayuri, in part by having her yearn endlessly for the wealthy Chairman (Ken Watanabe), whom she meets as a child. But it also preserves her "exotic" otherness. The geisha insist they are not prostitutes, selling sex only as illusion. They do, however, sell their virginity, and pride themselves on being well paid for it. The fact of Sayuri's stunning blue eyes only underlines this refusal to engage with the hardships geishas endure as a matter of course. She is "special," she is treasured, she is property. Sayuri's displays of artifice are lovely and a little daunting. Images of this lifelong process of objectification are framed by others that approximate "history," including the Sino-Japanese war, which leaves the okiya devastated, and Sayuri laboring in a field. She does find her way back into geisha-ness, depicted as a kind of triumph. The fantasy remains the most precious object, whether embodied by gorgeous women or imagined by them.
Is it any good?
Memoirs is not so intriguing as it promises, leaving little to the imagination with its series of heavyhanded set pieces. Based on Arthur Golden's novel and directed by the dramatically unsubtle Rob Marshall, the film is disappointingly straightforward, predictable, and unwieldy.
This despite and because of the presence of the glorious women actors at its center, including Zhang as the youngest geisha, Michelle Yeoh as her mentor Mameha, and wondrous Gong Li as her rival Hatsumomo. The women are stunning (and some questions have been raised as to the casting of Chinese superstars as Japanese characters). Memoirs never questions the overdetermination of beauty. So unexamined, so delicate, so mysterious: the geisha is not so much remembered here as she is conjured and undermined, repeatedly.
What families can talk about
Families can talk about the film's portrayal of geisha life: it is mysterious but also difficult. How does the film both "westernize" its characters and "exoticize" them, so they are both conventionally sympathetic and stereotypically "inscrutable"? How is Sayuri's love for the Chairman a function of romantic conventions more than a substantive relationship between the two characters? How is the idea of the geisha associated with "submissive" and servile women?
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AGE
The Cinemotography Was Off the Hook...Only One Word Describes It..Beautiful
This movie was excellent, but was better suited for Adults. I wouldn't recommend this movie for children under the age of 16. Parents would be pressed to explain the Geisha's role and why they sell their virginity. The partial rape scene, bathing scene among adults and the violence of the children being beat would have young kids asking why, why, why??? This movie is more suited for a mature audience. Otherwise the scenes, costumes and writing was excellent and this movie provides a great glimpse into the Geisha's role in Japanese's culture.
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AGE
Book is better
I read the book after I found out it was going to be made into a movie. While not, as informative as the book, I found this movie was really fascinating. The sexual overtones are definately there. One of the geisha has an affair with a local chef, Syuri eventually loses her virginity to an older man. All and all, this movie is one that can best be understood by people who read the book, seeing that they pretty much understand what it is they are getting into.
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AGE
Rather Pointless, if you ask me
I didn't enjoy this movie at all because of the following reasons:
a)There was a very uncomfortable scene where the main character was assulted/raped-ish.
b)There was a lot of "politics" in the way that the women ruthlessly insulted eachother.
c)The selling of a woman's virginity is NOT RIGHT!
The plotline was also rather dull-It was very much about the main character dancing and trying to maintain herself as the top geisha. I found it without much of a point.
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AGE
The movie was better
Sadly, it doesn't often happen, but the movie was better in my eyes due to the lack of explicit sexuality. The book contained a severe amount of explicit sexual encounters and situations. (Then again, do you know what a geisha is???)
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AGE
Not good for most tweens
Memoirs of a Geisha is an interesting movie, but has sexual content (well, duh) that some might find disturbing. In one scene in particular near the beginning of the movie, it is implied that a geisha is having sex with a man off-screen. She is caught (because geisha are NOT supposed to have sex with someone they actually love!) and brought before a few other geisha by the lady in charge of the place. The lady in charge parts the skirt of the geisha who had been having sex and reaches into her crotch. No nudity is shown but it's very obvious. She sticks her finger in, and pulls it out, rubbing her fingers together in disgust with white goop stuck on them. (You can guess what it was.)
There are a few other sex scenes, but those aren't too graphic. The most upsetting/disturbing scene for me, other than the one I mentioned a moment ago, is when it is implied that Sayuri is raped. It is a very uncomfortable, tense scene. Nothing is shown, but it's very well acted and upsetting.
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AGE
Amazing...
This is an amazing movie... it is absolutely beautiful. We know who will be taking all of the oscars this year. Highly Recommended!
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AGE
a beautiful film!
This isn't a kid's film, so don't think about taking your little children. There's a few nude scenes, nothing really explicit, just enough to make you cover your kids' eyes.
Adults will love this, though!
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AGE
Exellent Movie!!
Memoirs of a Geisha is a great movie. I would have to say that teens 13 and over should be able to watch.No child under 13 id have to say because of some mild sex and some sexually explicit dialouge.
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| Studio: | Columbia Tristar |
| Director: | Rob Marshall |
| Cast: | Gong Li, Michelle Yeoh, Zhang Ziyi |
| Genre: | Drama |
| Run time: | 143 minutes |
| Theatrical release date: | December 9, 2005 |
| DVD release date: | March 28, 2006 |
| MPAA rating: | PG-13 |
| MPAA explanation: | mature subject matter and some sexual content. |
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