The Persistence of Exotic Otherness

Ziyi Zhang in "Memoirs of a Geisha," photo courtesy Columbia Pictures


As a soap opera fashioned for Western audiences, “Memoirs of a Geisha” packages the right amount of exotic otherness readers of romance novels love, while also including that sense of watching a foreign movie without the inconvenience of reading those nasty subtitles.

If this was all that was needed to fill the coffers of movie studios, there might never be another film by Hideo Nakata, Hayao Miyazaki, or Kitano Takeshi gracing our shores. Who cares that some cultures may actually be best represented by people who know something of their own nuances and subtle expression because “Chicago” director Rob Marshall could be cajoled into doing this picture? And that non-Japanese actors like Ziyi Zhang and Michelle Yeoh could be tapped because American audiences kinda recognize their names from “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.”

It’s rather un-PC to point this out, you see. Because conventional wisdom in the industry says actors are actors and directors are directors, no matter their ethnicity. How else could we have Russell Crowe as an American in “The Insider” or Meryl Streep as a Polish German in “Sophie’s Choice,” or films like “Ben Hur,” “Braveheart,” or “Amadeus.” But, what this doesn’t explain, are John Wayne as Attila the Hun or Chuck Connors as Geronimo.

Just imagine how much richer the experience could have been if a Japanese director had done this film, even if it didn’t have a score by John Williams with cello solos by Yo Yo Ma and violin solos by Yitzak Perlman?

As it stands, “Memoirs of a Geisha” rests much of its weight upon the slim shoulders of Ziyi Zhang as Sayuri a geisha-in-training at an O-chaya, to which she was sold as a child by her impoverished parents. But her life as a young girl (played by the wonderful Suzuka Ohgo) is mapped out as one that will be filled with treachery and deceit, prophetic in a less threatening way because so much of the geisha’s world is geared toward maintaining an elegant fantasy for her clients.

When Sayuri matures into a maiko or apprentice, her world opens up as men of importance begin taking notice and her talents as an entertainer begin to overshadow other adult geishas at her O-chaya. Sayuri, though, only has eyes for a gentleman known only as The Chairman (Ken Watanabe), who she met as a child when he bought her a flavored snow cone (yes, there’s a slight hint of a creepy aspect here).

A geisha has historically been known as a “moving work of art,” and not the westernized misinterpretation of a glorified prostitute. She is trained in the art of catering to the needs of men who pay handsomely to be entertained with dance, music and singing, along with the company of an attentive and intelligent companion for the evening. It is said the geisha can become more involved, but only if she wants.

Sayuri’s rise to fame has its cost, which comes in the form of an intense rivalry with Hatsumomo, played by the spectacularly passionate Gong Li, an older geisha trying to hide a forbidden romance on the side. All of this is only so much smoke on the wind when World War II intervenes and the balances of power are forever shifted.

There are elements in this movie that are somewhat enjoyable, and even captivating, but the line between what it is and what it could have been is difficult to ignore.