Memoirs of a Geisha (2005)

Memoirs of a Geisha is a sumptuously designed and filmed exposition (largely historical) of the geisha traditions of Japan during the transition to modernization before and after World War II. The film had its critics but seems to stand on its own merit as it tells a powerful and captivating tale of courtly subterfuge and eventual transcendence. The impoverished family of Chiyo, age 9, sells her to a geisha academy, where she will be cultivated in the womanly arts and serve at the whim of the conniving headmistress and a manipulative head geisha. Being auctioned off for life and deflowered by a rich or possibly scabby patron will also be involved. (Take a lifelong Miss America competition, throw in a few seasons of Survivor and Big Brother, plus maybe Fear Factor and Blind Date, and you may have a running start.) Seriously, I do not mean to belittle the historically based narrative, but Chiyo has to repeatedly fight her way through challenges and setbacks to ultimately gain the full respect of others as well as control over her own career. (Then, after WWII tanked her career into the historical dustbin, she had to face the caricatures that Western society made of her once noble profession.) This is an exotic and beautiful story that I would readily watch again. 4.5 stars. (4-27-2016)