Memoirs of a Geisha [Blu-ray]

Director: Rob Marshall

Overview

This film, based on the novel by Arthur Golden, unfolds from the perspective of Chiyo (Zhang Ziyi), a girl who, at the age of nine, is sold to a geisha house in Kyoto in the early 1930s. Here, she learns that becoming a geisha can be the single path to wealth and independence for a woman. The head geisha of her house, however, Hatsumomo (Gong Li), is bitterly jealous of Chiyo and abuses her at every opportunity. Eventually Chiyo is taken under the wing of Hatsumomo's rival, Mameha (Michelle Yeoh), by far the most famous and successful geisha in their district. Under Mameha's tutelage, Chiyo becomes Sayuri, the most legendary geisha in the nation, skilled in all areas, from conversation to dance, and sought after by seemingly every man alive...except for the one whom she has secretly longed for since she began her training, The Chairman (Ken Watanabe) -- a man who showed her kindness at a time when her view of the world had turned the most bleak. Now as World War II approaches, Japan stands at the brink of a new era and Sayuri must confront the possibility that history will leave all that she has worked for behind.

Product Details

Release Date:	09/25/2007
UPC:	0043396211278
Original Release:	2005
Rating:	PG-13
Source:	SONY PICTURES HOME ENTERTAINMT
Region Code:	A
Sound:	[Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround]
Language:	English
Time:	2:25:00
Sales rank:	15,374

Special Features

Commentary with Rob Marshall and John Deluca; Commentary with Colleen Atwood, John Myhere and Pietro Scalia; Sayuri's Journey: From the Novel to the Screen; The Road to Japan; Geisha Bootcamp; Building the Hanamachi; The Look of Geisha; The Music of "Memoirs"; A Geisha's Dance; The World of the Geisha; The Way of the Sumo; Director Rob Marshall's story; A Day With Chef Nobu Matsuhisa; Chef Nobu's Recipes; Behind the Scenes photo gallery; Costume Illustrations photo gallery; Content Index: instant navigation to disc contents!

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Ziyi Zhang	Sayuri
Ken Watanabe	Chairman
Gong Li	Hatsumomo
Elizabeth Sung	Sakamoto's Wife,Sakamoto's Wife
Koji Yakusho	Nobu
Youki Kudoh	Pumpkin
Tsai Chin	Auntie
Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa	The Baron
Kaori Momoi	Mother,Mother
Randall Duk Kim	Dr. Crab
Zoë Weizenbaum	Young Pumpkin,Young Pumpkin
David Okihiro	Shamisen Teacher,Shamisen Teacher
MAKO	Sakamoto
Kenneth Tsang	The General
Miyako Tachibana	Dance Teacher,Dance Teacher
Kotoko Kawamura	Granny,Granny
Thomas Ikeda	Mr. Bekku
Karl Yune	Koichi,Koichi
Shizuko Hoshi	Sayuri Narrator
Suzuka Ohgo	Young Chiyo
Yoko Narahashi	Mameha's Maid(as Yoko Narahashi),Mameha's Maid(as Yoko Narahashi)
Michelle Yeoh	Mameha,Mameha
Togo Igawa	Tanaka
Samantha Futerman	Satsu
Eugenia Yuan	Korin
Navia Nguyen	Geisha in Green
Natsuo Tomita	Geisha in Lavender
Fumi Akutagawa	Yukimoto Teahouse Matron
Koji Toyoda	Male Hairdresser
Nobuyuki Matsuhisa	Actor
Steve Terada	Boy on Bike
John Williams	Composer

Technical Credits

Robin Swicord

Rob Marshall	Director,Director
Robin Swicord	Screenwriter
Roger Birnbaum	Executive Producer,Executive Producer
Lucy Fisher	Producer,Producer
Douglas Wick	Producer,Producer
Steven Spielberg	Producer
Kevin O'Connell	Sound Mixer
Greg P. Russell	Sound Mixer
Rick Kline	Sound Mixer
John Pritchett	Sound Mixer,Sound/Sound Designer
Francine Maisler	Casting

Editorial Reviews

Critics and readers embraced Arthur Golden's debut novel, Memoirs of a Geisha, an imaginative Cinderella story set in pre-World War II Japan; and its runaway bestseller status ensured a sumptuous Hollywood treatment. On the way to the screen, a controversy arose over director Rob Marshall’s decision to cast Chinese actresses as the central Japanese characters -- and critics seemed to smell blood, subjecting the film to unfairly middling reviews. Not surprisingly, Hollywood felt differently, awarding Oscars to the sumptuous Memoirs for its art direction, cinematography, and costume design. Ziyi Zhang and Michelle Yeoh, the female leads from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, reunite here as Sayuri, the former slave girl who becomes one of Japan’s most desirable geishas, and Mameha, the younger woman’s instructor and mentor. Gong Li, another superstar of Hong Kong cinema, contributes a stellar performance as Sayuri’s unscrupulous rival, Hatsumomo. Both women compete for the attentions of an important dignitary known only as the Chairman (Ken Watanabe), whom Sayuri has loved ever since meeting him by chance while still a slave. What makes the film especially mesmerizing is its retention of one of the book’s most fascinating elements: The relationship between the women and the men they entertain. Geishas represent a values system that endured for centuries. Their clients, meanwhile, are the powerful modernizers of Japan, the creators of a military machine that the emperor uses to plunge the nation into war. Still, the main story here is of a woman’s love and her single-minded pursuit of a seemingly impossible dream. Zhang is, as usual, radiantly beautiful, and she conveys the heartbreak of someone who sacrifices much to gain precious little. Her performance is a revelation, although it’s just one of many that makes Memoirs of a Geisha a lush and rewarding screen treat.