| Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
| Suzuka Ohgo | ... | ||
| Togo Igawa | ... | ||
| Mako | ... | ||
| Samantha Futerman | ... | ||
| Elizabeth Sung | ... | ||
|
|
Thomas Ikeda | ... | |
| Li Gong | ... |
Hatsumomo
(as Gong Li)
|
|
| Tsai Chin | ... | ||
| Kaori Momoi | ... | ||
| Zoe Weizenbaum | ... | ||
|
|
David Okihiro | ... |
Shamisen Teacher
|
|
|
Miyako Tachibana | ... |
Dance Teacher
|
|
|
Kotoko Kawamura | ... |
Granny
|
| Karl Yune | ... |
Koichi
|
|
| Eugenia Yuan | ... |
Korin
|
|
In the 1920s, 9-year-old Chiyo gets sold to a geisha house. There, she is forced into servitude, receiving nothing in return until the house's ruling hierarchy determines if she is of high enough quality to service the clientele -- men who visit and pay for conversation, dance and song. After rigorous years of training, Chiyo becomes Sayuri, a geisha of incredible beauty and influence. Life is good for Sayuri, but World War II is about to disrupt the peace. Written by Jwelch5742
Lavish cinematography means 'Memoirs of a Geisha' is never anything less than visually beautiful, and it's hard to think of how any other movie could beat it to an Oscar in this department come March next year. However, the true merit of the film lies in the fact that its sumptuous style does not outweigh substance, something particularly thankful given that such an imbalance was so unfortunately true of House of Flying Daggers, the last major release to star Ziyi Zhang. Instead, the truly enchanting performance of 12-year old Suzaka Oghu, who plays the young Sayuri for the first half hour, ensures attention is captured within her character's story for the rest of the drama. This allows the script to remain pleasingly understated, and also means the unlikely nature of the romance can be overlooked.
The hibernation that the story withdraws into during the wartime years could so easily have been damaging, but in the event the portrayal of how the post-war influx of American troops corrupted Japan's ancient traditions is just as excellent as the rest of the film.