Memoirs of a Geisha and other stuff

[dangermousie]

Saw Memoirs of a Geisha tonight. Not bad not good. Astoundingly mediocre, a Disneyland version of Japan. The characters aren't very well developed and I never really understood or felt for Sayuri. The love story was also a bit bizarre. He gave her candy when she was little? O-kaaaay. Also, the Japanese part in WWII was glossed over. Also, felt much too long. However, it's visually astounding and it was a treat to see Michelle Yeoh, Zhang Ziyi and Gong Li sharing a screen. Gong Li in particular is a favorite of mine, not to mention unearthly beautiful.

I lent my Smallville DVDs to aliterati. She is listening to commentaries and is telling me they are way way waaaay better than the show. Must listen when I get back! Want Lex for personal fictional herem, except convinced he's gay. And taken. Oh well.

I am leaving for a vacation tomorrow, so have a great time everyone! I actually like packing for a trip. So full of possibilities. Taking four books: Michael Chabon's Adventures of Kavalier and Clay a book I read already but love and want to reread; Alexandre Dumas' Le Dame de Monsoreau (in Russian translation), a huge favorite of mine; and two books I've never read: Ellen Kushner's Swordspoint, as recently recommended on friends' list (a fantasy about swordsmen gay lovers) and Louis Cha's The Book and the Sword, something that is labelled as a "martial arts novel" so sounds unusual.

Comments

[ayn-rand-fan-13.livejournal.com]

I was wondering how they were going to do the love story in the movie. Since in the book, it was about the hope he gave her, not the candy or whatever. Is there a way to put that into a movie without making it completely ham-fisted?

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

No, they did the hope, or tried to, but it really was ham-fisted.