Memoirs of a Geisha (2005) R1 - March 28

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 16 Feb 2006, 16:26

http://www.movietyme.com/catalog/produc ... a825b7f132

Product Special Features

Audio commentary with director Rob Marshall and choreographer John DeLuca
Production audio commentaries (featuring Colleen Atwood - Costume Design, John Myhre - Production Design, Pietro Scalia - Editor)
Sayuri’s Other Journey: From the Novel to the Screen
The Road to Japan
Geisha Bootcamp
Building the Hanamachi
The Look of a Geisha
The Music of Memoirs
A Geisha Dance
The World of Geisha
The Way of the Sumo
A Day with Chef Nobu Matsuhisa
Featurette on director Rob Marshall

Video is anamorphic 2.40/1 (?) with an English 5.1 track.

BiscLimpkit · Post by **BiscLimpkit** » 16 Feb 2006, 19:33

Not my cup of tea so will probably never (willingly) watch this again.

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 16 Feb 2006, 20:19

I thought you liked the film Bisc?

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 16 Feb 2006, 22:13

Proper spec. and cover art:

http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk/content.php?contentid=60270

Released as a two-disc set features include:

* English & French DD5.1 Surround
* English & French subtitles
* Director Rob Marshall and Choreographer John DeLuca Audio Commentary
* Production Audio Commentaries – featuring Colleen Atwood (Costume Design), John Myhre (Production Design), Pietro Scalia (Editor)
* Sayuri’s Other Journey: From the Novel to the Screen – Novelist Arthur Golden and the filmmakers discuss the eight year journey of turning the best-selling book into an award winning film.
* The Road to Japan – The filmmakers travel to Japan to experience the places in Kyoto that are featured in the book and discuss the challenges of shooting in some of Japan’s most sacred locations.
* Geisha Bootcamp – A behind the scenes look at how the actresses learned the art of becoming a geisha
* Building the Hanamachi – Recreating the entire village of old Kyoto in a pasture in Southern California
* The Look of a Geisha – The most famous geishas were considered to be the supermodels of their time. Learn the ancient secrets and modern twists to creating their hair, makeup and wardrobe for the film.
* The Music of Memoirs – John Williams, Yo-Yo Ma and Itzhak Perlman discuss the creative process of composing the Golden Globe ® winning score.
* A Geisha Dance – Follow the entire process of staging the geisha dances, from research through conception, casting sessions, rehearsals, filming and the final version of the movie.
* The World of Geisha – A look at the history of this secret world, from its ancient origins up to the geisha of today
* The Way of the Sumo – Explore the fascinating history of this ancient sport and meet some of today’s Sumo Wrestling champions.
* Rob Marshall – An in-depth look at Director Rob Marshall
* A Day with Chef Nobu Matsuhisa – World renowned Chef Nobu Matsuhisa discusses his role in the film and shares some of his favourite recipes.

grim_tales wrote:Video is anamorphic 2.40/1 (?) with an English 5.1 track.

What's odd about that?

I'll get this but not for a few months, when I get around to it.

It is what it is and if you go in expecting that you'll find a well made and well acted film. Get over the fact it's not a Japanese film guys and move on! You only care because it's "our" beloved Asia.

BiscLimpkit · Post by **BiscLimpkit** » 16 Feb 2006, 22:47

grim_tales wrote:I thought you liked the film Bisc?

Nope. I mentioned my thoughts on the Geisha thread... they weren't positive.

It is what it is and if you go in expecting that you'll find a well made and well acted film. Get over the fact it's not a Japanese film guys and move on! You only care because it's "our" beloved Asia.

For the record, I never once stated that this should have been filmed in Japanese. In fact, I think that is a stupid idea considering that the source novel was in English. My main critism is that (IMO) it was a fairly poor film. Also that it was annoyingly westernised.

Hell even Last Samurai was a bastardisation of Asia, but at least that was fun to watch in a mindless action kind of way.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 18 Feb 2006, 00:04

You didn't even like the acting? I thought the 3 leads did a decent job.

Also that it was annoyingly westernised.

You sound surprised?

Chocolat is far from authentically French but few people seemed to care (generally speaking) and the lead actress is even French. That is what it is a Hollywood film too.

I can't think of a better example right now but I'm sure there are some.

The fact is this film caused much more uproar on this site and others like it because it's Asian not because it's anything new or unexpected.

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 18 Feb 2006, 08:07

A good example of Hollywood westernising another culture can be seen in Lawrence of Arabia. Fucking excellent film that is, definately one of the first films I plan on getting on an HD disc format.

bradavon wrote:Chocolat

I thought that that film was average at best. You should see some of Lasse Haelstrom's other films like What's Eating Gilbert Grape, My Life as a Dog and The Shipping News - they're much better than Chocolat and Cider House Family Rules IMO.

BiscLimpkit · Post by **BiscLimpkit** » 18 Feb 2006, 08:49

bradavon wrote:You didn't even like the acting? I though the 3 leads did a decent job.

Also that it was annoyingly westernised.
You sound surprised?

Not really as I was aware of the director's portrayal of geishas beforehand. This is a side issue for me as I mentioned earlier, I just didn't think the film was that great. The characterisation was so empty that I didn't really feel for anyone, even Sayuri. The performances were decent, especially from Gong Li but all three leads have had better roles.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 18 Feb 2006, 11:40

Fair enough.

Rob Marshall was definitely the wrong choice, Spielberg who was going to direct originally would've done a better job.

Marshall like Ron Howard (who is a much better director) can't resist smearing their films with lots of Hollywood gloss. In Chicago that's fine as well it's a very American Musical but in MOAG it wasn't appropriate still I did enjoy it at the end of the day.

I thought it was a better film than Chicago which I also enjoyed but won't be buying.

A good example of Hollywood westernising another culture can be seen in Lawrence of Arabia. Fucking excellent film that is, definately one of the first films I plan on getting on an HD disc format.

I agree it's an outstanding film but I would disagree it's Hollywood westernising another culture as the film is very much about T.E. Lawrence, the Arab culture is secondary to this so it's bound to show it from the view point of a Westerner as it's his story (even if it's probably romanticised a bit).

Besides I've always thought of it as more British than Hollywood.

Chocolat: I thought that that film was average at best.

Agreed it was the only film I could think of.

I liked Cider House Rules.

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 18 Feb 2006, 12:59

bradavon wrote:
I liked Cider House Rules.

So did I, but it was still average at best IMO.

haelstrom's latest film Casanova doesn't look very good, judging by the trailer.