"Memoirs of a Geisha" BOOK vs. MOVIE

i have read the book and saw the movie in snatches.i think the movie is based on the book only...though it has been shortened quite a lot.

My thoughts and review of the movie....

MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA is a visually stunning romantic, drama that seduces your full attention. So, who really cares about inconsistencies and reality?

Directed by Rob Marshall and starring Zhang Ziyi, Ken Watanabe, Gong Li, and Michelle Yeoh: Memoirs of a Geisha follows a young girl sold from her fishing village and raised to become Japan’s most celebrated geisha. The story is based off of a book of the same name.

The movie has received critical attacks for not following the book very closely and also because the main actors in the film are Asian, but not actually Japanese. The film was banned in the People’s Republic of China due not only to the lead lady being Chinese and pretending to be Japanese, but also because of the portrayals of war issues within the work.

The movie takes us into a world that for most is mysterious; beforehand I had no clue what a geisha even was. However, people with vast knowledge on such topics like to point out that the film does not “truly” capture what being a geisha is. The subject matter to me was fresh and intriguing, and the perfect setting for the dramas to unfold. Purists fans of the book will probably want to stop reading this review here because I personally have not read the book and don’t care about comparing it to the film, which I understand is around 90% different.

Virtually no one disagrees that the sets on the film, the camera work, and the environments are beautiful. The trick in making such a movie is to not let such beauty detract from what is actually going on, and I was satisfied with how the director handled it. Also pertaining to the background, the musical score for the film won a Golden Globe award.

The actors were wonderful. Zhang Ziyi deserves a whole review of tribute merely to her in my opinion. Her eyes and movements are bewitching every step of the way. Zhang’s counterpart, or nemesis (Li Gong), puts in an excellent performance as well. One can almost actually see what hatred looks like in her eyes as she stirs the flames of competition.

There are many memorable moments in the movie and a sense of real passion for the filmmaking art. It is time for the women of the world to burn their copies of THE NOTEBOOK and upgrade to a less sappy and epic romance film. As for men, I hope they don’t shrug off the film and take as long as I did to rent it. MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA may not be one my male chromosomes will watch again and again, however I am quite pleased I watched it for it is a beautiful achievement.

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I've seen the movie Memoirs of a Geisha and also flipped through the pages of that said book. The movie just got its inspiration from the book and yeah its different, but the story in that movie is more appealing to me.

yes it is because they focused more on the love story of the leading role. they failed to show some details from the book that were considered to be the highlights of the becoming of the geisha of the leading actress.

The book is a lot different then the movie. The movie would be ten hours long if they were true to the book when making the film.

I read the book first and then watched the movie and I found themboth to be very similar. I could not believe all that a Geisha had to endure wow

Having read the book first, I was exceedingly disappointed by the movie, which is more... influenced here and there by the novel, rather than being the book in film.

There are far too many differences and inconsistencies for my liking,
although the movie is still stunningly beautiful and does put a more vivid image to aspects that I did not know much about.