Bollocks. A Japanese will be able to tell the difference. Look, I've got nothing against Michelle Yeoh, for instance. Superb actress. However; Hollywood passed over legions of available Japanese talent for this film. Be Seeing You,
Chris
Posted on 11/28/2005 7:10:53 AM PST by Hildy
TOKYO (Reuters) - A dream team of movie stars from China and Japan gathered in Tokyo on Monday to promote "Memoirs of a Geisha," the first big-budget Hollywood romance to feature an almost entirely Asian cast.
But a day ahead of the world premiere, some in Japan were wondering why homegrown talent was shut out of the leading roles in a film that celebrates Japan's unique culture.
Harsher comments have come from China, where bitter feelings over Japan's 1931-45 occupation of parts of the country make the idea of Chinese playing geisha unacceptable to some.
Based on a best-selling novel, backed by Steven Spielberg and directed by Rob Marshall of the multiple Oscar-winning "Chicago", "Memoirs" has generated enormous media interest.
The cast adds up to Asia's A-list, with China's Ziyi Zhang starring as Sayuri, a poor fisherman's daughter who transforms herself into a legend of Kyoto's mysterious entertainment world in the 1930s.
The two other leading roles are played by Gong Li, also of China, and ethnic Chinese Malaysian actress Michelle Yeoh, with Japanese performers relegated to secondary roles.
"Memoirs," reported to have cost its makers $85 million, can ill afford to alienate moviegoers in Japan, the second biggest market for Hollywood films.
But some have already expressed anger at what they see as a cavalier attitude to the subtleties of traditional costume and dance in a movie largely shot on a specially built set in California.
"According to this film, 'geisha' dance in a bizarre fashion, as if they were in a Los Angeles strip show," one Japanese film fan complained on a Web log, or blog, adding that the lights and special effects were more reminiscent of modern Las Vegas than old Kyoto.
"We should boycott this film and send a clear message to Hollywood. Why on earth have they made a film making fun of the Japanese, when they cannot get by without us?" the blog continued.
Chinese bloggers were outraged.
"She's sold her soul and betrayed her country. Hacking her to death would not be good enough," China's state media quoted one blogger as saying of Zhang.
Dressed in an off-white cocktail dress with her hair piled high, Zhang told a packed news conference she saw the film as a step forward for Asian actors.
"I am really grateful to Rob Marshall for giving us this incredible chance to show the whole world Asian actors' ability," she said on Monday. "We can do so much more than people think."
ARTISTIC IMPRESSION
In Kyoto, the center of Japan's traditional arts, the reaction was more circumspect, in keeping with the western Japanese city's customary discretion.
"It's a Hollywood movie. It's just entertainment, so what can we do?" said an official at the Kyoto Traditional Musical Art Foundation, which promotes the music, dance and other arts of old Japan. "Hollywood has always done things like ignoring history."
"Complaining about it will just focus attention on it, so we plan to ignore it," he added, saying that the foundation had turned down requests to take part in promotional events connected with the premiere.
Director Marshall has long emphasised that he was not trying to create an accurate picture of the Japan of the 1930s and that he felt he had chosen the best actors for each role, regardless of nationality.
"The challenge for me was to bring that world to life. For me, it is an artistic impression of that world," he said on Monday.
And some Japanese who saw the preview were pleasantly surprised.
"It was strange, but not in a bad way," said one magazine writer, who declined to be identified. "I think because they are foreigners they have been able to create a vision of Japanese beauty that we could not, because we would be trying to recreate reality," she added.
Japan has a record of accepting Hollywood versions of itself without complaint. Industry reports said "The Last Samurai" (2003), starring Tom Cruise and set in 19th century Japan, grossed more in Japan than in the United States.
"Memoirs of a Geisha" caused controversy in Japan long before it became a movie.
Mineko Iwasaki, the main inspiration for Arthur Golden's book, sued the author for failing to maintain her privacy, after he described such practices as "mizuage" or the selling of a young geisha's virginity to the highest bidder, which she has been reported as saying does not exist.
Bollocks. A Japanese will be able to tell the difference. Look, I've got nothing against Michelle Yeoh, for instance. Superb actress. However; Hollywood passed over legions of available Japanese talent for this film. Be Seeing You,
Chris
"F to tha D to tha R in the hizzouse, y'all!"
Okay, can someone tell me why they got an ugly ethnic Chinese actress to play a Japanese Geisha? ;)
I'm not being sarcastic with this question... I'm just wondering: How does someone know the difference? I need to know because I've unwittingly insulted many people of Asian descent by assuming they are Chinese, for example, instead of Korean.
All my ancestors were from Italy, and I look it, but most people assume my ancestry is German, for some reason. Germany did horrendous things during WWII (and, for that matter, Italy wasn't perfect either), but the mistake doesn't insult me. I guess there's so much anger between Asians that the mistake insults them...?
Yeah,
Stuff like that annoys the bejeebers out of me....
Like all the actresses being super skinny in 'The Necklace', which made the costumes look stupid. The period dress was meant for more buxom women.
Lable it a fantasy piece if you must, but when you mess with history, you're showing your stupidity.
The commentary
(with Buffy!) about Japan
I thought was better
than the film itself.
(Sarah walked into a post
watching a geisha . . .)
Yes. And an Englishman can tell that an Australian of Franco-Italian descent (Toni Collette) isn't actually an Englishwoman when she plays Harriet Smith in Emma.
Yet I don't recall any press furor over that movie.
The Japanese are simply more xenophobic as a society than other cultures are.
They need to deal with that cultural limitation - it isn't Hollywood's responsibility to pander to it.
It's not even worth guessing. Every ethnicity dislikes each other, going back 1000s of years so it's better to ask in my experience.
I'm the opposite of you - I'm of Irish/English/German ancestry but many people have erroneously assumed that I'm of Italian or Jewish ancestry.
Doesn't bother me in the slightest. Certain people are just way too touchy.
Good book ... I read it.
I dare Hollywood to make a movie as good as China's "House of Flying Daggers" (stunning), South Korea's "Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance" (brutal, slow descent into hell as kidnapping plan goes awry), or Japan's "Audition" (Fatal Attraction on steroids-truly sick and twisted).
Let Hollywood keep making movies about gay cowboys. I love to watch liberals lose their money.
For every "Saving Private Ryan" there is a "Brotherhood of War" (Korean Civil War movie where Americans are worshipped).
(1) There are no cheesy throwaway pictures made in Japanm, South Korea or China - just the handful of high quality art films that justly become famous internationally.
Not the case.
(2) That Hollywood = the American cinema and
(3) That no American films are competitive in quality with Pacific rim art films.
I would argue that the recent film Capote is superior to at least two of the films you mentioned.
Gee hollyweird botching history yet again.
I know Asians who also sometimes can't tell the difference just from a picture. From speaking and mannerisms, yes, but acting can overcome these.
Anyway, take the test yourself and see how well you do. I got half right, which isn't too bad
http://www.alllooksame.com/
Having said that, I saw a great German movie over the weekend and highly recommend it. "Der Tunnel" tells the true story of a champion swimmer from Berlin who escapes East Germany as the wall is being built in August 1941. He tries to go back and get his sister out. Hollywood would never make a movie like that because it shows communism in it's true form. It really should be mandatory viewing for everyone 35 and younger because they have no idea what communism was.
Actually movies like Godzilla gives the Japanese the impression that they have a military with a mission (did you ever see some of the weapon systems displayed in Godzilla movies). Just like James Bond movies give Brits the impression that they are a major world power on par with the US and USSR.
You ever seen the historical films made on the Opium War and other European transgression on Imperial China during the Maoist period. They had Chinese actors made up to look like Europeans. It was very interesting to watch because in the 1930's Hollywood had white actors made up to look like Chinese (Foo Manchu, Charlie Chan, etc, etc). Neither did a good job, but fun to watch.
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