Opinions

I thought that Memoir's visuals were rather subdued to be honest. There's something more outlandish and brutal about Sakuran, it may have to do with the source material. The original's story was very sad and forward in its examination of the practices in the red light district, this movie does glamorise it but still holds true plotwise.

I would agree that Memoirs of a Geisha is very subdued in its sexual content or rather, lack thereof. It's only appropriate that Sakuran, a movie about oiran and a brothel includes much more of it than a film about geisha. And I have read, to be honest, more than one complaint along the lines that Sakuran "does glamorise (prostitution) a bit". And while you're far from alone, I still think that's a bit harsh, perhaps out of some determination to look at this film objectively. In Sakuran, we are led to recognise the setting, sure enough, as a top-class den of iniquity, but as a den of iniquity nevertheless, with many of the women held in de facto slavery. The lavish clothes and eye-pleasing decor we soon understand as having much more to do with the satisfaction of the clients than the comfort of the prostitutes. And I think there's no mistaking that.

The women in Sakuran are, as we see, routinely subjected to brutal treatment, followed by loathing for themselves and each other. The protagonist, sold as a child into the brothel, is tied up and beaten as punishment throughout the film. Then there are the various forms of abuse from clients we see in Sakuran, and finally clashes between the oiran during the hours they wait for clients. And so there is much more violence in Sakuran than Memoirs of a Geisha, and all of which rings true enough, as there's no denying violence, or the threat of violence, regularly accompanies prostitution. Sakuran doesn't attempt to hide this, but actually addresses the charges of the critics head on. The dreamy cinematography showcasing the flashy costume and set design serves not only to ring in a large note of irony about the nature of the oiran's life, but also as a much needed diversion for the audience from time to time. This should be regarded as a part of sophisticated filmmaking and pacing, which means taking the foot off the gas from time to time, and should not be interpreted as soft-peddling the issues taken up by the story.

Sakuran is an admirable effort from a first-time director, Mika Ninagawa. The consciously extravagant vision of a top-class brothel in old Japan as a setting should not be faulted for trying to attract a larger audience, one which would not care to contemplate sitting through a film taking up issues surrounding prostitution were the whorehouse set in a wooden shed with a dirt floor in an ancient village, much less a place that looks like it could be down the street. So much on that score.

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Well said, c11y! While I am not Japanese, I work with a large number of Japanese through a university ESL program and have traveled to Japan. The adults and students that I have talked to about the film (because popular culture is always a fun subject to talk about) are highly critical of it, with few if any words of praise (mostly for the visuals). They recognize it as a pure Hollywood film not at all representative of Japanese culture.

Regarding the films' visuals, Mika Ninagawa (whose photographs are exceptionally beautiful!!) was able to take her knowledge of Japanese culture/history and combine it with her visual flair to transcend the norm for this film which was based on a manga. So the visuals really complimented the film, especially given Anna Tsuchiya's yanki-esque performance and Shiina Ringo's score. MoaG, on the other hand, treated Japan as though it were a theme park. The more I think about it, I guess that's not so bad since the film is basically a Cinderella fairytale rife with the American Dream. But that's one of the worst things about MoaG, that behind its purported accuracy and Japanese-ness is nothing more than a Western ideology.

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so do you know that japanese people dont like sharing information or talking to gaijin and prefer to just socialise within their country and their people. i find that crazy! but i know that is the truth somehow. I like japan but i really dont understand the way they think (the people that is) but of course htat is only majority. there are some amazing people who are westernised like shiina ringo!

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