It’s certainly nice to look at, but the story is even more meh here than in the book.

Awesome costume design and backgrounds, great story, poignant, touching, developed… it’s well worth a watch. Oh, and if you like instrumentals, you’ll love the soundtrack.

Amazing movie. Filming, sets, costumes, story, everything is amazing. Really transports you to another world.

The costumes and sets/scenery are simply breath taking in this movie!

I didn’t like the first part of the movie but we all know why. Those parts where very different from the book. After it got passed the parts I’d read I enjoyed the story more. I’ll give it three and a half stars. If I hadn’t read any of the book I’d probably given it 4.

I’m on page 79 of the book. I was planning to watch the movie after but whenever I do that I always end up being disappointed. The movies can never measure up to what I’m seeing in my imagination. Nor can they cram all the details of the books into two hours. So rather than set myself up for disappointment, I decieded set the book aside for the night (which wasn’t easy) and watch the movie. So we’ll see how it goes.

it’s worth seeing for all the visual hoopla but i had problems with this movie.

i didn’t understand why chinese movie stars were telling a japanese story through a white male hollywood director’s perspective. i figured they’d get japanese actors for the leading roles, especially when the history between those two countries is considered. or at least scour the diaspora for asian actors to fit the bill. white actors play characters from other cultures, etc. why not asians as well?

but hey—i’m funny that way.

I was a little disappointed… I was fascinated by the novel, couldn’t put it down. I think there was WAY too much going on in that book to make a successful screen version. I felt like HUGE chunks of the story were missing, while at the same time, the movie was going so fast that the pieces that were being covered were barely given enough time to be understood. It was OK for what it was, but in order for the movie to successfully retell the story, it would have needed to be the longest movie in the history of cinema.

It was beautiful, though, and the casting was fantastic.

This movie was beautiful and a joy to watch. I should mention that I have not read the book, as I know that many times adaptations can dissapoint fans of the book. My only complaint is a small one.

It is a movie about geishas and Japanese culture. Ziyi Zhang and Michele Yeoh are talented and beautiful actreses but they are Chinese actresses. I enjoy their work, however casting them in leading roles in a movie that is the biography of a Japanese geisha made it seem less authentic. I don’t feel that it would matter if it was a fictional story, but it is supposed to be based on a true story.

That said, it doesn’t detract from the story or the beauty of the film and I would recommend it to anyone.

For those of you who have read the book, how do you feel about the screen adaptation?

I think it was weak in a lot of ways. They moved a lot of the story with narration and montage. I guess I understand why they had to do this – the novel did cover her entire life, after all. Maybe if they had another hour, they wouldn’t have had to do this.

Overall, I think it remained pretty faithful to the story, and it was absolutely beautiful to watch.