SPOILERS THROUGH:
I finally saw this and thought it was well above average, if not perfect. I think there was such an enormous buzz generated by this film that people were maybe expecting absolute perfection. I know I originally was although after hearing a lot of lackluster reviews I actually went into this expecting something not so great so I was pleasantly surprised to discover it was actually very good. In my opinion memoirs was neither a bad movie or a masterpiece, it was something in between, although it did have some moments of utter and complete magnificence.
The things I liked include the visuals which as many have mentioned were lovely. This film was beautiful to look at and I also was intrigued by the story itself and found it both complex and very moving. The performers were all very good and the sweetness of the main character gets you involved. It's an emotional and very poignant story and I wish I'd seen it in the theater.
That being said, there were some things that really prevented me from finding this to be outstanding and took the movie down a little. One was the length. It's not necessarily that the film was to long, it's just that so much was covered and crammed into that time, that it's both distracting and very difficult to follow. Sometimes a storyline would be developed and then suddenly dropped in the next scene and something entirely new would develop. I think there was plenty of CHARACTER development but not necessarily enough STORY development. I'd have liked to see less jumping around and more focus on a few choice events because it did seem like the movie was cramming to much into the story and it didn't flow well. Maybe it could have been a little shorter as well. It was also REALLY difficult to follow and that made it difficult to enjoy the film to it's fullest potential.
I also found it difficult to hear a lot of what was being said. It seemed like people were speaking to softly or something and that to interfered with the enjoyment aspect. But I was so intrigued by the movie I , eventually, was able to enjoy it anyway.
But the biggest disappointment was where the story's focus was-or wasn't. We do not get to see much of the world of Geisha, it seems half the film is the Geisha training and a lot of the movie revolves around the arguing between the Geishas. Shouldn't we have gotten more of a Sense of the individuals themselves and got a sense of the lifestyle they all wanted so badly? That was a genuine surprise to me.
I also did not really think the love story was developed enough and the war is merely touched upon as well, though one plus is the movie's ability to show the difference between the Geisha before the war and after. That was actually done well.
So....there were pluses and minuses. Basically I really thought the movie focused to much on things it didn't need to and not enough on things it should have. In spite of that, there were moments of magnificence and I'd definitely recommend it for viewing as long as one doesn't go into it thinking their going to see the a perfect flawless picture. I'd call this an above average, though not excellent film with moments of complete magnificence. I'd also rate it a 7.5 out of 10.
I finally saw this and thought it was well above average, if not perfect. I think there was such an enormous buzz generated by this film that people were maybe expecting absolute perfection. I know I originally was although after hearing a lot of lackluster reviews I actually went into this expecting something not so great so I was pleasantly surprised to discover it was actually very good. In my opinion memoirs was neither a bad movie or a masterpiece, it was something in between, although it did have some moments of utter and complete magnificence.
The things I liked include the visuals which as many have mentioned were lovely. This film was beautiful to look at and I also was intrigued by the story itself and found it both complex and very moving. The performers were all very good and the sweetness of the main character gets you involved. It's an emotional and very poignant story and I wish I'd seen it in the theater.
That being said, there were some things that really prevented me from finding this to be outstanding and took the movie down a little. One was the length. It's not necessarily that the film was to long, it's just that so much was covered and crammed into that time, that it's both distracting and very difficult to follow. Sometimes a storyline would be developed and then suddenly dropped in the next scene and something entirely new would develop. I think there was plenty of CHARACTER development but not necessarily enough STORY development. I'd have liked to see less jumping around and more focus on a few choice events because it did seem like the movie was cramming to much into the story and it didn't flow well. Maybe it could have been a little shorter as well. It was also REALLY difficult to follow and that made it difficult to enjoy the film to it's fullest potential.
I also found it difficult to hear a lot of what was being said. It seemed like people were speaking to softly or something and that to interfered with the enjoyment aspect. But I was so intrigued by the movie I , eventually, was able to enjoy it anyway.
But the biggest disappointment was where the story's focus was-or wasn't. We do not get to see much of the world of Geisha, it seems half the film is the Geisha training and a lot of the movie revolves around the arguing between the Geishas. Shouldn't we have gotten more of a Sense of the individuals themselves and got a sense of the lifestyle they all wanted so badly? That was a genuine surprise to me.
I also did not really think the love story was developed enough and the war is merely touched upon as well, though one plus is the movie's ability to show the difference between the Geisha before the war and after. That was actually done well.
So....there were pluses and minuses. Basically I really thought the movie focused to much on things it didn't need to and not enough on things it should have. In spite of that, there were moments of magnificence and I'd definitely recommend it for viewing as long as one doesn't go into it thinking their going to see the a perfect flawless picture. I'd call this an above average, though not excellent film with moments of complete magnificence. I'd also rate it a 7.5 out of 10.