Culture from the darker side

Memoirs of a Geisha is based on Arthur Golden’s book of the same name. I admit I have never read it, it is one of those books I have on my “to read” list for quite some time but never came around to it.

So yesterday I went and watched the movie and… It was good.

The book and the story is not without controversy:

After the novel was published, Arthur Golden was sued by the geisha (Mineko Iwasaki) with whom he worked, for defamation and breach of contract. According to the plaintiff, the agreement was supposed to be total anonymity for the main character of his story. This was because there is a code of silence among the geisha community and breaking that code is a serious offense. Additionally, Iwasaki claims that Golden’s fictional novel portrayed geisha as high class prostitutes. For example, in the novel Sayuri’s virginity is auctioned off to the highest bidder, a concept that particularly offended Iwasaki. She stated that not only did this never happen to her, but that no such custom existed at all in Gion. By basing his character, Sayuri, on Iwasaki and implying that she herself was a prostitute, Iwasaki claims that Golden broke his agreement and caused great dishonor and shame to herself and the geisha world. After Iwasaki’s name was printed in the book, she received numerous death threats and requests of censure for dishonoring her profession. In 2003, Iwasaki and Golden settled out of court for an undisclosed sum of money.

The movie itself also seems to have some controversy around it, as quite a few of the actors aren’t Japanese but rather Chinese. Considering the strong cultural divide that still seems to exist in Asia this must have ruffled some feathers. Not to mention the growing anti Japanism in China over the World War II atrocities committed by the Japanese in China.

As I haven’t read the book I can’t really comment on any changes between the book and the movie unfortunately. As a movie it works though. The movie follows the story of Chiyo and much like “The English Patient” it is both a love story and an adventure, though told through the eyes of a heroine.

The Movie gives a glimpse into the life’s of Gaishas but as pointed out earlier, a rather fictional one. It is a fascinating glimpse into the “hidden world” of Japan.

Rating 3/5

“Dead Beat” is the fifth book in Jim Butcher’s “Dresden Files” Series.

Harry’s back, and life hasn’t gotten any easier for him. Carrin Murphy, one of Harry’s best friend goes on a vacation and no sooner that she is on a plane than Harry get’s a note telling him to meet the queen of the red court of the vampires at a cemetery. He quickly finds out that he has a new job, that is to provide a book to the Queen of the red court or see his friend Carrin go down for something she did to help Harry. He really has no choice and his first trip leads him to the city morgue (my bad, it is now called the “Forensics Institute”), new, nice, shiny, very clinically and as of Harry’s last visit, crawling with Zombies.

The task he was put on by the Queen of the Red Court was to find “The Word of Kemmler”, it is just to bad that he doesn’t know yet what it is. Now with three Necromancers on his tail he quickly gets drawn into an all out battle to prevent a new god from being created and coming to earth. This may even be a bit much for Harry and his half-brother of a vampire Thomas.

As in the previous four books Butcher nails Harry, a sarcastic, cynical and way to “worn” Wizard in the windy City of Chicago. In the past he started a war between the Wizards and one of the vampire clans, got some death curses heaped on him and pretty much stepped on as many toes as he could, while trying to do the good and protect the mere mortals.

Now in “Dead Beat” he seems to encounter his biggest challenge yet and it still reads just as entertaining as the first four. Butcher has found a voice for Harry Dresden and he is in the roll. There is hope that this will continue for some time.

Rating 4/5

Horror movies since the mid nineties pretty much followed a certain formula and were meant to be entertaining without being to ghastly, at least when it came to mainstream horror (there always was the “straight to video” Underground stuff).

Saw in 2004 showed that things can be a bit different, it took Horror and suspense and really made something with it, so good in fact that it was followed by a sequel a year later.

With movies out there right now like Wolf Creek (so so) and now Hostel it seems the Horror genre may be on the upswing again (as can also be seen in all the trailers they show).

So here we are in 2006 and Hostel has hit the big screen and actually caught first place on the charts. Wow.

Hostel is the story of two American students who end up in a Hostel in eastern Europe where they met two hot girls who seduce them, only to find themselves in a not so pleasant place when they wake up.

The movie apparently is based on “true events” though what they really are nobody seems to know. It was written by Quentin Tarantino and Eli Roth (who did the 2002 Cabin Fever). The movie is pretty slow. It caters to the college crowd (male mainly) and feeds pretty much any european stereotype you can think off, at times it is so ridiculous that all you can do is laugh at the sheer stupidity.

Once the movie makes it from Amsterdam into the Czech Republic the tone changes a bit and it has quite a bit of “foreboding” without really showing anything. The violence and carnage is rather short lived and straight to the point, with some nice gory effects.

Hostel clearly isn’t an art house movie, nor does it try to be one, but it is entertaining none the less, albeit maybe not something to go on on a first date.

Rating 3.5/5