Movie: MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA (English, Japanese)
Director: ROB MARSHALL
Year: 2005
Country: America/Japan
Genre: Drama, Cult
Cast: Ziyi Zhang, Ken Watanabe, Michelle Yeoh
Duration: 2h 25m (app)

What’s an efficient machine if it can’t work? What’s a strong relationship if it can’t be loved? What’s in a mind if it can’t think? ‘Memoirs of a Geisha’ falls deeply within one of these genres, trying hard to prove something where it isn’t. Rob Marshall of ‘Chicago’ fame directs this drama about a girl yearning to be a geisha to get closer to a man she loves.

Geisha, a Japanese entertainer with cultures and traditions of their own form an enticing cult to take notice and understand. But when handling a theme where you want to emote the style of Geisha life, it is highly necessary to maintain a balance between the information and the characterization. ‘Memoirs of a Geisha’ neither dwells deeper into the geisha life nor does emphasize on the characterization and hence falls flat on a desultory script. But however saving graces of this film elevate the movie to such an extent that it isn’t just watchable, but enjoyable.

The young Cheiko after being sold by her family refuses to cope to the Geisha ways when she meets this stranger who turns her life and infuses in her a will to live. Slowly Cheiko moves up the geisha ladder looking to enjoy for eternity the fleeting warmth of the stranger. Mixed with this is the growing rivalry from one of her co-geisha and propping up philosophies at intervals.

After the studded ‘Chicago’ with the style and grandeur, ‘Memoirs of a Geisha’ come more of a surprise from director, Rob Marshall. One could never understand what English dialogues were doing in a Japanese movie, though the swarm of Chinese stars in a Japanese movie don’t matter. An American director working on the lifestyle of a Japanese cult is quite astonishing but one could not help noticing the absence of long absorbing sequences where nature of the Geishas could have been emphasized.

Despite so many discontents there comes the savior to this movie in the form of one of the exhilarating camerawork ever witnessed in recent times and a wondrous art that seems to project a realistic-like picture of the japanese miyako. Soothing music by John Williams adds to the grace. Cinema being a visual medium, despite so many holes in the script the movies looks beautiful and warming due to the astounding camerawork of Dion Beebe. The different shades of Black that his camera captures with the excellent artwork of Patrick Sullivan and Tomas Voth, ‘Memoirs of a Geisha’ makes a memorable watch never giving-in to the infested deficiencies.

After the interesting first half the movie swings from Geishas to rivalry to romance but the beauty of the movie diverts focus towards from all these negatives. The actors though totally foreign to English seemed to have put in so much of effort that their dialogue delivery jells in with so much of ease is definitely worth an applaud. Ziyi Zhang, Ken Watanabe, Michelle Yeoh all play their part to the notch. Watching more native movies like Crouching Tiger.., Hero Rob Marshall’s direction despite its softness lacks that which is highlighted – ‘finesse’.

Camera and Acting form the saving grace of ‘Memoirs’ in fact lulling it far above where it should have been.

PROS
Cinematography, Art direction

CONS
Script.

COMMENTS
Enjoy it for the beauty because you won’t get anything else!

TAGLINE
Beautiful, but it takes more to be Great!

GRADING
Cinematography: A-
Art Work: above B+
Script: C
OVERALL: above B-

RATING: 6.9 / 10.0

Paramount Classics

present

Movie: BABEL (English, Japanese, Spanish, Arabic)
Director: ALEJANDRO GONZALEZ INNARITU
Year: 2006
Country: America
Genre: Drama
Cast: Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, Gael Garcia Bernal, Rinko Kikuchi, Adriana Barraza
Duration: 2h 20m (app)

’Babel’ – the word signifies “confusion of sounds or voices”. With its numerous well-known actors, many demographic languages, many languages - the director has made sure to put in the obvious influences of all his previous movies which doesnt cause much confusion but pivots the decision of the overall quality of the movie.

Three Stories, one referring to the Brad Pitt-Cate Blanchett couple, another the adolescent sensuousness of the Japanese girl Cheiko, and the part of the brothers in the barren lands of Egypt who kick off the story are brought together as an incident chances their unknown meeting. If you say, this theme looks familiar – of Course…you got it. As ‘Amores Perros’(made in spanish) struck the cinedom with the novel attempt of showing how one accident that intersected into 3 different lives, Alejandro wanting to have more piece of the cake shifted base to America doing ’21 Grams’ with famed stars and a manipulative screenplay of ‘Amores Perros’.

With ‘Babel’ he returns to his den again telling stories that run parallel to each other in his same vintage way. Now, coming to the review of Babel, there is no question of his direction. The only thing that holds together this movie despite the redundancies is this awesome craft he put into building the movie.

But the greatest drawback and where the movie fails so miserably is in its emphasis. In ‘Amores Perros’, the different lives that falter/revive as the movie proceeds after the accident is so beautifully emphasized with respect to each, while ‘Babel’ refuses to move forward in the story’s characterization. A simple story with a such a screenplay could have helped if the aspect of reminiscence was not noticed.

However despite all these drawbacks one can never put ‘Babel’ away as just passable. Its got technical content and can definitely be enjoyed for the 2 hours of its watching. The screenplay shifts from one part to another in a smooth fashion, the periodic changes in tones of loudness….especially the switches from the desert to the mexican city and the Japanese cities is pretty exciting. But the necessity to suddenly get internal to the deaf-mute girl’s character by the periodic mutes in the disco scene doesn’t help.

The music plays along and supports the movie well. But the winner is definitely the director Alejandro Gonzales, with his crafty way of handling all the sequences amply complemented by the camerawork of Rodrigo Prieto. The exhilaratingly rustic visuals of Mexico and Tazarine(Egypt) are a treat to watch. All the actors fit their supporting roles pretty well. Special mention to Adriana Barraza and probably Rinko Kikuchi because she seemed to have got the most scenes in the movie.

‘Babel’ stands forward as a cocktail that has been tasted, in fact served by Alejandro himself. The service was wonderful but it’s the content that matters to the consumer. PROS
Direction

CONS
Obvious influences from movies Amores Perros, 21 Grams, Crash etc.

COMMENTS
Mr.Alejandro, you might be an expert in visualizing parallel stories, but that doesn’t need you to keep doing only that!.

TAGLINE
Too many movies – Babel.

GRADING
Direction: B+
OVERALL: B

RATING: 7.4 / 10.0

Paramount

presents


Movie: ROSEMARY’S BABY (English)
Director: ROMAN POLANSKI
Year: 1968
Country: America
Genre: Horror/Thriller
Cast: Mia Farrow, John Cassavetes, Ruth Gordon
Duration: 2h 15m (app)


If Filmmakers are going to continue to attribute ‘Horror’ to the kind of creepy and colourful faces that make their appearance on screen trying hard to jostle viewers, Roman Polanski had proved them wrong way back in 1968 with his first American feature ‘Rosemary’s Baby’.

‘Rosemary’s Baby’ starts with a beautifully haunting track supposed to be a lullaby sung by the lead actress Mia Farrow herself, as the camera browses over the neighbourhood of apartments. As Rosemary(Mia Farrow) and her actor-husband, ‘Guy’ rent an apartment with dark history, Roman Polanski takes us for a ride of one of the fascinating films of horrow ever made. It takes the viewers through some scary camera sequences by how Rosemary tries to gets her baby to be born among various hindrances.

Technically, a highly quality movie with the necessary aura, Polanski has given his film to have. Be it the editing part where the scenes cut abruptly to the next or the crescendos of vibrations and dark background score that fits the movie to a ‘T’, Polanski has made the most out of his technicians. He is known for his eeire thrillers that seem to have set the way for movies of his kind of genre that had yet to come. If his ‘Knife in the Water’(polish) captured creatively the feeling of insecurity with a stranger, ‘Rosemary’s Baby’ pulls just the kind of strings that would give the viewer the necessary blend of horror and thrill with almost no special effects or bloodshed.

It finds a place in the horror genre of my diary with the only other horror movie I cherish till date, ‘The Shining’.

Despite reasons of not explaining why the baby was expected out of Rosemary alone and why the girl who had been brought as a daughter was made to commit suicide and a few other snags, ‘Rosemary’s Baby’ lives to what it promises to be – A worthy Horror movie.


PROS
Direction, Music

CONS
The usual unexplained parts in horror fantasy stories.

COMMENTS
One of the few well made Horror movies.

TAGLINE
A spirutual way of telling the horrors of baby-birth!

GRADING
OVERALL: above B

RATING
7.5 / 10.0