In the years before World War II, a Japanese child is torn from her penniless family to work as a maid in a geisha house. She then reveals how she transcends her fishing-village roots and becomes one of Japan's most celebrated geisha.
... the movie is a well-meaning, vaporous bore, enlivened only by occasional traces of Showgirls-style camp and plasticine tears trickling down impeccably powdered cheeks.
Screenwize
July 30, 2009
It's lush, stylish and a feast for the eyes and ears rather than the heart and soul.
The subject remained interesting enough to this provincial American to accept and ultimately enjoy the film's well-worn romanticism, even with its resignedly tired happy ending.
