Customer Reviews

The History and Art of the Geisha

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Ever since I read "Memoirs of a Geisha" several years ago, I have been fascinated by these mysterious creatures. I have read several books and watched a few documentaries to find out more about geishas. One of the best documentaries on geishas is definitely NOT "The History and Art of the Geisha". This is an awful documentary that looked like it was filmed for high school students. The narration was awful. The sound was atrocious. I had to turn up the volume on my tv to get a better sound quality. There were moments in the documentary when I thought I was getting more of a history on Japan than on geishas. The narrator would not simply get to the darn point. Watching this film I felt like I was in high school all over again. The narration was monotonous and condescending to the average human being. Informative? Nothing new I have learned from this documentary that I haven't read about in Liza Dalby's "Geisha". The best documentary I have seen is "The Secret Life of Geishas", narrated by Susan Sarandon. That documentary actually is good because it is more thorough. The narration is never condescending, plus you get to hear first hand from Liza Dalby (the only western woman to ever be accepted into geisha culture) and two geishas about the life of a geisha. "The Art & History of Geishas" had neither of the above. I found this film absolutely atrocious. I could not even sit through all 80 minutes of it. I have seen one hour documentaries on the Discovery channel and National Geographic Channel that were ten times better than this crudfest. Avoid this documentary like the plague unless you like watching documentaries that look like they should be shown in high school history classes. Buy or rent "The Secret Life of Geishas" instead.

I must say, I was pretty impressed by the quality of this low-budget documentary: if you have read the book "Memoirs of a Geisha" or plan on seeing the movie (or have seen it), you should definitely check this documentary out to learn more!

It is very informative and interesting: it told me a bunch about geishas, which I knew almost nothing about before, other than that they were asian, wore white makeup and kimonos, and tended to be beautiful. This doc is well worth the low price you will pay!

This is a wonderful documentary, very informative. I haven't seen the new movie yet or read the book but I definitely will do both after viewing this DVD. I highly recommend it. You just can't beat the price either!

Most of the previous reviews on this DVD did not use superlatives, so I was not expecting much. I paid $6 for the DVD, including shipping, an indication that suggested mediocrity. After viewing the documentary, I felt that it was indeed an OK offering that did give some historical information that I did not know about geisha. The DVD uses mostly still images (a disappointment) and there is only rare motion footage of geisha (probably no more than 2-3 minutes total). Many of the still shots are used over and over (annoying) and the photos are black and whites that have been tinted. In spite of this, I am glad that I purchased the offering since I suffer from geishaphilia and love everything related to geisha. I also ordered "Secret Life of Geisha," narrated by Susan Sarandan and "Memoirs of a Geisha," the movie released several years ago. Looking forward to seeing them as well. Sayonara.

This 'documentary' is mostly narrated stills with little or no organized, authoritative (and cited!) information - in fact it perpetuates not a few Occidental mis-conceptions about Geisha, Japan and the Orient. A tourist's slide-show glorified on DVD.

A nice documentary covering Japan's history and how the geisha developed and changed over the centuries. I wish the producers were able to have an interview or interviews with present day geishas.