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37 of 43 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A snapshot of a world long-gone...., April 4, 2001
This review is from: The Sisters of the Gion [VHS] (VHS Tape)
For the many fans of the book "Memoirs of a Geisha", "Sisters of the Gion" is a treasure of a movie. Released in 1936, it was intended for an audience who daily lived similar lives to the ones onscreen. Thus, for the casual Western viewer the actions & social conflicts it presents may seem strange. To someone who wants to see what daily life in the Gion quarter of Kyoto was like in the mid 1930's, it's a gem! "Sisters of the Gion" opens with an auction of household items. We are told they belong to the merchant Furosawa who has gone bankrupt. Mr. Furosawa then abandons his wife, child & faithful clerk to go stay in the Gion residence of Umekichi, a geisha to whom he had been patron. Umekichi lives with her more modern sister Omocha. We know she is more modern from the first scene she appears in, as she wears Western fashions as opposed to the kimono worn by her sister. Omocha is not happy they will be supporting Mr. Furosawa & gives Umekichi a lecture on geisha economics; she believes men are only as good as the size of their wallet, & has no use for a man who can't support them. The rest of the short movie (66 minutes) follows Omocha's plots to secure herself & Umekichi wealthy patrons & the emotional devastation she wreaks in the process. Of course the final scene shows her having been punished for her pains, as was expected by the conservative moral climate of the time. What will prove fascinating to the viewer who has read "Memoirs of a Geisha" is the minutiae of daily life in Kyoto during this period. The original viewers in 1936 took the street scenes & shots of domestic life as a given, but to modern eyes it is astonishing to see the tiny corridors that passed as streets in Gion, the platformed tatami rooms with tea braziers & ubiquitous long-stemmed pipes smoked by all the characters. The few traces of European influence (large cars, fedoras, Omocha's dresses) slam jarringly into the timeless framing of bare rooms & kimono clad women.There isn't a building higher than two stories evident in any outdoor shot, & merchants still visit customers homes to thanks them for their patronage! An early scene even shows the sisters walking down a street, stopping every few steps at shrines to clap their hands in homage, all without pausing their conversation! Truly, a world which vanished irrevocably at the end of World War II! Honestly, "Sisters of the Gion" gets it's 4 stars as an anthropological artifact, not as a movie. But to anyone interested in daily life during this period of Japanese history, it is an invaluable record.
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15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Sister's of the Gion--Light and Shadow, June 9, 2002
This review is from: The Sisters of the Gion [VHS] (VHS Tape)
I just had a chance to see this beautiful movie, and once again I have to revise my ideas about Japanese cinema--it's even more profound than I'd believed. What strikes the viewer immediately is the masterful use of shadow. The great novelist Kawabata wrote about the shadows of traditional Japanese homes and buildings, lit by lamps instead of neon, and this film utilizes shadow with the touch of a Rembrandt. The viewer is pulled into another world, the lovely and cruel world of pre-war Asia. The director explores the cruel circumstances of the sisters with compassion, and complete realism. The viewer knows with absolute certainty that the sisters will never escape their destiny--not because of any moral failing, but because there's no way out. If you haven't seen this movie--watch it very soon and visit a world you've never dreamed of.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Tale of Two Sisters, January 4, 2005
This review is from: The Sisters of the Gion [VHS] (VHS Tape)
Mizoguchi Kenji always had a soft spot for the women of Japan, being known as a "feminist" director in his home country. Mainly, he sees the pathos of the suffering of Japanese women, buckling under the strict social rules of their society. He is a master of "aware," beautiful suffering, that is such a trademark of Japanese film.
"The Sisters of the Gion" ("Gion no Shimai") is true to Mizoguchi's theme, telling the story of two Geisha "sisters," sharing a home together and scrapping by in the Gion pleasure district of 1930's Kyoto. The elder girl, Umekichi, is a traditionalist, believing in old-fashioned values such as loyalty and trust. The younger girl, O-Mocha ("Toy" in Japanese) is head-strong and modern, believing that the men who are their customers should be fleeced for every penny, showing them the same lack of respect they show the girls.
Ultimately, both girl's ideals lead down the same troubled path, as the oppressive world they live in offers little room for interpretation. They are both right, and they are both wrong. They both suffer.
Mizoguchi's camera paints this depressing portrait with such precise vision that one cannot helped but be moved by the plight of the two sisters. The black and white images are masterfully manipulated, staying in the brain long after the frame has moved on. The film's short running time, only 69 minutes, allows for the story to be told completely, with exactly enough information and no extra fluff or frivol.
Overall, a beautiful, powerful film. It ranks amongst my favorite Japanese films of all time.
This same theme of the suffering geisha sisters was followed up by Mizoguchi in his 1953 post-War film "A Geisha" ("Gion Bayashi") If they were packaged together, they would make a stunning DVD release.
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