Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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43 of 45 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
An interesting and unique film, June 19, 2001
After reading the previous review I had to post a review of this movie so that people will not be mislead. Although I am quite willing to admit my ignorance of Asian art, whether Chinese, Japanese or other, I think this movie can be enjoyed on its own terms. Although the Pillowbook was confusing and disjointed to me at times, it was also intriguing and beautiful. For the previous reviewer to claim that all the characters acted in a monotone is simply untrue. Vivian Wu gave a subtle, nuanced and deeply emotional performance, and Ewan McGregor was wonderful as Jerome. Far from acting in a monotone, McGregor played Jerome with an infectious sense of fun during the early stages of his and Nagiko's relationship. Later, when Nagiko rejects him, his agony is vividly expressed and quite palpable. Additionally, to reduce this subtle and intense movie to "a fetish for naked Asian men" is patently unfair. There is nudity in the film, (although primarily of Wu and McGregor, neither of whom is an Asian man), but it is very tastefully done and relevant to the plot. In conclusion I would recommend this film to anyone who enjoys subtle and visually beautiful films. However, if you require lot's of special effects, explosions and action in a film, this is not the movie for you.
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45 of 49 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A breathtakingly magnificent visual experience!, February 8, 2003
THE PILLOW BOOK goes where few films have dared. Peter Greenaway is a unique artist and has created a touching story in a cinematic technique that is clearly his own. Simply stated, The Pillow Book is a journal kept by Japanese women who write private thoughts about desire, beauty, sensuality, and the moments in life that are indescribably unforgetable. In this story we see the unfolding of the life of a daughter of a calligrapher/writer who is able to provide for this beloved family and all their traditions by his assignations with his publisher. The child is taught her father's skills, each birthday having her father write the story of creation on her face, signed by 'god' on her back. This 'writing on the body' is eventually the means of gaining revenge on her father's demeaning publisher: she searches for the perfect lover (one who can make love as well as write beautifully in calligraphy) only to find a British translator (who happens to be the lover of her publisher)who encourages the girl to write her uniquely original books on his body - the matrix for delivery of her book to the publisher, a man who otherwise has rejected her gifts. To reveal the ending would spoil the mesmerizing intrigue of the film. Suffice it to say that love and honor eventually triumph...The techniques of cinematic magic include the simultneous use of Black and White photogrpahy with Color photography, screens within screens, still life within motion, the wonder of observing Japanese writing, the use of written scrolls superimposed on moments of story telling. Greenaway is one of the very few directors who is unafraid of frontal nudity. He has the beauty of Vivian Wu and Ewan McGregor which he paints sensually, allowing the camera to view the entire body being adorned both with calligraphy and with love making. But seeing is believing and for those who thirst for originality in art, for adoration of the human form, for sensitive story telling with a subject that is wholly unique, then this film is a MUST.
THE PILLOW BOOK should be in the art library of all art lovers.
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36 of 42 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Words Made Flesh, February 18, 1999
The Pillow Book is a rare film that transcends limitations of film and text in a unique handling by auteur Peter Greenaway. Based loosely on the tenth century writings of Sei Shonagon, Greenaway brings to the screen a rich visual amalgam that relies on stunning settings, the physical beauty of actors Vivian Wu and Ewan McGregor, and the joy of ancient and modern systems of writing that is calligraphy. Greenaway's penchant for incorporating art, numbers, books, and architecture in a filmic medium ensure those who enjoy his style will not be disappointed.
As a young child, Wu's character has celebrated her birthday's by having her father write the story of creation on her face in a family ritual celebration. However, with adulthood and marriage, her spouse is neither interested nor willing to continue her tradition. Frustrated at her inability to find a lover who is a good calligrapher, or a calligrapher who is a good lover, Wu finally meets a bi-sexual translator, Jerome (McGregor) who offers himself to Wu as a living surface for her erotic creativity. Inspired by the opportunity to obtain revenge on the publisher who blackmailed her father and is Jerome's lover, Wu's character, Nagiko creates the ultimate love poem illuminated in red, gold and black characters and delivered to the publisher on the naked body of Jerome.
The Pillow Book is adult eroticism at it's most sensuous and visual best. It is a story that revels in binaries of profane and grotesque, yet delights the eye with Greenaway's ability to translate a vision of love and horror into a singular statement of lush physical beauty and sexuality. However, that said, it is also a film which is best viewed on the large screen as several elements of the film maker's medium include inset panels which include parallel scenes or present visual narratives of textual elements as they are voiced. Additional calligraphied text reveal Nagiko's narratives from her own pillow book, a journal of musings and observations which detail her voiced narrations but on the small screen become illegible. A second problemematic element is Greenaway's use of a 3/4th screen often creating the compositional balance in a negative space black band at the bottom of the screen. Some will find these kinds of articulations irritating although this kind of art as film in the hands of Greenaway is elegant and sublime on the theatrical full screen . A difficult film but worthy of all attention for lovers of unique film making.
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