A Geisha

1953 [JAPANESE]

Drama

6
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Rotten 93% · 9 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Upright 93% · 250 ratings
IMDb Rating 7.6/10 10 2619 2.6K

geisha debt biting teacher student relationship post war kyoto, japan

Plot summary

Fleeing a distressing family situation, Eiko, a very young girl, becomes an apprentice to Miyoharu, a veteran geisha. Both, determined to preserve their professional integrity, must face the selfishness and ambition of several petty people.

Director

Kenji Mizoguchi Photo
Kenji Mizoguchi

Top cast

Ayako Wakao Photo
Ayako Wakao as Eiko
Ichirô Sugai Photo
Ichirô Sugai as Saeki
Michiyo Kogure Photo
Michiyo Kogure as Miyoharu
Kikue Môri Photo
Kikue Môri as Domestic arts teacher
720p.BluRay 1080p.BluRay
776.28 MB
1280*960
Japanese 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 24 min
Seeds 1
1.41 GB
1440*1080
Japanese 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 24 min
Seeds 7

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by MOscarbradley 9 / 10

Not that well-known but essential nevertheless.

Kenji Mizoguchi's splendid "Gion Bayashi" begins like a docu-drama on the role of the geisha in Japanese society before turning into the kind of melodrama you might expect from Douglas Sirk. Eiko is the 16 year old trainee geisha and Miyoharu is the older, more experienced geisha who, as a friend of Eiko's late mother, takes her under her wing and who develops a strong, sisterly bond with her.Few male directors could have handled this material with the empathy Mizoguchi brings to the subject. Men are basically secondary characters and are mostly seen as predators and Mizoguchi draws wonderful performances from his largely female cast and in particular from Michiyo Kogure as the unfortunate Miyoharu. If the film is not as well-known as some of the director's other works it remains absolutely essential nevertheless.
Reviewed by GyatsoLa 8 / 10

A snapshot in time

Another fine contemporary movie from Mizoguchi, as so often with his films, focusing on womens lives. This is a partial remake of his earlier 'Sisters of Gion', although the commentary in my Masters of Cinema DVD version suggests that the studio made him tone down the original script as they did not want their new star, Ayako Wakao, to play a 'bad girl' as was originally intended.The film is set in the mid 1950's, as the traditional Gion Geisha quarter in Kyoto is under pressure from the massive changes in Japan at the time. Old traditions are dying, there is greater pressure for the girls to indulge in what is essentially prostitution. Both customers and young geisha are less interested in the old formalities. A young girl, the daughter of a geisha and a failing businessman begs an older geisha to take her on and train her. The girl has a funny mixture of ambition and dignity, proud of her status (she insists on wearing her full geisha outfit even to a regular bar), while refusing to 'do what is necessary' with a rich patron. The older woman is caught between her desire to protect the girl and the economic necessities of the time. The 'sisterhood' of Gion - the older, dominant Geisha, use their influence and power to put huge pressure on her to call the young girl to heel.There are some indications that Mizoguchi's heart wasn't entirely in this film. It is shot quite conventionally by his standards and lacks his trademark visual skills and experimentation. But it is beautifully acted by the whole cast and the insight into the lives of the geisha at the time appears very convincing and real (who can say for sure if it is or not?). It isn't quite as good as his later 'Street of Shame', but its still a fine film and well worth watching.The Masters of Cinema version (region 2) version that I saw sell it as a 'double DVD' with the brilliant Sansho the Bailiff. The whole package is superb, well worth buying.
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