May 7, 2007 in Uncategorized by admin | No comments

I don’t know how I missed this, but a couple weeks ago, Bruce Wallace interviewed Mika Ninagawa about her film adaptation of Sakuran, which is originally a manga by Anno Moyoko.

Why do you think “Sakuran” has succeeded where “Memoirs of a Geisha” is believed to have misfired?

["Memoirs"] was a very orthodox story: Patience, patience, patience and good things will happen in the end. It’s a bit like a Disney movie. It lacked reality. Usually women [viewers] will project their feelings onto one of the roles — “If I were Kiyoha, if I were Sayuri [the lead character in 'Memoirs'].”

But Sayuri’s character was too old-fashioned. She was too patient. She wept just because someone untied the belt on her kimono. Americans have a fantasy that Japanese women should behave patiently and quietly.