Clod -

Thanks for posting and welcome back from Hades.

As I get older, I find that I no longer want an "exact" translation from page-to-screen in movie versions of films.

I love the novel for the novel's sake, and the film for the film's sake, but I feel that they can be companion pieces.

The compacting of the story was useful in some respects, mostly in the "my butt didn't go numb" category, and it did strike me as rather "tinny" how the references to water and wood were used in the film. Sakamoto Chiyo grew up in a world dominated by water - the seaside town, daughter of a fisherman and, our most striking comment, her sea-gray eyes - but that's only very briefly touched upon in the film. Starting it at the point of the departure, and removing the segment with Mr. Tanaka's family (and Chiyo's first glimpse of a geisha, no matter how provincial) was interesting, but we don't really get the sense that the film-Chiyo ever believed she was going to be adopted by Mr. Tanaka when her mother died. I'm not sure if that's truly important to the story; we do experience a worse loss because she and Satsu are torn from their parents, and almost shoved out of their "tipsy house" by their father, and they cling to each other.

What I do think is that this clinging together does make their separation at the Nitta okiya more heartbreaking, especially since the way Auntie (portrayed by the always fun to watch Tsai Chin) selects Chiyo over Satsu, rather than the decision having been pre-determined between Mother and Mr. Bekku. The realization that not only were they torn from their home in Yoroido but they were also to be separated, well, it makes us want to scream with Chiyo.

Or at least, that's the way I feel about it.

Thoughts?

- Lizzy -