Having both visited Kyoto many times, we were anticipating a lot of enjoyable scenery, a behind the scenes look at geisha culture, and a fun comedy. It started out promising to fulfil all three, but in the end managed to score on only two counts.
The first act of the movie is also the funniest, providing the backstory of Kumihiko Onizuka (Sadao Abe), a maiko obsessed salaryman with a persona inspired by the likes of Jerry Lewis (who was surprisingly good in 1958's Geisha Boy) and Jim Carrey (who has yet to make a movie set in Japan, but would be perfect in a parody of The Last Samurai). Early on, the closest Onizuka gets to maiko is as the unofficial leader of a group of stalkers/paparazzi who are patiently indulged by the maiko, unlike their real life counterparts who have recently voiced complaints about the number of photographers interfering with their ability to walk to work in the evening without getting harassed. There are a number of laugh out loud scenes, and Onizuka's difficulty entering the exclusive tea houses of Kyoto provide a convenient pretence to educate the audience along the way.
In the second act things spin out of control when the rivalry between Onizuka and Kiichiro Naito (Shinichi Tsutsumi) becomes increasingly absurd without providing the laughs one might expect from a ridiculous sequence where they attempt to one up each other as pro baseball players, actors, mixed martial arts fighters, restaurateurs, and politicians. The two men also become increasingly obnoxious in their dealings with the maiko and geisha, who seem to accept their classless behaviour without concern so long as the money keeps flowing in to the tea houses. A few more laughs or some character growth might have redeemed this act, but it looks suspiciously like they tried to cram in more ideas than they could develop.
Things improve in the final act when the two intertwined storylines are resolved. I won't spoil either plot line, but will say that the effort spent giving each story its due also dampens the potential for humour with which the movie opened. By the end of the movie, one is left wondering if such classy maiko would really give a moment's thought to earning the approval of two such uncouth men, but such are the conventions of comedy that we must accept the result.
Although far too much screen time is spent following the antics of the two obnoxious leads, there are a number of other pleasures to keep the movie interesting. The first is seeing the maiko perform traditional party games and dances in the tea houses. It helped satisfy my curiosity about what goes on behind the screen doors of Gion while also making me wonder just what kind of behaviour they really tolerate from their clients. The part I enjoyed the most was simply hearing the maiko's delicate Kyoto speech. Komako's (Saori Koide) voice contained a gentle power that could tame an angry bear.
Kyoto is also well served on the big screen, with such memorable backdrops as Heian Shrine, the Yasaka Pagoda, and the streets of Gion standing out in my mind. I even felt a nostalgic flash seeing ultramodern Kyoto Station, famous for the polarized opinions it elicits in people expecting a more old fashioned style of architecture when first arriving in the old capital. Some of the hyperkinetic edits used in these scenes self-consciously play against sedate Kyoto stereotypes, but not even an MTV approach to filmmaking can overwhelm the beauty of the setting.
A confused plot and grating characters mixed together with a stunning setting and a glimpse into geisha culture adds up to what then exactly? I bought the movie because it was not available for rent from my service, hoping it would hold up to repeated viewings like 1996's feel good Shall We Dance. Sadly, it looks more like a rental than a keeper.
The comparison to Shall We Dance is apt in more than one way. In the first movie, Naoto Takenaka played the obnoxious salaryman to comic perfection, providing a number of moments of comic relief as the second banana. Sadao Abe, on the other hand, is forced to carry the entire movie as a comic and romantic lead. It's simply too much screen time for a character whose last name ominously translates as "Demon Hill," because after an hour, watching him becomes about as entertaining as seeing an imp skateboarding down a toddler slide.
DVD Extras: 23 minute making of short in which we learn that a million people saw the movie within twenty days of its release. Trailers. One page booklet with location map, description of a maiko outfit, and brief bios of three actors, the screenwriter, and the director. N.B. There are a couple subtitling miscues, e.g. missing words, but overall, it's a good translation.
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I felt largely the same about Maiko Haaan. I hadn't realized it was meant to be a comedy when I started watching it, but after a hilarious opening act, I expected more humor from the rest of the film, or at least a more logical plot.
ReplyDeleteThat was several months ago. But it occurs to me now, reading your review, that in fact, the concept of this film seems very much reminiscent of the kibyoshi or sharebon of the Edo period. Like this film, these books would relate humorous tales of men who, in one way or another, make fools of themselves in their efforts to become prominent (or tsû) in the pleasure districts. Yes, I know that maiko are not courtesans. There is a powerful distinction. But I think the plot comparison is nevertheless applicable, no?
I think that's an astute point about the kibyoshi and sharebon stories. It's a cultural reference point that I was unaware of but which I can relate to based on similar kabuki and bunraku performances I have seen. The main difference I saw in those stories was that even the most boastful fools possessed a humanity that made them more sympathetic to the audience. What is your experience with the protagonists in the stories you mentioned?
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