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    • BLU-RAY REVIEW

    Memoirs Of A Geisha

    Featured In Issue 125, November 2007

    Picture4
    SoundNR
    WSR Score4
    Basic Information on new release titles is posted as soon as titles are announced. Once reviewed, additional data is added to the database.
    (Studio/Distributor):
    Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
    (Catalog Number):
    21127
    (MPAA Rating):
    PG-13
    (Rating Reason):
    (Retail Price):
    $28.95
    (Disc Type):
    Single Side, Dual Layer (BD-50)
    (Widescreen Edition):
    Yes
    (Full Screen Edition):
    No
    (Running Time In Minutes):
    145
    (Color Type):
    Color
    (Chaptered/Scene Access):
    Yes
    (Closed Captioned):
    Yes
    (Regional Coding):
    Not Indicated
    (Theatrical Year):
    2005
    (Theatrical Release):
    Yes
    (Direct-To-Video Release):
    No
    (Disc Release Date):
    9/25/07
    (THX® Digitally Mastered):
    No
    (Director):
    Rob Marshall
    (Screenplay/Written By):
    (Story):
    (Music):
    (Director Of Photography):
    (Production Designer):
    (Visual Effects):
    (Costume Designer):
    (Editor):
    (Supervising Sound Editors):
    (Re-Recording Mixers):
    (Executive Producers):
    (Co-Producers):
    (Producers):
    (Academy Awards):
    (Principal Photography):
    (Theatrical Aspect Ratio):
    (Measured Disc Aspect Ratio):
    (Disc Soundtrack):
    PCM 24/48 5.1
    (Theatrical Sound):
    (Theatrical Re-Issue Soundtrack):
    (DTS Bit Rate):
    (Dolby Digital Bit Rate):
    (Additional Languages):
    (French Language):
    (Spanish Language):
    (Chinese Language):
    (Subtitles):
    (Cantonese Language):
    (Mandarin Language):
    (Japanese Language):
    (Italian Language):
    (German Language):
    (Portuguese Language):

    Based on the book by Arthur Golden, "Memoirs Of A Geisha" is the story of Chiyo (Ohgo), a girl who was forced from her family home at a young age to live her life in a geisha house. Because of jealousy and rivalry from the head geisha, Hatsumomo (Li), the lovely young Chiyo became a servant rather than a geisha. But fate stepped in and took her to the forbidden and fragile world she longed for, where she became Sayuri (Zhang), every man's fantasy and the most sought after geisha of all. (Tricia Spears)

    Special features are the same as on the DVD reviewed in Issue 107 and include commentary with Rob Marshall and John Dellica and another commentary track with Costume Designer Colleen Atwood, Production Designer John Myhre, and Editor Pietro Scalia; the following 11 featurettes: "Sayuri's Journey: From The Novel To The Screen" (14 minutes), "The Road To Japan" (six minutes), "Geisha Bootcamp" (12 minutes), "Building The Hanamachi" (12 minutes), "The Look Of A Geisha" (16 minutes), "The Music Of 'Memoirs'" (10 minutes), "A Geisha's Dance" (eight minutes), "The World Of The Geisha" (eight minutes), "The Way Of The Sumo" (six minutes), "Director Rob Marshall's Story" (10 minutes), and "A Day With Chef Nobu Matsuhisa" (10 minutes); three of "Chef Nobu's Recipes"; and behind-the-scenes and costume illustrations photo galleries.

    The H.264 AVC-encoded 2.40:1 Blu-ray Disc can look very pleasing, especially in brightly lit scenes, but details are often smeared with relatively poor definition. Black levels are amply deep, but shadow delineation can be limited at times, resulting in flat fields of black that should show some dimensionality. The source element is clean, and edge enhancement is not noticeable. (Danny Richelieu)

    The Dolby® Digital 5.1-channel soundtrack features an exciting mix that utilizes each of the available channels well, but the front and rear stages rarely mesh into a coherent soundfield. Fidelity is good, but dynamic range is not as impressive as in the best high-definition releases will provide using more advanced audio codecs. (Danny Richelieu)

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