We haven't had a proper date night since Joy arrived, so this was a nice time to have one. The movie was not too bad. The wife loved the book and was not too disappointed with the movie either. She did say they omitted book details like how the geisha tied their hair differently depending on whether they were virgins or not.
Young lass Suzuka Ohgo, who played young Chiyo, was way prettier than Zhang Ziyi and also gave the best acting performance in the movie. And a little bit of sumo trivia can be found in q-taro.com.
I wish they had cast good Japanese actresses to play the leads. Somehow, Gong Li, Michelle Yeoh and Zhang Ziyi did not quite cut it as believeable Japanese women though their acting was credible. I watch too many Japanese dramas to suspend my disbelief at the Japanese-ness of these actresses, I suppose.
I think Oshin (imdb link) was a much better Japanese melodrama, but then that was a TV series. And an epic one at that.
