A movie from a renowned director with a great cast, but just not for me. The story is essentially the behind the scenes struggles of a geisha house which is slowly failing, but it's so flat that its nearly two hour runtime became a challenge, and I say that despite my adoration for Hideko Takemine. The sources of tension for these characters center around money, with one geisha feeling like she didn't get her fair share of the cut, resulting in her belligerent uncle showing up. There's also the unpaid merchants around the neighborhood, and the madam's older sister, who expects monthly payments from her loan for the business.
Part of the problem for me might be that there seems to be many Japanese movies from this period about geisha (or sometimes hostess bar women), even though this one plays like a character study which almost could have been done behind the scenes in any struggling business. It was telling, however, that Takemine's character early on says that being a geisha wasn't for her because, as she put it, "I couldn't ingratiate myself with every type of customer," even if we never see any customers. I also confess it was a little sad seeing the training of the little girls from a young age to be a part of this profession, even with the understanding of them becoming "skilled in the arts."
In a larger sense, though, the film is about a changing world, and expresses a sad truth, that customs and occupations change along with it, some dying out along the way. Naruse is ever so gentle in providing a pessimistic view about the future for most of these women, and to his credit knew how to end the film. The older women playing the shamisen quite beautifully in what is essentially a doomed house, while Takemine's character is already working at learning a new craft, sewing, is fantastic. It just wasn't enough to save the overall experience for me.
