Search - The History and Art of the Geisha on DVD

A poorly written documentary on geishas

Erica Anderson | Minneapolis, MN | 01/28/2006

(1 out of 5 stars)

"Ever since I read "Memoirs of a Geisha" several years ago, I have been fascinated by these mysterious creatures. I have read several books and watched a few documentaries to find out more about geishas. One of the best documentaries on geishas is definitely NOT "The History and Art of the Geisha". This is an awful documentary that looked like it was filmed for high school students. The narration was awful. The sound was atrocious. I had to turn up the volume on my tv to get a better sound quality. There were moments in the documentary when I thought I was getting more of a history on Japan than on geishas. The narrator would not simply get to the darn point. Watching this film I felt like I was in high school all over again. The narration was monotonous and condescending to the average human being. Informative? Nothing new I have learned from this documentary that I haven't read about in Liza Dalby's "Geisha". The best documentary I have seen is "The Secret Life of Geishas", narrated by Susan Sarandon. That documentary actually is good because it is more thorough. The narration is never condescending, plus you get to hear first hand from Liza Dalby (the only western woman to ever be accepted into geisha culture) and two geishas about the life of a geisha. "The Art & History of Geishas" had neither of the above. I found this film absolutely atrocious. I could not even sit through all 80 minutes of it. I have seen one hour documentaries on the Discovery channel and National Geographic Channel that were ten times better than this crudfest. Avoid this documentary like the plague unless you like watching documentaries that look like they should be shown in high school history classes. Buy or rent "The Secret Life of Geishas" instead."

Excellent & Informative documentary!

Info32545 | California | 12/02/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I must say, I was pretty impressed by the quality of this low-budget documentary: if you have read the book "Memoirs of a Geisha" or plan on seeing the movie (or have seen it), you should definitely check this documentary out to learn more!

It is very informative and interesting: it told me a bunch about geishas, which I knew almost nothing about before, other than that they were asian, wore white makeup and kimonos, and tended to be beautiful. This doc is well worth the low price you will pay!"