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With two years of life in Japan under my belt, I particularly appreciated the deep investigation and story of the culture in Memoirs of a Geisha. Having read the book about 10 years ago (and I remember liking it, but had forgotten the bulk of the story), it was fun to go back and see the movie.
Also, since it has been a while since I left the Land of the Rising Sun, it brought back a lot of memories.
The deep appreciation for nature. For minimalism. For making the simple into the sublime.
The Japanese really do some things just so spectacularly that it's just special to behold.
The film does a good job of capturing that.
And the cinematography of the natural beauty, in particular, was magnificent.
It's about 2.5 hours long, but the story is compelling and it doesn't feel dragged out.