You can't watch this movie and not gape at the beautiful sets. The entire movie has a glow about it that you just can't get away from. And the only thing that could beat the production design is its score. I'm telling you, composed by John Williams and the best cellist I've ever heard, Yo-Yo Ma, is one of the score's performers.

As for the story, it's not something you've seen before. I've never heard of a geisha and didn't even know what it really meant until well into the movie. The film dealt with dark themes and though the bright, beautiful colors and soft soundtrack bled through the entire running time, this was not a happy story. In 1930s Japan, girls are sold into slavery at a geisha house, only hoping that one day, they will go to school to become giesha, entertainers for men. When they are trained to become geisha, their virginity is sold to the highest bidder, sometimes to complete strangers. This film follows the story of Chiyo, a girl hoping to become a geisha. The film is sometimes depressing in that the one lesson a geisha must learn is that they are not trained to live their own lives, but to be always-smiling trophy girls that are paid to hang on the arms of rich men at parties.

The one beef I had with this movie is its inability to properly explain some things about life as a giesha, I only understood some parts later when I could look them up in the book.

I can tell you, though, that the locations and score deserved all the Oscars it won. The acting was excellent and it's all worth the price of renting.

*** 1/2 out of *****

(3 1/2 out of 5)

I read the first 30 pages of the book but that didn't help me 10 minutes after the movie started. The book is excellent so far, I agree with your twins.