Sakuran – Wilde Kirschblüte (2006)

Sakuran – Wilde Kirschblüte: Directed by Mika Ninagawa. With Anna Tsuchiya, Kippei Shîna, Yoshino Kimura, Hiroki Narimiya. A young girl is sold into a red-light district brothel and tries to adapt to life as an oiran (courtesan).

“If you pick up u0026quot;Sakuranu0026quot; with the intention of enjoying another artsy, sensitive depiction of geisha life, youu0026#39;re dead wrong. u0026quot;Sakuranu0026quot; is a movie about *oiran* life (for those who do not know: geisha are entertainers, and oiran are prostitutes). As such, youu0026#39;re not going to watch a bunch of well-behaved and manicured women. Here, youu0026#39;ll see bitch-slaps, coarse language, and a hard-ass main character with a rather modern view of life who canu0026#39;t really fit in with her peers. In other words, despite the fact that its setting is in the past, itu0026#39;s a fitting movie for the modern woman to relate to.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eu0026quot;Sakuranu0026quot; is based on a Japanese manga series, so many scenes in the movie are shown with many colors. Itu0026#39;s beautiful in its own way, though movie purists arenu0026#39;t going to like it. It also has a lot of pop music in it, which purists are going to find jarring and dissonant with the period depicted. However, the target audience is clearly not them, and the movie will treat them with the same disdain that the main character (herself played by a pop star turned actress) shows toward the high-class, privileged lords and samurai.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe movie makes many statements about the Japanese class system and politics, too, but it doesnu0026#39;t exactly shove them down your throat, either. In the end, the movie is about the freedom to choose love in spite of the expectations of class and vocation. Donu0026#39;t take it too seriously, and enjoy the ride.”