By Alisha Draper/reporter
Looking for a wonderful date movie with a little something for him and her?
Look no further.
Memoirs of a Geisha is by far the best film of the season and is chock-full of possible best actresses, actors and supporting roles.
The setting is the beautiful backdrop of pre-World War II Japan.
Director Rob Marshall certainly captured a true essence of Japan and its oldest tradition.
The classic ballads throughout the movie are the works of John Williams, and without his input, the movie would not have been as moving.
The instrumentals can make the viewer feel a part of that Japanese culture.
The story follows a young girl, Chiyo, born into poverty and sold into a geisha house in an effort to save her life.
Suzuka Ohgo plays a pre-adolescent Chiyo, forced into a life she never imagined she could lead.
Over many years of failed geisha training, Chiyo finally gets some help from a real geisha, Mahema (Michelle Yeoh).
Mahema helps restore the confidence of, rename and utterly create a new woman out of Chiyo.
Ziyi Zhang’s character Sayuri Nitta is an older Chiyo, who has come a long way from poverty.
Sayuri owes her lifestyle to a man who cared for those around him more than himself.
She instantly falls in love with this handsome man and vows she will do anything just to be near him.
Many such women would fall for their admirers, but they were forbidden to love.
Being a geisha meant not being free to feel, merely being there to entertain and offer companionship for that night alone.
For a young Sayuri, this is not a life she wants to lead because she has fallen for the Chairman, played by Ken Watanabe.
As the war approaches, the lifestyles of the geishas change. Such drastic changes in every day routines destroy the beauty and elegance of the untouched geisha.
Many of the women sell their valued kimonos for food or to pay rent. Life as they have known it will not be the same.
But an opportunity for a revival of the tradition presents itself to Sayuri.
The Chairman is now in control of a powerful partnership with some Americans. And if the geishas can once again entice the men of the world, the partnership could prove beneficial to the war-torn country.
The movie is in theaters now, so make a trek to discover if the mysterious lives of geishas continue for other generations and if Sayuri will be able to love.