A Geisha's Diary

Jul 28, 1961

1h 39m

★ 7.4

Overview

A young girl is rigorously trained in the feminine arts so that she can become a geisha. As she struggles through life, she learns to live not just as a woman but as a complete person.

Genres

Drama

Production Companies

Daiei Film

A Geisha's Diary Trailers

Cast

Koen

Ayako Wakao

Maki

Jun Fujimaki

Nozaki

Frankie Sakai

Kiyomasa Tsutsui

So Yamamura

Yajima

Kyū Sazanka

Tsutsui Keiko

Hisano Yamaoka

Ginko

Mayumi Kurata

Kazuko

Chieko Murata

Toshiko

Michiko Takano

Yamawaki Satoko

Kyōko Enami

Yuka Konno

Toki Kana

Keiko Yamauchi

Three young women live together in an old house in a corner of Tokyo. They are not related by blood, but they have been bound together by a strong bond for 12 years. They care about each other and spend their own ordinary days together. The matter of unrequited love arises for them that they can't tell anyone.

6.8

Shanghai Triad

Sep 14, 1995

Shanghai, China, 1930. When young Shuisheng arrives from the countryside, his uncle Liushu puts him at the service of Bijou, the mistress of Laoda, supreme boss of the Tang Triad, constantly threatened by his enemies, both those he knows and those lurking in the shadows.

6.0

Lala Pipo: A Lot of People

Feb 7, 2009

Adapted from a sex-stuffed cult novel, LALAPIPO (a play on the phrase “A Lot of People”) follows divergent seedy strands of sexual and narrative spaghetti through the sticky Tokyo night. There’s a chubby freelance writer who’s so obsessed with masturbating to the sound of his upstairs neighbors going at it that he forgets to deal with his own love life and when he finally does have sex he is immediately filled with self-loathing. The upstairs neighbor’s story then splits off like an amoeba: she’s an office lady seduced by a “talent scout” who is falling down the sex industry ladder, moving from hostess, to massage girl, to private karaoke attendant. The talent scout’s story then splits off and runs in its own direction, revealing the sorry state of this young pimp’s soul. From there, the movie takes more and more time to consider the lives of more and more characters until the entire Japanese sex industry is filled with the wailing of lost souls.

7.3

Late Chrysanthemums

Jun 15, 1954

With delicate, unobtrusive strokes, Naruse evokes both the humor and bitterness of his characters’ dilemmas, in this bleak, compelling poignant portrait of a quartet of aging geishas contemplating their troubles with men and money.

8.0

When a Woman Ascends the Stairs

Jan 15, 1960

Keiko, whom everyone calls Mama, narrates her story: she's a hostess on the Ginza, 30, a widow. She describes life's vicious cycle: acting cheerful around drunks, dressing and living well to convey confidence, needing money for these expenses and for her demanding mother and brother, and knowing she's growing older.

0.0

A Geisha on Horseback

Nov 15, 1954

Based on the original work of Akutagawa Prize-winning writer Ashihei Hino, the film depicts the love of the proud geisha Nobukichi Hakata in the early Taisho era.

2.0

Hot Spring Geisha Pillow Performance in the Tatami Room

May 1, 2015

Shizuku and Tamami are geisha in Atami who are rivals at the same okiya (tea house). Shizuku is a miser who will use any tool necessary to get what she wants, including sex. On the other hand, Tamami believes in doing things the traditional way, with class. With opposing personalities, these two are always at each other’s throats. Tamami continues to blame herself for her mother’s suicide while Shizuku never knew parental love and doesn’t have good luck with men. Learning each other’s past, the two seem to have built a strong bond… that is until Kenzo, the event producer of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics comes to Atami. Kenzo will be making a movie about traditional Japanese culture for PR and would like to have either Shizuku or Tamami in it. Tamami sees this as an opportunity to fulfill her dead mother’s dreams, while Shizuku sees this as a path to getting rich. The two compete for who will get the contract for this dream opportunity.

7.0

Tokyo Towers: Mom and Me, and Sometimes Dad

Apr 14, 2007

Adapted from the bestselling Japanese autobiography of the same title, this gentle coming-of-age drama concerns an adolescent boy, Boku - Masaya, torn between the inherited recklessness of his father Oton and the inherited responsibility, wisdom and emotional strength of his mother Okan. Following a period of intensely rebellious behavior, Boku learns that his mom has contracted cancer; suddenly, his mother comes to live with him in Tokyo the entire emotional landscape of his life is altered.

5.6

The Best Job in the World

Dec 11, 1996

To be closer to his children following his divorce, Laurent Monier, a history and geography teacher in a peaceful provincial high school, accepts a position in a sensitive college in the Paris suburbs. He is assigned the hardest class, the fourth techno, and he finds an apartment in the Cité des Muriers, a particularly difficult district.

6.8

To Joy

Feb 20, 1950

A young orchestra violinist’s fear of mediocrity and drive for artistic success strain his marriage to a fellow musician. Told largely in flashback and shaped by Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, the film examines ambition, love, and loss in early Ingmar Bergman.

7.9

Tokyo Godfathers

Dec 5, 2003

On Christmas Eve, three homeless people living on the streets of Tokyo discover a newborn baby among the trash and set out to find its parents.

7.7

Always - Sunset on Third Street

Nov 11, 2005

Teenage Mutsuko comes to Tokyo for work but ends up at a repair shop. She befriends the owner's family. Neighbors Hiromi, writer Chagawa with admirer Junnosuke strive alongside them in postwar Tokyo's evolution.

4.5

Gate of Flesh

Dec 24, 1977

The background is Yuraku-cho in Tokyo and the film shows how desperately the women, who had led sheltered lives before the war, struggled to keep alive and the innate strength of post-war women.

5.8

All the King's Men

Sep 10, 2006

The story of an idealist's rise to power in the world of Louisiana politics and the corruption that leads to his ultimate downfall. Based on the 1946 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel written by Robert Penn Warren, loosely based on the story of real-life politician Huey Long.

8.3

Tokyo Solitude

Feb 6, 2024

On one rainy night in Tokyo, three strangers experience solitude from three unique perspectives.

7.4

Tokyo Sonata

Sep 27, 2008

A young boy takes interest in piano while his family begins to disintegrate around him after his father loses his job.

6.9

Tokyo!

Aug 16, 2008

Three distinct tales unfold in the bustling city of Tokyo. Merde, a bizarre sewer-dweller, emerges from a manhole and begins terrorizing pedestrians. After his arrest, he stands trial and lashes out at a hostile courtroom. A man who has resigned himself to a life of solitude reconsiders after meeting a charming pizza delivery woman. And finally, a happy young couple find themselves undergoing a series of frightening metamorphoses.

6.4

Ocean Waves

Oct 9, 1993

At Kichijōji Station, Tokyo, Taku Morisaki glimpses a familiar woman on the platform opposite boarding a train. Later, her photo falls from a shelf as he exits his apartment before flying to Kōchi Prefecture. Picking it up, he looks at it briefly before leaving. As the aeroplane takes off, he narrates the events that brought her into his life...