All dressed up (in kimonos) with no place in particular to go

Intended as an answer to what writer/director/producer Miyuki Sohara considered to be less-than-faithful representations of geisha (or geiko) in the fictional films of Hollywood, Hannari: Geisha Modern sorely lacks the rigor of the culture it attempts to document. Although the bucolic beauty of the cherry-blossom-strewn streets of former imperial capital Kyoto shines through as surely as that of the residents of what is poetically called “The Flower and Willow World,” this debut doc more closely resembles an unplanned meander through them than a carefully considered educational expedition. Theatrical run will likely be short, but Hannari may well live long(er) and prosper on the small screen.

Highly regimented and formalized, geisha culture has inherent interest to curious outsiders. Girls who wish to become geiko in the designated districts of Kyoto typically serve out an approximately six-year apprenticeship as maiko—surrendering the simple pleasures of adolescence to master ancient arts such as traditional dance and courtly conversation in the hopes of emerging as kimono-clad, full-fledged denizens of geisha society. Ironically, many 21st-century aspirants discover these training programs through the internet—and this clash between the classical and the cutting-edge elements of Japanese society is a prime example of a topic that could have benefited from a more structured documentation. Other potentially tantalizing topics—such as the months of labor by multiple craftsmen required to properly outfit each and every geiko—are introduced briefly between overlong excerpts from public performances and private banquets.

As alluring as the subjects are, in Hannari, they’re all dressed up (in kimonos) with no place in particular to go.

Distributor: Sakura Productions USA
Narrator: Maxwell Caulfield
Director/Producer: Miyuki Sohara
Screenwriters: Kentaro Kajino and Miyuki Sohara
Genre: Documentary; English- and Japanese-language, subtitled
Rating: Unrated
Running time: 94 min.
Release date: June 26 LA