Release Date: 06/05/2009
Audio tracks: Dolby 5.1, Dolby 2.0
Languages: Japanese
Genre: Comedy
Subtitles: English subtitles
Runtime: 116.0 mins

Most of us have some sort of idea of what is involved in becoming a Geisha – whether it’s thanks to the infamous book by Arthur Golden, or movies that aren’t completely clued in.

The story behind “Maiko Haaaan!!!” has us following Kimihiko Onizuka (played by Sadawo Abe) who is an employee for a noodle company in Tokyo. When he was still in school, his class took a trip to Kyoto. When they were given free-time, he got himself lost in the Geisha district. Crying and confused, a Maiko (an apprentice Geisha) stopped to help him by giving him directions to the train station. This experience sparked his love for Maiko.

From then on he’d been obsessed with Maiko – he even created his own website dedicated to posting pictures of Maiko. And if that wasn’t bad enough, he’s dating his girlfriend Fujiko (played by Kou Shibasaki) under the presumption she’s from Kyoto because she speaks that dialect. Like I said – obsessed!

All of a sudden, Kimihiko is being transferred to the Kyoto factory of his noodle company. He packs his things and has a fight with Fujiko (where it’s revealed she’s not from Kyoto) and breaks up with her. He thinks he’s all set to fulfil his dreams of visiting Geisha houses and playing strip baseball with them – but there are rules, and the big one standing in the way is “No First-timers Allowed”.

Thinking he’s lucked out, he sits back at his company office looking through his computer at the photos of his beloved Maiko. Then he notices a picture of a man whom he recognises as the owner of the noodle company. Kimihiko now decides on going to the owner for help in getting into the Geisha houses. Eventually the owner relents, saying that for him to introduce Kimihiko into the Geisha circuit he must first come up with an idea to generate record sales for the company.

He comes up with an idea that is wildly successful – and thus it gets him into the world of Geisha. Then he meets his internet rival face-to-face (who has been annoying Kimihiko with his know-it-all attitude towards Maiko, and trolling Kimihiko’s Maiko site) who turns out to be a high-profile baseball player named Kiichiro Naito (played by Shinichi Tsutsumi). This ignites Kimihiko’s obsession further by sparking new money-making ideas, as he has learned that for him to out-do Kiichiro he must have a lot of money to do so.

Meanwhile, Fujiko still cannot get over her separation from Kimihiko. As the saying goes, “if you can’t beat them, join them” and that is what she does – she goes to Kyoto and joins a Geisha house to train as a Maiko!

Will Kimihiko finally beat Kiichiro? Can Fujiko really be a Maiko and win Kimihiko back? I won’t tell you that, but what I will tell you is that you should watch this movie!

Special features? Don’t mind if I do!:

• Making of “Maiko Haaaan!!!” – Behind the scenes look of the making of the movie, as well as premiere days and interviews.
• Theatrical Trailer – Japanese trailer for the movie.
• Stills gallery – 15 stills from the movie.
• Trailers for other Eastern Eye releases.

“Maiko Haaaan!!!” had me laughing a lot and drooling over beautiful kimonos throughout the whole film. It is a bit vulgar for younger audiences and does contain a moment or two where some colourful language is used, so it’s mainly for more adult audiences. Apart from that, if you are drawn to Japan and love the Geisha theme then by all means watch it!

(c) 2007 Maiko Haaaan!!! Film Partners

US Readers: You can purchase a copy from our Rightstuf store, or visit our Amazon store instead.

Popularity: 1% [?]