NekoHomey Purely Joyful Movie!

UnowPriceless hyped garbage

TaryBiggBall It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

Kirandeep Yoder The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

gavin6942 As a young girl in Japan, Nagiko's father paints characters on her face, and her aunt reads to her from "The Pillow Book", the diary of a 10th-century lady-in-waiting. Nagiko grows up, obsessed with books, papers, and writing on bodies, and her sexual odyssey (and the creation of her own Pillow Book) is a "parfait mélange" of classical Japanese, modern Chinese, and Western film images.I had no idea what to expect from this film, as it does not seem to be fairly well known, and a title like "Pillow Book" does not give a clear indication. What we have is pure art, captured on film. The calligraphy is gorgeous, even if I am unable to read it. And just the way the film is shot.What will stand out for many people is the large amount of male nudity. Ewan McGregor is naked for quite a bit of the film, and he is not alone (though he is the only "name" actor). This was a brave, bold decision, although it likely caused the film to be released in fewer theaters than it should have been.

trombley-2 After the completion of Prospero's Books in 1991, Greenaway was quoted in an article on IMDb as saying: "I'm pretty certain Michael and I will never ever work together again." After making a few films with various composers after his breakup with Nyman, Greenaway made a major attempt at creating a sound track from existing music, and the outstanding results are the music of The Pillow Book. Chosen with great care, the music is a document to his outstanding sense of taste, and reflects a very high level of musical awareness. In each scene, the music supports the drama to the fullest: observe the corny pop song that recalls Nagiko's parents early years; or the silly socialist workers song, lacking in all things sophisticated; or the extremely beautiful French love song that is heard when the lovers are together; or the violent avant-garde string quartet music used first for the fire scene, and later when Jerome commits suicide. Greenway's choice of soundtrack here is every bit as outstanding as that of Stanly Kubrick, which reflects the finest taste of any 20th-century director. (Greenway's choice of music here is as keen as Kubrick's choice of music in Eyes Wide Shut, etc.). As such, The Pillow Book does not have the tight neo-classic aura that we find in Greenaways films with music by Nyman. It is actually quite different, and we miss the unique relationship the two presented in so many masterworks. Never-the-less, what Greenaway has come up with here is excellent in its own way, and although it has taken the director in a new direction, it is still of a very high quality.

siderite First of all, this is an art movie. It's so artistic, that it is all about crazy artists and only the original writer knows what it is about. While the visuals are interesting, as well as the chosen soundtrack, they probably appeal only to ..you guessed it, artistic people.The film has it all: fetish, emotionally unstable girl confusing sex with art, sports maniac husband abusing wife, Ewan McGregor naked, Vivian Wu naked (although I found her highly unattractive), pathetic geeks drooling over her, etc. It carefully avoided physical violence, though I think it could have made the film less boring.I didn't know who made the film, I just got it for Ewan McGregor. Then I found out that the director also did The Cook the Thief His Wife & Her Lover which was also a piece of arty trash. Maybe I am too dumb to realize when something really deep is going on in a movie, but while I am, I will mark this kind of "look at me, I am the coolest director ever, only I can understand my movies" stupidity very very low.

noralee I had to push through the crowds on the sidewalk coming in and out of "Batman & Robin" to get to be one of four people in the theater to see "Pillow Book" - and two left during the movie. This was my first Peter Greenaway movie and OK so I went to see ALL of Ewan Macgregor but it had other rewards.It's in three parts: the first is the complicated set-up to the story line. The projectionist screwed up the first five minutes so it took awhile to figure out what was going on. Turns out Greenaway is primarily a visual artist; nice to see the cinematic techniques from the 1964/5 World's Fair finally being turned into an artistic purpose (other than the Woodstock movie). A theme is given at the end of the first third, roughly "There are 2 pleasures in life: those of the flesh and those of literature." And this combines them. However, as a visual artist he shrugs at the different definitions of "writing" - it's immaterial to him whether one means an author, a translator or a calligrapher, tho he scorns a "scribbler". The second part is Plot Central and Ewen is more insouciant and spirited than any other character to give the story life (though I had to laugh at the idea that he was a Yiddish translator), certainly more than the other living canvases (including the lead actress who was chosen less for her one-note acting than her willingness to be frequently nude one suspects). Also the nude bodies were chosen to be good calligraphic canvases and not to be distractingly erotic or well-toned so do just become background (only a British director would do that).The third part is the gripper - turning the movie into Mythic Story and raising it several notches of visual images and themes. What was more disturbing, however, is Greenaway buying into the Mysterious Orient. I do think we're hundreds of years overdue to stop this stereotype already. Was Japanese then chosen for the beauty of the calligraphy - or just so that Western audiences wouldn't be distracted by reading the words instead of soaking in images? Therefore is the movie a different experience for someone who can actually read the lettering? Let alone a non-English, non-Japanese reading audience. There's some bias intrinsic there. Why not use Latin? Arabic? Not everything is subtitled as the subtitle experience is part of the visual theme, such as when the gorgeous French song done over the love scene is only subtitled in French (I couldn't catch the credits that whisked by at the end). A nice visual pun near the end compared so many gangster movies where we see the neatly dressed Mafioso etc. in expensive suits putting on a pinkie ring, etc., and here the danger is clearly when the Yakuza-type takes off his clothes.(originally written 6/20/1997)