The Pillow Book

1997
The Pillow Book
6.5| 2h6m| NC-17| en| More Info
Released: 06 June 1997 Released
Producted By: Kasander & Wigman Productions
Country: United Kingdom
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
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Synopsis

A woman with a body writing fetish seeks to find a combined lover and calligrapher.

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Kasander & Wigman Productions

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Reviews

kurosawakira I'm in the middle of revisiting the films that laid the foundation for my love for cinema. That includes lots of Kurosawa, basically, and Greenaway. My interest in the latter has waned dramatically in the last six or seven years, so it's a bit like time travel then, to see an old friend with whom you haven't been in contact in years but who was always close to you and you got along with splendidly.I'm starting this personal revival with the film that I have always loved best, the extravagance that is "The Pillow Book". In some ways it's also appropriate as a starting point since it's the last Greenaway film that I've thoroughly enjoyed.Indeed, what the later Greenaeay films have in abundance in visual mastery they lack in the wonderful humour that seeps through his work in the 70s and 80s. That certain playfulness is still here. This wonderful sense of humour Greenaway has he's able to show visually, and that might just be his greatest strength. And he's a list maker, of course. What better match then than to film one of the most beautiful personally poetic lists there is, Sei Shōnagon's "Pillow Book"? The result is mindbogglingly sumptuous, and after 17 years since its release we are still to discover all its riches.What makes this a watershed of sorts is also Sacha Vierny. He did do " 8 1/2 Women" (1999) with Greenaway, but this film is the last exploration of the visual nesting of images through complex editing, and the apex of that art. Greenaway would return to it in "The Tulse Luper Suitcases" (2003-4), but it achieves its full force here.Did I already say Ewan McGregor is amazing? In some ways this is the perfect film to see with "Moulin Rouge!" (2001), where McGregor's character is similarly drunk on a culture foreign to him, embodied in a woman he desires.
billcr12 The pillow book is 1,000 year old Asian journal of ancient philosophical writings. A six year old girl is read to by her mother from the pillow book and is told by her father to begin a diary of her own. Nagiko(Vivian Wu) is constantly having calligraphy done in ink, first on her face, then on her body. She is obsessed with having artists write on her skin and she draws her feelings on others.Peter Greenaway's use of picture in picture images is a distracting device and the plot is fairly simplistic with Nagiko's search for partners willing to use her body as a canvas, even to the point of having the "Our Father" drawn onto her arm, chest and stomach; this is a very off-beat tale which features frequent nudity, both male and female. Greenaway's eye for images is sharp but the film is repetitive and needed to be shortened by at least 15 or 20 minutes. Vivian Wu is beautiful as Nagiko, the lead character and Ewan McGregor is always good.
Gordon-11 This film is about a Japanese woman who has an obsession with calligraphy on skin.The plot is absolutely bizarre. I fail to see any "sensual" or "erotic" undertones. The plot turns an ancient art form into a fetishistic pornography. In addition, the scenes that are filmed in Hong Kong are certainly portraying bad parts of Hong Kong, such as the airport in the middle of the city, poor living conditions and noise pollution. Throughout the whole film, I keep thinking that "The Pillow Book" is insulting the Japanese culture and the Hong Kong environment."The Pillow Book" is a perverted, yet boring film. Seriously stay away from it.
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.