Mika Ninagawa is one of the most famous photographers in Japan today. Her photographs, such as "Acid Bloom" (2004) above, are highly stylized and distinguishable with their vibrant colors, vivid contrast, and close perspective. She presents women, goldfish, flowers, and landscapes in a way that highlights their best features and accentuates their beauty to the extreme. Her most popular works are portraits of young women surrounded by lush flowers and colorful backgrounds, which not only emphasize their beauty but also their femininity and mystique.
Her style is never more obvious than in her first feature film, Sakuran (2006), which was originally based on a popular comic by Moyoco Anno.
The movie follows the geisha, Kiyoha, in Edo era Japan as she falls into a taboo love affair with a merchant and her climb to be to become the most notorious "Oiran", or reigning geisha.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAmnZqbh9mA
The trailer opens with a stream of images with cherry blossoms and gold fish, most of which are in red. The color red is in nearly every scene throughout the movie, symbolizing love, passion, lust, and representing the rich, hedonistic culture in 18th century Edo. The geishas often have painting of birds, flowers, fish, and landscapes in the background, and the repetition of these images give the highly dense scenes a sense of unity and balance. Every scene is decorated with details of peonies, goldfish, silk kimonos, and reds, which makes them a piece of art by itself. Every character adorns a specific color; the main character always wearing red kimono offset with blacks. Reference to the characters` pasts are all in grey and any scene in which the character feels an intense emotion is followed by photos of cherry blossoms in full bloom. The emphasis through color and repetition not only balances and unifies the movie, but also builds on the emotions felt throughout the movie.
"Sakuran" is a lush, gorgeous, hedonistic movie that is candy to the eyes.
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