Jackson Booth-Millard I had heard about this Japanese, Chinese and English film a few times, even before I found out it was once listed in the book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, so I definitely had to watch it, directed by Peter Greenaway (The Draughtsman's Contract, Drowning by Numbers; The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover). Basically Nagiko (Vivian Wu) is a beautiful Japanese born fashion model, she formerly lived in Kyoto, her father (Ken Ogata) was a professional calligrapher and struggling writer, as a young woman he painted characters on her face on her birthdays, and her aunt (Hideko Yoshida) often read to her from "The Pillow Book", the diary of a 10th century lady-in-waiting. Nagiko now lives in Hong Kong, she is obsessed with books, papers and writing, her father stopped painting on her when she turned 18, this birthday ritual was indescribably tender and erotic, Nagiko's sexual desire is to have writing painted on her naked body, so she begins making love to calligraphers willing to write on her naked body. Nagiko moves from one to the other searching for the one who will finally satisfy her, but she has no luck, until she meets Jerome (Ewan McGregor), a British translator, who introduces her to the idea of not only writing on her own body, but using his body to write her stories upon his body. When Nagiko finishes, she takes the naked Jerome to her father's publisher (Yoshi Oida), who is aroused by the Englishman, they eventually become lovers. Nagiko meanwhile starts creating her own Pillow Book, Book 1: The Book of The Agenda is started on Jerome, Book 2: The Book of The Innocent and Book 3: The Book of the Idiot is written on two Swedish students, Book 4: The Book of Impotence/Old Age goes on the body of an old man, and Book 5: The Book of the Exhibitionist is delivered by a boorish, fat, hyperactive American (Tom Kane). However Nagiko is devastated when she finds out about Jerome and the publisher, ensuing jealousy turns into tragedy, Jerome is so distraught thinking he has lost Nagiko, and he kills himself. Nagiko is devastated by Jerome's, and has become pregnant with his child, she realises how much she truly loved him, but continues her writing, completing Book 6: The Book of the Lovers on Jerome's dead body. Book 7: The Book of The Seducer is written on a male messenger, Book 8: The Book of Youth is delivered as a series of photographs, a young Buddhist monk bears Book 9: The Book of Secrets, another messenger has Book 10: The Book of Silence written on his tongue, a young wrestler has Book 11: The Book of The Betrayed on his body, another messenger quickly passes with Book 12: The Book of False Starts, and finally Book 13: The Book of the Dead is on the body of a Sumo wrestler. In the end Nagiko is able to let life go on and reminisce her time with Jerome, she has given birth to his child, she is seen writing on her child's face, and quoting from her own Pillow Book, her parfait mélange (perfect blend). Also starring Judy Ongg as The Mother, Ken Mitsuishi as The Husband, Yutaka Honda as Hoki, Barbara Lott as Jerome's Mother and Lynne Langdon Lynne as Jerome's Sister. Wu gives a wonderful performance as the Japanese beauty with a fetish for writing on flesh, and McGregor as one of her many lovers is most memorable, especially as he is not shy getting all his clothes off. What makes the film really interesting is not just the unusual sexual conquest and all the male and female nudity, but the split-screen motifs throughout, it really makes you imagine your flicking through the pages of a book, Greenaway is renowned for making weird films, this stands out as one of the most brilliantly inventive, a great drama. Very good!

Andres Salama Ewan McGregor, playing an English translator in Hong Kong, has a love affair with a Japanese woman with a very curious fetish: writing in fine Japanese calligraphy the body of her lovers. Sex and literature can be a good combination, but not if the chef is Peter Greenaway (The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover). The movie is very silly, but is sort of watchable (the obvious beauty of Vivian Wu, who plays the Japanese lover and appears naked several times - as does McGregor - certainly helps). This was the last film of Greenaway to have some sort of commercial impact. After that, he made the awful 8 1/2 Women and then retreated to the art world (where he probably feels more comfortable).

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.

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)