If it is all a little like an arty novelette, there's no doubt it is a feast for the eye.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Aug 29, 2008

Ninagawa, like Sophia Coppola in Marie Antoinette, brings to a traditional story a keen compositional flair and a love of bright colours, as well as deploying a lively, jazzy soundtrack.

| Aug 29, 2008

As the story progresses, it settles into something more traditionally sorrowful, but not before it has delivered a blast of energy.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Aug 29, 2008

The pop star Anna Tsuchiya is duly fetching as the young upstart, but not fetching enough to prop up a cast-iron potboiler.

| Original Score: 1/5 | Aug 29, 2008

The staging is sumptuous but the imagery is static and the anachronistic score is a major irritant.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Aug 29, 2008