[Duke]

My girlfriend's wonderfully useful memory for books and movies told me that the book was "good," she liked the movie when we saw it a couple days ago, but she couldn't tell me if they were similar at all.

Remember that it's a work of fiction, and they could easily be 2 different interpretations of the material. I wouldn't use the book as a reference, since there's at least one point where they differ.

I liked the movie. They did a passable job faking Japanese accents (they're all Chinese actresses), Ziyi Zhang is really good looking, and Gong Li plays a good bitch. I'm not a Michelle Yeoh fan, but I didn't hate her at all.

There's a sumo scene, and at least one of the guys is an actual sumo wrestler (and both probably are).

Reviewers are hating it (30% on rottentomatoes), but reading the reviews said to me that a lot of the reviewers aren't qualified to review the film. One tard tried to compare it to Gone with the Wind.

~D