As I noted in my review, I was actually surprised by its emotional reserve, especially when compared to a few other Mizoguchi films I've seen. By the numbers? Perhaps. At this point, I slightly prefer A Geisha to two of his 50's efforts: The Lady of Musashino, which also deals with the notions of tradition and modernity and at the least is, as they say, "worth watching," and, yes, Chikamatsu monogatari, whose happenstance-laden narrative felt a tad on the manipalative side, though overall it's a good, solid piece of work. But I'm not done with it, and I hope the same applies to you when it comes to A Geisha. On the other hand, after a second viewing of Naruse's Flowing, which I referenced earlier, I now consider it as one of his honest-to-God masterpieces.