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Summary: captivating, unique movie
Review: I am a 14-year-old teenage girl. I just watched this movie last night on HBO. I think P.G. is simply one of the best directors out there. The movie, 'The Pillow Book' has a plot that is great and has a good cast. The movie is mainly about an Asian woman who gets obsessed with body painting and must use flesh to put her art and writings on. I would like to tell more, but I think you should see the movie. I admit that it is very, very erotic and sensual, but used tastefully and artfully.
Rating: 
Summary: Dizzy DVD Version
Review: This DVD is an atrocity. I saw the dreaded warning to late, "This movie, while filmed in multi-aspect ratios, has been re-formatted to fit your T.V." With most hollywood flicks this doesn't matter, but for anyone who has seen this film in the theater watching this cropped version is like seeing loved ones gunned down in cold blood. I can only hope that there will be a special edition DVD that will include the entire film.
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Summary: Just plain embarassing to watch.
Review: Where "The Cook, The Thief, His Wife, Her Lover" was subtle, pregant with potential, and delicate, this film is hamfisted, clumsy, and foolish. As embarassing as it is to watch this non-erotic disasterpiece of a movie, it must have been mortifying to have to appear in it. I suppose if you're a Greenaway addict you might want it for completeness, but you might instead consider doing something more enjoyable, such as picking lint out of your belly button. On second thought, that may be what Greenaway was doing when he made this film.
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Summary: Magnificent DVD
Review: A real masterpiece on a superb DVD version. The image is great, the sound is just amazing, and the trailer included is astonishing. GET IT!
Rating: 
Summary: beautifully shot
Review: Fast forward to the part where she meets Ewan Mcgregor and stop it after he exits the film. Then you'll have an interesting and beautifully looking short film.
Rating:
Summary: Absolute Trash
Review: Tortuous to watch - like a two hour long Chanel No. 5 commercial. Good only for men with Asian fetishes.
Rating: 
Summary: Very different
Review: Beautiful, a new style of art in a way...also very bizarre. Most notable for full frontal nudity of Ewan McGregor.
Rating: 
Summary: A good movie, but...
Review: ...two flaws that seriously detracted from my enjoyment of this otherwise fine film:1. Vivan Wu is simply not believable as a Japanese woman. Her speech patterns, gestures, mannerisms, appearance, and attire are all wrong. She makes an excellent effort, but fails to convince. 2. Two of the "chapters" are mixed up - i.e., the numbers as written on the bodies of the characters do not match the captions that appear on the screen. Hello? Continuity?
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Summary: Challenging Greenaway film (barely) makes it to DVD
Review: Peter Greenaway is an extremely erudite and sophisticated (some say pretentious) artist. Unfortunately for the medium, he's nearly the only active, high-profile filmmaker whose work continues to push back the accepted boundaries of film. This film is quite different in many stylistic ways from prior Greenaway films, although it is structurally similar to all his films. Just as The Baby of Macon pairs with The Cook, The Theif, His Wife and Her Lover in their stagey motifs, Pillow Book pairs with Propero's Books not only in their obsession with writing, but with the use of innovative image composition techniques. It is these latter traits that make them two of the most important films of the last twenty years. Like all Greenaway films, they appeal only to audiences who are ready to accept a deeply idiosyncratic set of conventions as opposed to the usual Hollywood fare (drivel). (This is a roundabout way of saying that most Americans will not really enjoy this movie -- or any other Greenaway, or Fellini, or Bergman movie, or for that matter, any serious work of art -- because they "just want to be entertained".) I was lucky to see this film in the theater prior to acquiring the DVD. Those who weren't as lucky won't know what they missed. The picture on the DVD is savagely cropped. (It is NOT a pan-and-scan; it is simply cropped. Twelve to fifteen percent of the original film image is missing on each side of the video image.) The consequence of the cropping is that the elaborate compositions of overlapping digital images is wrecked, and many of the images look rather weird. On the other hand, the transfer is acceptable, and the film is watchable; because this is not mainstream cinema, we're lucky to have it on video at all! Even in its compromised form, this film is worth a hundred immaculately produced ephemeral Hollywood films. I strongly recommend planning on repeat viewings with a copy of the screenplay (all Greenaway screenplays are in-print): this work invites extended scrutiny and discussion.
Rating:
Summary: this movie is an extrodinary peace of art.
Review: This movie is a deffinant risk taker, and explores life 0n a whole new level!
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