Dolls


1h 53m 2002

Brief Synopsis

Three stories of undying love, as told by Bunraku Dolls (Japanese traditional puppets)... Matsumoto and Sawako were once a happy couple, but the pressures of meddling parents and success forces them to make a tragic choice. Hiro is an aging yakuza boss. Thirty years ago, he was a poor factory worke

Film Details

Also Known As
Marionette
MPAA Rating
Genre
Drama
Foreign
Release Date
2002
Production Company
Bandai Visual Company; Celluloid Dreams; Curzon Artificial Eye; Office Kitano
Distribution Company
Palm Pictures; Ad Vitam Distribution; CinTart; Eye International; Frenetic Films; Golden Scene; Mikado Film; Office Kitano; Rapid Eye Movies; Shochiku Company, Ltd.

Technical Specs

Duration
1h 53m

Synopsis

Three stories of undying love, as told by Bunraku Dolls (Japanese traditional puppets)... Matsumoto and Sawako were once a happy couple, but the pressures of meddling parents and success forces them to make a tragic choice. Hiro is an aging yakuza boss. Thirty years ago, he was a poor factory worker who abandoned his loving girlfriend for his dreams of making it big. Now, he is drawn back to the park where they used to meet. Haruna spends a lot of time looking at the sea, her beautiful face now covered in bandages. Not long ago, she was a successful pop star who lived in a world of TV shows and autograph sessions. Her most devoted fan, Nukui, plans to prove it.

Film Details

Also Known As
Marionette
MPAA Rating
Genre
Drama
Foreign
Release Date
2002
Production Company
Bandai Visual Company; Celluloid Dreams; Curzon Artificial Eye; Office Kitano
Distribution Company
Palm Pictures; Ad Vitam Distribution; CinTart; Eye International; Frenetic Films; Golden Scene; Mikado Film; Office Kitano; Rapid Eye Movies; Shochiku Company, Ltd.

Technical Specs

Duration
1h 53m

Articles

Dolls on DVD


A notoriously difficult construct to pull off (indeed, many argue that no film has been completely successful yet), the anthology format in cinema has stymied directors all the way from Akira Kurosawa to Woody Allen. For his own idiosyncratic variation, Takeshi Kitano offers the rapturously beautiful and strangely erratic Dolls, which combines the various dramatic threads found in past films like Fireworks and Kikujiro, all connected by the recurring motif of puppets from Japanese bunraku productions.

First we meet troubled lovers Matsumoto (Hidetoshi Nishijima) and Sawako (Miho Kanno) whose split sends the latter into a suicidal tailspin, winding up in an asylum. When Matsumoto finally comes to his senses on the eve of his wedding to another woman and decides to spring her from her prison, they embark on a strange journey which finds them bound by more than mere love. The theme of love and abandonment continues when aging mob boss Hiro (Tatsuya Mihashi) returns to the park bench where he abandoned his lady love fifty years ago - only to find her still there waiting for him. Finally, pop singer Haruna (Kyoko Fukada) is injured and horribly disfigured in a car accident at a construction site being navigated by Nukui (Tsutomu Takeshige), who happens to be an obsessed fan. When Haruna goes into seclusion, her number one admirer takes drastic measures to get her back into his life.

Slow, studied, and aesthetically overwhelming, Dolls easily equals and sometimes even outdoes the director's visual achievements in his more famous crime-oriented films. The lack of overt, explosive violence is hardly a problem as he has always showed a strong mastery of dramatic momentum, though the often glacial pacing may send neophytes running in confusion. It's a thoroughly Japanese film from start to finish, with the theatrical/doll analogies carrying over to the sometimes mannered, stylized performances and often surreal explosions of color (with red a particular favorite).

A problematic title on DVD, Dolls has suffered from inconsistent and often strangely cropped transfers in its various incarnations from one country to the next. Fortunately Palm's edition is one of the better attempts; apart from some mild compression glitches, it's a very attractive presentation and seems correctly framed. The nicely restrained but imaginative 5.1 surround mix serves the film quite well, too.

For some reason Palm's packaging drastically undersells the extra value on its release; along with containing the promised theatrical trailer, the DVD contains other Japanese cinema promotional trailers and, more usefully, four video interviews. Kitano appears in the first, discussing the experiences which inspired this particular film and why he opted for an anthology format instead of one single narrative. Then Kanno appears for a brief, 3-minute chat about working with Kitano, and her co-star Nishijima then takes his turn praising his director. Finally costume designer Yohji Yamamoto, a regular Kitano collaborator, talks about the look of the film and various experiences over the years working with the distinctive filmmaker. Though perhaps not the best introduction to Kitano's style, this is certainly a worthwhile purchase and even a worthy upgrade for anyone who picked up some of the earlier import editions.

For more information about Dolls, visit Palm Pictures. To order Dolls, go to TCM Shopping.

by Nathaniel Thompson
Dolls On Dvd

Dolls on DVD

A notoriously difficult construct to pull off (indeed, many argue that no film has been completely successful yet), the anthology format in cinema has stymied directors all the way from Akira Kurosawa to Woody Allen. For his own idiosyncratic variation, Takeshi Kitano offers the rapturously beautiful and strangely erratic Dolls, which combines the various dramatic threads found in past films like Fireworks and Kikujiro, all connected by the recurring motif of puppets from Japanese bunraku productions. First we meet troubled lovers Matsumoto (Hidetoshi Nishijima) and Sawako (Miho Kanno) whose split sends the latter into a suicidal tailspin, winding up in an asylum. When Matsumoto finally comes to his senses on the eve of his wedding to another woman and decides to spring her from her prison, they embark on a strange journey which finds them bound by more than mere love. The theme of love and abandonment continues when aging mob boss Hiro (Tatsuya Mihashi) returns to the park bench where he abandoned his lady love fifty years ago - only to find her still there waiting for him. Finally, pop singer Haruna (Kyoko Fukada) is injured and horribly disfigured in a car accident at a construction site being navigated by Nukui (Tsutomu Takeshige), who happens to be an obsessed fan. When Haruna goes into seclusion, her number one admirer takes drastic measures to get her back into his life. Slow, studied, and aesthetically overwhelming, Dolls easily equals and sometimes even outdoes the director's visual achievements in his more famous crime-oriented films. The lack of overt, explosive violence is hardly a problem as he has always showed a strong mastery of dramatic momentum, though the often glacial pacing may send neophytes running in confusion. It's a thoroughly Japanese film from start to finish, with the theatrical/doll analogies carrying over to the sometimes mannered, stylized performances and often surreal explosions of color (with red a particular favorite). A problematic title on DVD, Dolls has suffered from inconsistent and often strangely cropped transfers in its various incarnations from one country to the next. Fortunately Palm's edition is one of the better attempts; apart from some mild compression glitches, it's a very attractive presentation and seems correctly framed. The nicely restrained but imaginative 5.1 surround mix serves the film quite well, too. For some reason Palm's packaging drastically undersells the extra value on its release; along with containing the promised theatrical trailer, the DVD contains other Japanese cinema promotional trailers and, more usefully, four video interviews. Kitano appears in the first, discussing the experiences which inspired this particular film and why he opted for an anthology format instead of one single narrative. Then Kanno appears for a brief, 3-minute chat about working with Kitano, and her co-star Nishijima then takes his turn praising his director. Finally costume designer Yohji Yamamoto, a regular Kitano collaborator, talks about the look of the film and various experiences over the years working with the distinctive filmmaker. Though perhaps not the best introduction to Kitano's style, this is certainly a worthwhile purchase and even a worthy upgrade for anyone who picked up some of the earlier import editions. For more information about Dolls, visit Palm Pictures. To order Dolls, go to TCM Shopping. by Nathaniel Thompson

Quotes

Trivia

Miscellaneous Notes

Released in United States 2002

Released in United States January 21, 2005

Released in United States November 2003

Released in United States on Video March 8, 2005

Released in United States September 2002

Released in United States Winter December 10, 2004

Shown at Toronto International Film Festival September 5-14, 2002.

Shown at Venice International Film Festival (in competition) August 29 - September 8, 2002.

Released in United States 2002 (Shown at Venice International Film Festival (in competition) August 29 - September 8, 2002.)

Released in United States January 21, 2005 (Los Angeles)

Released in United States on Video March 8, 2005

Released in United States September 2002 (Shown at Toronto International Film Festival September 5-14, 2002.)

Released in United States November 2003 (Shown at AFI/Los Angeles International Film Festival (Asian New Classics) November 6-16, 2003.)

Released in United States Winter December 10, 2004