Dolls

Told through a mixture of old Japanese culture and contemporary film- making, the three separate love stories overlap and interweave cleverly but subtly, too.

Without any sullying from saccharine sweetness or melancholy, all three tales strain the credibility of what we would normally think a person's love for another would go to. But, that's the beauty - this is a dream- felt movie, exaggerating hardship and our emotions to emphasise that extraordinary bond that love can be.

It's all interconnected by symbolisms and the extraordinary cinematography of Katsumi Yanagijima has us shimmering and floating in rose gardens, amongst autumnal leaves and under cherry-tree blossom. It is here that we take breath and sigh, after the often difficult human journeys we've just seen the characters go through. We cannot help but feel that we have journeyed with them - and perhaps suffered too.

To me, it's the first story of the jilted bride who's rejection sends her insane and the subsequent redemption and dedication from her boyfriend to the extent that they become homeless that it the most moving. Their story united the other two stories and adds symbolism at the end. The tale of the ageing Yakuza who finally feels that he needs more than his violent lifestyle to exist as a human being and the fanaticism for a young pop singer also paint vivid pictures on Japan's social and cultural agenda.

It did remind me of south Korea's 'Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter...' in that often idyllic and contemplative gestures and activities are interspersed with morally questioning random acts that leave cavities in people's lives and the atonement needed to rectify them; or at least to try to, in a soul-satisfying way.

I was not aware that beauty like this existed in the world. In _Dolls_, director/writer Kitano draws us into a classical myth set in contemporary Japanese society. You may recognize elements borrowed from traditional legends (Oedipus, Arabian Nights, etc); however the central theme is, as far as I know, an original. It is the story of the "leashed beggars" who are introduced in the beginning, and whose story unfolds in a challenging, non-linear way as the film progresses.

I call it "challenging", because the viewer is compelled to pay attention to every detail in order to realize the plot and sublime theme. In that respect, it is much like _Citizen Kane_, told in fragments which the viewer must assemble and interpret. The underlying philosophy is yet more elusive and will have you debating for days afterward.

To me, what made this film superior to _Citizen Kane_ (through no fault of Orson Welles!) is the extreme use of colors and vivid scenery. The stunning backgrounds become a silent character in the movie, filling in for the sparse dialogue and periodic silence. As we evolve through Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter, the saying comes to mind "a picture is worth a thousand words". If this review makes sense to you, then you will not be disappointed!

Praising or dismissing "Dolls" as pure aesthetics is just a banal way of labeling something that is beautiful which does not lend itself to immediate understanding. Just because any number of the meanings of the film don't jump out and bite the viewer is no reason to dismiss it as only aesthetically pleasing. We've got plenty of nature scenes and people starring blankly into space in cinema. They are not all masterpieces and "Dolls" would not be even half decent if that's all it was. If you feel the need to like this movie, then a better expression of this feeling is need than saying, "It's purdy."

As for myself I found there we several themes running through the film that merit investigation. First of all, the idea of hierarchy in relationships. In all the relationship there was a clearly dominant partner (yakuza, pop-star, groom) and a clear subservient partner (lady on bench, fan, discarder girlfriend). At the beginning of the film their supremacy is flaunted. They come and go as they please and treat the other member of the relationship flippantly and with little regard. They believe themselves to be the more powerful person in the relationship and think they are not as dependent on the so-called weaker member as the weaker member is on them. So times passes, some strange occurrences take place and whom do these people come back to? Who are the most important people in their lives? Those weaker partners. In the end, they and we realize that the stronger or more assertive member in a relationship is just as dependent on the weaker member as the weaker is on the strong. In this context they are seen as both playing roles essential to the relationship, the fact that one is more forceful than the other does not undermine the importance of the less assertive person¡¦s role. Of course this is not to be taken literally and applied to all relationships but it is a comment on or investigation of the idea of stronger and weaker partners in a relationship. The ultimate conclusion is a deconstruction of the hierarchy that shows the partners to be equal or at least codependent.

The next question is: "Why were all of these relationships unsuccessful?" My ascertation is that this plays into the strict nature of Japanese culture and Kitano's own morose sense of destiny, seen most vividly in "Sonatine". All the male characters make major life mistakes in the film. They attempt to rectify them by seeking comfort in the person they have wronged, or in the case of the blind man in the person with the closest connection. Why are they not allowed to start again? Why do they all fail? So many films are about starting over, that it's never too late to turn over a new leaf, old dogs can learn new tricks etc, etc. While I'm quite glad this is not the story of a spunky middle-aged former soccer mom who finds true love the second time around, I don't see the point in the absolute negation of the power of reconciliation. You'll have to ask Kitano about all that. I'm no Japanese cultural expert, though I have been there, but this seems to fall in line with the rather strict and unforgiving personality of Japanese society. If you've made a major mistake you have to accept it and take all the consequences willingly and bow to whatever your fate may be in response to those consequences. Kitano seems to embrace this idea of not being able to escape destiny in many films, I already mentioned "Sonatine" as a particularly poignant example of this.

I still think the ¡§Hanabai¡¨ is Kitano¡¦s best work, although watching a bunch of psychotic Japanese people run into walls and fall flailing into moats on Takeshi¡¦s Castle is good too. Dolls is interesting, worth a look and still better than 99% of films out there.

3 stories of doomed relation ships. all jumbled together.

I just got done watching this movie. Yes it's slow. Yes there isn't a lot of dialogue. But this movie is brilliant. The visuals, the style, the symbolism, the utter sadness..

This isn't a movie for people who want action. or people who want dialogue. Visuals people, READ the visuals. The story is told through images.

It's beautiful. But very depressing.

HIGHLY recommended.

In "Dolls" Takeshi Kitano moves away from his peculiar ultra violent cinema and gives us his most poetic and introspective movie. He resorts to the crossing-stories structure to tell us three tales about love and regret, about doing anything for the person you love (and I mean ANYTHING). Calm, almost without dialogs, full of symbols and metaphors, every shot looks like a postcard. The minimalistic soundtrack and the amazing photography (wich stands out every single colour on the screen) catch you as you follow the tragedies that hide in every one of the stories. Kitano expands his horizons and demonstrates that he's a hell of a talent no matter what the genre is.

PS: not recommended for the impatient.

My rate: 8/10