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Dolls Details

2002 Certificate 12
  • Rated:
  • 60
  • from 2526 members

DOLLS comprises three touching stories of true love, directed by Takeshi Kitano. The first installment tells the story of a career-driven man who gives up his girlfriend in favour of his job. She attempts suicide and he returns to her, and they roam the country together in search of whatever it is they have lost. The second .. Read more

Starring Miho Kanno, Hidetoshi Nishijima, Tatsuya Mihashi
Director 'Beat' Takeshi Kitano
Genres Drama, World Cinema

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Dolls

DOLLS comprises three touching stories of true love, directed by Takeshi Kitano. The first installment tells the story of a career-driven man who gives up his girlfriend in favour of his job. She attempts suicide and he returns to her, and they roam the country together in search of whatever it is they have lost. The second story also concerns abandonment in favour of success. The man in question returns to the park where they met 30 years later. The last tale in the trilogy is of a disfigured former pop star, reclusive due to her disability, who is visited by her greatest fan, eager to show the extent to which he loves her.

Starring Miho Kanno, Hidetoshi Nishijima, Tatsuya Mihashi
Director 'Beat' Takeshi Kitano
Studio ARTIFICIAL EYE
Run time DVD: 1 hr 53 mins
Certificate Certificate 12
Genres Drama, World Cinema
Language DVD: Japanese
Subtitles DVD: English
Released DVD: 24 Nov 2003
Production year: 2002
Format DVD

  • Critics' reviews (2) of Dolls

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  • 4 stars out of 5

    Opening with a traditional bunraku puppet production of 18th-century playwright Monzaemon Chikamatsu's The Courier for Hell, this highly stylised and mournfully elegiac study of doomed romance recalls director Takeshi Kitano's previous production, Hana-Bi. Cinematographer Katsumi Yanagijima gloriously captures the colours of the changing seasons, as Kitano links three tales that demonstrate the exquisite agony of love: a young careerist seeks to atone for his jilted fiancée's maddening grief; an elderly yakuza hopes to re-ignite a forgotten passion; and a fan endures blindness to prove his fidelity to a disfigured pop star. The stately pacing may dissuade some, but the subtle symbolism and exquisite staging will have most viewers falling under its strangely hypnotic spell.

    • Radio Times
    • Posted 29 Jan 2006

  • Takeshi Kitano rarely makes two films in the same vein on the trot. Following the US-set gangster movie Brother, this... read more on Time Out

    • Time Out
    • Posted 04 Nov 2008

  • Most helpful member's review of Dolls

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  • 12 out of 13 people found this review helpful

    Rated - 5 stars

    The best film I've seen this year

    Takeshi Kitano has a god-like status as an actor and director in Japan and in my books.

    This film is truly his masterpiece. Its a story of doomed love, with the central story about these two bound beggars forever connected by a red rope to roam the country in search of their lost love and lives. The scenery and colours are vivid and breathtaking. The costumes by top designer Yohji Yamamoto are fantastical and gorgeous. The acting is mesmerising especially Miho Kanno (the girl).

    Kitano is usually known for the violence of his films, this film isn't violent but could said to be more brutal for its take on love. I would also recommend his other films Hana-Bi and Kikujiro. Also check him out as the callously cool and scary teacher in Battle Royale.

      • A customer from Stowmarket, England
      • Posted 12 Feb 2004 12:56

  • Most recent members' review of Dolls

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  • 1 out of 1 person found this review helpful

    Rated - 2 stars

    'Beat ' Takeshi mis-fires?

    Don't get me wrong, I'm a big fan of old frozen face but i suspect that a lot of the subtlety of this tale is lost on me. The opening puppetry story and the final morphing of the main characters into living(?) versions seem to be going over my head like so many beautiful Japanese maple leaves caught in a Tokyo breeze. It's gorgeous to look at as you'd now expect from virtually all cinema from the far east, but the long periods of silence convey little meaning and cause more yawning. It's about love. That much is true. Any more than that and I'm just guessing. Maybe that's all you need to know.

      • A customer from London
      • Posted 08 Mar 2005 16:53

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Rating breakdown

2,526 Member ratings
  • 100
279
  • 90
220
  • 80
389
  • 70
387
  • 60
453
  • 50
269
  • 40
200
  • 30
137
  • 20
123
  • 10
69

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      • DOLLS comprises three touching stories of true love, directed by Takeshi Kitano. The first installment tells the story of a career-driven man who gives up his girlfriend in favour of his job. She ...