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Dolls
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Photos (see all 12 | slideshow) Videos
Dolls (2002) -- Three stories about neverending love.

Overview

User Rating:
7.8/10   6,457 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
Up 5% in popularity this week. See rank & trends on IMDbPro.
Director:
Takeshi Kitano
Writer:
Takeshi Kitano (written by)
Contact:
View company contact information for Dolls on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
12 October 2002 (Japan) more
Genre:
Drama | Romance more
Plot:
Three stories about neverending love. full summary | add synopsis
Plot Keywords:
more
Awards:
2 wins & 6 nominations more
NewsDesk:
(2 articles)
A trailer for Ghibli-animated Ni No Kuni (The Another World)
 (From Twitch. 13 October 2008, 7:49 AM, PDT)

Tiff Review: Achilles And The Tortoise
 (From Twitch. 12 September 2008, 2:21 PM, PDT)

User Comments:
Amazingly aesthetic more

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)
Miho Kanno ... Sawako
Hidetoshi Nishijima ... Matsumoto
Tatsuya Mihashi ... Hiro, the Boss
Chieko Matsubara ... Ryoko, the Woman in the Park
Kyôko Fukada ... Haruna Yamaguchi, the Pop Star
Tsutomu Takeshige ... Nukui, the Fan
Kayoko Kishimoto ... Haruna's Aunt
Kanji Tsuda ... Young Hiro
Yuuko Daike ... Young Ryoko
Ren Osugi ... Haruna's Manager
Shimadayu Toyotake ... Tayu, Puppet Theater Narrator
Kiyosuke Tsuruzawa ... Puppet Theater Shamisen Player
Minotaro Yoshida ... Puppeteer of Umegawa the Courtesan
Yoshida ... Puppeteer of Chubei
Shogo Shimizu ... Matsumoto's Father
more
Create a character page for: ?

Additional Details

Runtime:
114 min
Country:
Japan
Language:
Japanese
Color:
Color
Aspect Ratio:
1.85 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Dolby Digital
Filming Locations:
Japan

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
This is the last Takeshi Kitano film to feature music by Joe Hisaishi. Kitano claimed that it became too expensive to hire Hisaishi for soundtracks while Hisaishi claimed that he didn't like the screenplay of the movie. Actually, they both had an argument about some pieces which weren't selected for the soundtrack, and where to put the others in the movie. They stopped working together since then. more
Movie Connections:
Referenced in Embrace (2007) more
Soundtrack:
Feel more

FAQ

When the hit of Haruna Yamaguchi plays the 1st time?
more
38 out of 41 people found the following comment useful:-
Amazingly aesthetic, 26 January 2003
10/10
Author: Jose Luis Romeu Miguel (el_clown5@hotmail.com) from Barcelona, Spain

Takeshi Kitano proudly presented Dolls in the last Venice festival, where it received bad critics and reviews from the so-called cinema intellectuals and movie critics (I'd rather called them dollar-seekers). A few months later it was premiered in the Sitges Cinema Fest, I didn't expected too much, I was too wrong.

Dolls is a great movie about true love and the meaning of life. It's perfectly directed, it's perfectly acted, it's... perfect? May be, of course it depends on you. The point to criticize the movie for most of the critics, is the point that I praise: the use of the symbols is 100% aesthetic, I even believe that the real love is not the subject of the movie, but aesthetics; and the greatest of everything is that using this strange way of filming he really emphasizes the story. The traditional filming would use symbol's as a way to directly emphasize the action, but this movie uses the symbols independently from the action and that gives strength to the overall story.

The aestheticism is very dangerous, because it can turn your movie into a sum of meaningless scenes attached with a very poor story, making it very boring. However Kitano-sensei (my biggest and greatest inspiration) manages to exploit aesthetics without loosing the plot.

This is not the first time that Kitano tries to explain a story with images, in Ano natsu ichiban shizukana umi (A scene at the sea) tried something similar, but didn't fully succeed.

In conclusion, it's a masterpiece you shouldn't forget. Kitano is one of the greatest directors nowadays and this movie proves it. Whether you are a hardcore Kitano fan or just enjoy films, watch it, you won't get disappointed.

10 out of 10

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Message Boards

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Recent Posts (updated daily)User
Significance of the first scene with the dolls? bajix
applause gondwana
american doll movie wujou_mao1000
wrong recommendation happyspells
I'd like to say. I loved this film. theradioster
is it really a thing? sergiek
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