Kimono (1999) User Reviews

More bewildering than erotic

[raymond-15 · 6/10 · 19 May 2003]

I've seen this short film (included in "Erotic Tales") numerous times but its meaning eludes me. A beautiful bride in her soft white gown is ejected from a car on a highway. She scrambles through a thickly wooded area and arrives scratched and bruised at a deserted house. She sponges herself in a bath tub and puts on kimono and geta which somehow have been conveniently left for her. Wood nymphs peer at her from hidden places. It's all very bewildering.

What am I watching for goodness sake? Is it some kind of Zen experience? While the film has a professional approach with its excellent photography, it leaves me unsatisfied because my mind does not connect with any kind of explanation. Could it be that when mankind forsakes you, nature will provide? Am I trying to read too much into this esoteric offering?

I don't speak Japanese

[mackjordan210 · 7/10 · 18 July 2014]

but I think this movie is about a woman gaining her independence.

Beautiful woman gets kicked to the curb on her wedding day. But its not a city curb. Its the middle of a thicket. (The guy was driving a 2004 beetle- personally, I think she is better off because she has more to offer than such mediocrity anyway).

Half way through the thicket she gets her dress snagged by a branch. The dress comes off to reveal the high heal disco shooed goddess she is.

There is slight girl on girl on girl action which is kind of cool and titillating at the same time.

From a logistical stand point I wonder where she keeps all those changes of lingerie?

In conclusion I think what they are trying to say is that Kimono style is not necessarily oppressive.

Not so scrutable as his other stuff

[hofnarr · 9/10 · 19 October 2001]

I was able to talk to Hal Hartley at a festival a few years ago, before KIMONO came out. I'd seen about 1/2 of his films at the time and I really enjoyed them. Plus, I thought I had a pretty good grasp on understanding them. (And I REALLY liked THE BOOK OF LIFE, which I've seen more than once). Then came KIMONO. Well - quite good for a film class discussion. I saw this film with two others in the 6th (of 8) series of 3 films each. Due to some technical error, a minute of so of KIMONO had inadvertently been spliced onto one of the other 2 short films. When this was discovered, the director of the venue came out and explained the situation, saying they would shortly run the additional footage. And then said, with tongue firmly in cheek, "And then the film will be entirely understandable." Nope - still rather inscrutable. An Oriental newlywed couple driving in the countryside stop - the man throws the woman out. She makes her way through fields and forests and finds an abandoned cabin. Are the other female figures we see real or wraiths? Transitions from one scene to the next are framed by floating words coming together on the screen to make philosophical quotes. Beautifully photographed, intriguingly sequenced. But I don't think I could write a spoiler for it if I tried. Worth the time, though.

Dreamlike movie

[hof-4 · 8/10 · 14 February 2020]

A Japanese bride in full wedding dress is ejected from a car and abandoned in a deserted rural road bordering a lush forest. She walks into the forest and is observed by (equally Japanese) wood nymphs. She finds and explores an abandoned house where her white dress and underwear turn red, and receives a white kimono and sandals. She puts the kimono on and reenters the forest. The background sound consists of a little music, forest sounds, birdsong and unintelligible talk.

There are probably as many interpretations as there are ways to join a set of points with a curve. One may be: this is a prenuptial stress dream of the bride, perhaps caused by clashes of her cultural background with that of the groom (he is never seen, so this we can only assume). The white kimono is used by traditional Japanese brides, and it is often changed into a red kimono for the events after the ceremony.

Whatever the interpretation, I found this movie very enjoyable.