Air Doll (2009)

A life-size blow-up doll develops a soul and falls in love with a video store clerk.

Director:

Hirokazu Koreeda

Writers:

Yoshiie Goda (manga), Hirokazu Koreeda (screenplay)

Stars:

Doona Bae, Arata Iura, Itsuji Itao

1 win & 4 nominations.

Cast

Credited cast:
Doona Bae	...	Nozomi
Arata Iura	...	Junichi (as Arata)
Itsuji Itao	...	Hideo
Joe Odagiri	...	Air Doll Maker
Sumiko Fuji	...	Widow
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Sei Andô
Tasuku Emoto	...	Peep-tom Student
Mari Hayashida
Mari Hoshino	...	Apple Woman
Ryô Iwamatsu	...	Owner of Video Rental Shop
Tomomi Maruyama	...	Moe's father
Miu Naraki	...	Moe
Jyonmyon Pe
Masaya Takahashi	...	Ex-substitute Teacher
Susumu Terajima	...	Policeman

Storyline

A sex doll who is both a sexual companion and the recipient of her owner's all-around affection comes to life and becomes self aware. She begins to experience and experiment with life and has so many questions including many when she coincidentally walks into a video store and is hired by the shorthanded manager. She begins to experience and query birth, life and death. In the meantime, her owner is taking his time cluing in to his doll roaming around the city and having a life.

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Plot Keywords:

super thin beauty | desirable legs | looking upskirt | woman wears a micro miniskirt | dutch wife | 

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Genres:

Drama | Fantasy | Romance

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Certificate:

Unrated

Details

Official Sites:

Official site [France] Official site [Japan]

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

26 September 2009 (Japan)

Also Known As:

Air Doll

Filming Locations:

Tokyo, Japan

Box Office

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$1,130,635

Company Credits

Production Co:

Engine Film, Bandai Visual Company, TV Man Union

Technical Specs

Runtime:

125 min 116 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The City Clock (Westminster Tune) also Rings 3 although It's Clear That is evening time.

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Quotes

Junichi: Was everything you saw in this world sad? Was there something, anything, that was beautiful?

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Connections

References Donnie Brasco (1997)

User Reviews

The Death of Innocence

Hirokazu Koreeda takes a look into the abyss of Japanese society and paints a deeply disturbing but true picture of human beings who replaced their real lives into a state of mere existence. Solitude and emotional repression, ironically enough, in the country with one of the highest population densities and material goods ad infinitum. A study of cultural constraints.

Our protagonist (Du-Na Bae), masterfully chosen, is the newest excretion in the line of goods to blow some of that sexual steam off: an air doll with a washable rubber vagina. Her owner (refreshingly serious comedian Itsuji Itao), a lonesome waiter uses her as a substitute for a girlfriend, bathes, talks and of course - has sex with her. One day she awakes and discovers that she has grown a soul and begins her first tiny steps in a hostile world, without any prejudice or knowledge of the environment surrounding her. First enthralled and joyful to find all those wonders of life, she is soon crushed by the empty bitterness of people. A fallen Amélie, powerless before the unloving societal apparatus.

In Japan, there is a socially acknowledged system which consists of the Tatemae (homogenous, polite, superficial and carefully considered not to break in one's boundaries) and the Honne (one's "real" personality/ intentions). This seemingly schizophrenic social obligation produced monsters in industrialized 21st century Japan and this film shows us some of their victims. Live your lives! Be you! Appreciate the little things! Talk to people!, although slowly paced, the pictures flickering on the screen seem to shout in your face. What may sound ridiculous and hard to understand for American/European audiences, Japanese reality needs exactly those words.

Although I do not agree with some artistic choices on a personal level, I cannot stretch how much I agree with the message of this film. With increasing alienation and mistrust of people even in western societies, I am sure you can pick something up for yourself, look over frontiers and "crazy japs sticking their dicks in plastic wtflulz!!1". Definitely worth your while.