Dolls (2002)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Movie
German title Dolls
Original title Dolls
Country of production Japan
original language Japanese
Publishing year 2002
length 113 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Takeshi Kitano
script Takeshi Kitano
production Masayuki Mori
Takio Yoshida
music Joe Hisaishi
camera Katsumi Yanagishima
cut Takeshi Kitano
occupation

Dolls (also: Takeshi Kitanos Dolls ) is a Japanese feature film from 2002 . The drama was directed by Takeshi Kitano , who also wrote the script.

The episode film consists of three loosely connected storylines that run parallel to each other and not chronologically. The film begins with a Bunraku screening (“The Messenger to the Underworld” by Chikamatsu ) and ends with one.

action

A young man named Matsumoto broke off his engagement with his fiancée Sawako in order to marry the daughter of a company president. Thereupon she makes a suicide attempt and remains mentally withdrawn. When Matsumoto learns this, he rescues her from the hospital and ties her to himself with a thick red rope so that she does not run away. Both wander through Japan and are stared at and laughed at by people when they stumble.

The second storyline is about a man named Nukui who is obsessed with the pop singer Haruna Yamaguchi. When Haruna has a serious car accident and threatens to go blind in one eye, Nukui blinds himself in order to be close to her and to preserve the image of her beauty from the accident. Finally, the now blind Nukui is allowed to meet Haruna and they go for a walk together. After that, Nukui dies - presumably in a car accident.

The third storyline is about an old yakuza boss named Hiro, who remembers his childhood sweetheart Ryoko after decades. When he goes to the park where they used to meet, he notices that she is still keeping her promise to wait for him with a snack every Saturday. But he can't bring himself to reveal himself to her. Instead, he sits down next to her and gratefully accepts the lunchbox offer, but is shot after the second meeting.

Publications

The film premiered on September 5, 2002 in the competition for the Golden Lion at the Venice International Film Festival . It was shown at several other film festivals in the following period. Dolls opened in Japanese cinemas on October 10 of the same year . Cinema releases followed in other countries. In Germany, where the film opened on October 30, 2003, it was seen approximately 12,300 times.

The version shown in the third programs of German television was shortened.

reception

The majority of the critics received the film positively. Roger Ebert wrote in the Chicago Sun-Times that although the film is not a film for everyone (especially not for the impatient), Kitano is, he believes, successful in “pulling us into his speed and his world to slow down on the sadness of the characters. "

The lexicon of international films said that Dolls was “designed as a powerful visual poem full of melancholy” . The film is a "as beguiling as sometimes alienating masterpiece, whose visual beauty you can hardly get enough of."

“The superficial calm, quiet, slowness and lack of words of the film is counteracted by the almost bursting tragedy and violence that is in the staging and portrayal of the three couples. This violence is not that of action cinema. "

- Ulrich Behrens

"The successful combination of exquisite form and generally applicable content in 'Dolls' has made Takeshi Kitano one of the greats in the director's field, and 'Takeshi Kitanos Dolls' has a firm place in film history."

- José García : Texts on the film

"Fans of Kitano's other works [...] won't know what to do with 'Dolls'."

- Film Threat

"[Kitano] pulls the strings well enough, but there is no life in his dolls."

- Mark Schilling : The Japan Times Online

"Transports its subtext into the text [...] The decision to make a film that consists only of subtext, however, rarely goes well: such cinema seems pretentious to some, and if you clear the basement, the basement is logically empty. That is the case with Dolls , who says everything he has to say "

- Walter Chaw : Film Freak Central

“Self-confidently magnificent [...] but leaves you completely indifferent, schematic, hollow, technically adolescent. [...] Overall like a bath in syrup. "

- Bob Davis : Senses of Cinema

"Kitano is talented enough as a filmmaker that even his failures are somehow fascinating"

- Andrew Cunningham : Midnight Eye

Awards

At the 2003 Japanese Academy Awards , the film was nominated for “ Best Camera ,” “ Best Music ,” “Best Set Design,” and “Best Lighting,” but was not recognized in any of the four categories. Miho Kanno received the Hochi Film Prize for “best supporting actress”.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Rapid Eye Movies, see web links.
  2. ↑ Lumiere
  3. ^ Review by Roger Ebert
  4. ↑ Dolls. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  5. ↑ Ulrich Behrens: Kitano. In: Follow me now. Retrieved July 27, 2008 .
  6. ↑ José García: Takeshi Kitanos Dolls. In: Texts on the film. Retrieved on July 28, 2008 (also from Filmzentrale).
  7. ↑ Darrin Keene: Dolls (DVD). In: Film Threat. March 23, 2005, accessed on July 28, 2008 (English): "Fans of Kitano's other work [...] may not know what to make of" Dolls. ""
  8. ↑ Mark Schilling: Fate's puppets on a string. In: The Japan Times Online. October 2, 2002, accessed on July 28, 2008 : "He's jiggling the strings expertly enough - but there's no life in his puppets"
  9. ↑ Walter Chaw: Dolls (2002). In: Film Freak Central. Archived from the original on March 6, 2012 ; accessed on July 28, 2008 (English): “sublimates his subtext into the text. [...] The decision to make a film that is all subtext, however, is seldom successful: such pictures tend towards the pretentious for one, and in emptying the basement, logic follows, they leave the basement empty. So it is with Dolls, which says everything it has to say "
  10. ↑ Bob Davis: Takeshi Kitano. In: Senses of Cinema. 2003, accessed July 27, 2008 : “Self-consciously gorgeous […] but utterly unaffecting, schematic, hollow, technically juvenile. [...] All in all, like taking a bath in syrup "
  11. ↑ Andrew Cunningham: Dolls. In: Midnight Eye. October 23, 2002, accessed on July 27, 2008 (English): "Kitano is a gifted enough filmmaker that even his failures are somewhat fascinating"