Dolls

Starting out with a puppet show, Japanese Bunraku, Dolls goes on to create a human storyline for these marionettes. Matsumoto is about to give in to parental pressure and marry for money. But when he finds out that his real love Sawako attempted suicide, he leaves his wife-to-be in order to escape with Sawako. From there on the two of them appear to be dolls, incapable of changing their fates, connected with a red cord. Hiro - an old and tired yakuza - is contemplating his past. 30 years ago he used to work ina factory and every Saturday his faithful girlfriend brought him lunch in the park. Nukui removes his eyes when he finds out that his big idol - the successful pop star, Haruna - has her beauty ruined in a car accident. All three stories in Dolls concern eternal love and privation. Some of the characters give up their lives for their partners' sake, others regret they did not. A comparison with Hana-Bi, multi-artist Takeshi Kitano's highly regarded Golden Lion winner from 1997 is thoroughly justified. The meditative and non-chronological narrative, the ambitious symbolism and the cliche, the overwhelming landscapes are a frequent occurrence also in Dolls. However, there is no gratuitous violence, raw emotion or laconic humour. JON ASP