ctavispost Visually, Dolls is a meeting between the style of Kitano's "Fireworks" and "Scene at the Sea" with that of Yimou Zhang's "House of Flying Daggers" (what with the crazy colour saturation and all). It was slow, well directed, and beautifully shot, with at least passable acting and intermittent scripting. Watching this movie is like seeing three lovely, modern Japanese short stories intent only upon evoking a mood. It isn't for everybody, but art lovers of various stripes will find something to appreciate in it.It contains 3 stories, running concurrently, told in a very confusing series of flashbacks which nearly devastate any sense of time. There is a simple and obvious thematic connection between the three tales; each focues on tragic, personal, and eccentric love. Even so, the way the stories are intertwined seems forced and flimsy. And none of the endings are very satisfying. Both the slow pacing and the many-layered memory-based flashbacks set a nostalgic, almost mournful mood, but can also alienate the audience. The film never really hits a rhythm, and the flashbacks have nothing to distinguish them from what is presently happening in one story or another."Dolls" would benefit from repeat viewing, but it's a little too much to be watched any time soon after seeing it. Also, a more thorough understanding of Japanese culture and, specifically, the bunraku (Japanese puppet theatre) which underlays the movie (both as an art and as regards the specific story focused upon in the bunraku scenes included in the movie) would make the piece more immediately accessible. There are some things I picked up on, thanks to my limited knowledge of Japan, that I doubt most non-Japanese people would know of, but I am certain there is much I missed along those lines.I'm a big fan of Kitano's work--his writing, his directing, his acting in Japanese movies, his comedy, his paintings are all impressive in their own ways--but I would not recommend this movie to most people, including the man's own fans. With that in mind, it's still worth watching in its own manner.

misc00500 I liked the story and the cinematography and the acting and so on an so forth like most everyone here..... but dang, all this talk about how "painfully beautiful and sad" the movie was just make me wanna throw up. I check the comment hoping someone can explain what the ending meant, but all i read is how beautiful and sad the movie is and how great kitano is. pss.. all that is great but freak... why can't someone just say what it means instead of all this artsy crap talk ? saw a few of kitano's movie. i have to say sonatine is pretty watchable. especially the part where the chick takes off her dress in the jungle. Saw a pretty amazing movie couple days ago called "stranger of mine". check it out you won't be disappointed.

CosmoJones A passing knowledge of Bunraku, the Japanese traditional art of stage puppetry and some familiarity with the work of seventeenth century Japanese dramatist Monzaemon Chikamatsu, may help non-pointy headed viewers appreciate the themes of love, suicide, social pressure, and tragedy in Takeshi Kitano's visually enchanting film Dolls. Three intertwined stories of obsessional love are thematically influenced by Chikamatsu, (the Japanese Shakespeare) whose dramas are still acted out by Bunraku puppeteers and remain hugely resonant even in modern Japan.In the first story, a man pressured by his parents into marrying the daughter of his boss devotes his life to the lover he spurned after learning that she has attempted suicide. The two now bound together (literally) wander through Japan in a surreal journey that covers all four seasons. The following stories feature a Yakuza boss who seeks out the lover he abandoned decades earlier, and a devoted, but disturbed fan who takes an extraordinary course of action to meet with the pop star he idolises after she has been disfigured in a car crash.Dolls marks a new departure in style and subject for Takeshi, whose past work has focused mainly on the violent world of the Yakuza, and is marked by its distinct grey/blue visual style. To counter this muted look Takeshi consciously sought to add colour to Dolls, and this he does to stunning effect. With the help of his friend, fashion designer Yohji Yamamoto, and cinematographer Katsumi Yanagishima, Takeshi has achieved a lush, sensuous, aesthetic that at times can be quite sublime.Many of Chikamatsu's plays were written for performance in Bunraku, and Takeshi has given the film a stage like quality - he sees the characters as living dolls and allusions are made to this throughout the film. All this leads to the inevitable question of does it work? The answer unfortunately is no. Takeshi's characters are not sufficiently developed or emotionally involving enough for us to care about them. This is especially the case with the bound lovers Sawako, and Matsumoto, (Miho Kanno and Hidetoshi Nishijima) whose subdued and emotionless performance alienates the audience.Sawako and Matsumoto were based on two real life 'bound' beggars who Takeshi would often see in his Tokyo suburb. The reason that these beggars were bound to each other we'll more than likely never know, but in the case of the lovers, an old Japanese saying about betrothed couples being bound by the red strings of fate seems to apply. This is all very interesting but sadly Dolls is not. The film pretty as it is falls a bit flat due to its poor character development and meandering story line. This is no problem for Takeshi though who has stated that he will be happy if viewers are simply amazed at the beautiful pictures. I suspect that with the majority of viewers this will be the case.

poe426 ***SPOILER*** Takeshi Kitano proves himself a multifaceted filmmaker with this tragicomic look at the debilitating power of love. While love is the one real tie that binds (in the case of the co-dependent couple here, quite literally- or metaphorically, depending on how one chooses to look at it), Kitano never loses sight of the fact that it's also a symbiotic sadness that permeates the soul. Ambrose Beirce, if memory serves, once referred to love as "a temporary madness." Moving moments are allowed to run their course on screen, to the often bitter end(s). (The finale lends new weight to the phrase "the old ball and chain." Though it leaves you hanging, it doesn't...) Another fine example of Neo-Asian art.