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June 21, 2004

Dolls

dollsWatched the movie called "ドールズ" (Dolls) in my Japanese class today. It was produced by the famous Japanese director "北野武" (Kitano Takeshi) in 2002. Originally a comedian, Kitano has produced a variety of movies on different subject matters that range from action/violence to kids' story. And in "Dolls", Kitano tested his horizon again by portraying three very sad love stories.

Using "文楽" (bunraku) as a symbolic notation, the backbone of the story describes a couple detaching themselves from the society in search for their forgotten memories. The main characters basically tie themselves up with a red cord walking through different places from start to finish in the movie and finally, in the end, they fall off the cliff and die. During their passage, two other love stories intertwine together to portray love from different angles. One thread depicts the lost love of a yakuza boss and the other thread illustrates the kind of worship that a fan has for his idol singer.

If you are a rational person like me, you probably won't understand the message that the director is trying to deliver. Because the whole movie is so irrational to a point which is unreal. In order to feel the sadness behind the story, you really have to put yourself in an imaginary world. And then, you may be able to feel the power of love and the kind of harshness that the movie conveys. If you are not sensational enough, you may even think the movie is absolutely boring. However, as an artistic touch, the whole movie is packaged with nice sceneries of Japan's four changing seasons, designer's clothing and famous composer's music as the backdrop.

The atmosphere of the movie is definitely pessimistic and emphasizes the dark side of life too much. It is not for the type of people with the faintest hearts who would get depressed easily...