Dolls (2002)

73% of critics liked it
(37 reviews)
87% of users liked it
(9,802 ratings)

Master filmmaker Takeshi Kitano returns behind the camera for the first time since his indifferently received English-language effort Brother (2000) with this operatic tale of lost love. Dolls takes puppeteering as its overriding motif -- specifically, the kind practiced in Bunraku doll theater… More Master filmmaker Takeshi Kitano returns behind the camera for the first time since his indifferently received English-language effort Brother (2000) with this operatic tale of lost love. Dolls takes puppeteering as its overriding motif -- specifically, the kind practiced in Bunraku doll theater performances -- opening each section of his film with a story provided by the puppets and their masters, which relates thematically to the action provided by the live characters. Chief among those tales is the story of Matsumoto (Hidetoshi Nishijima) and Sawako (Miho Kanno), a young couple whose relationship is about to be broken apart by the former's parents, who have insisted their son take part in an arranged marriage to his boss' daughter. He initially agrees, causing the unstable Sawako to be committed to a psychiatric hospital. When he leaves his new bride at the altar to save Sawako, however, he realizes that she's so incapable of caring for herself that she needs to be tied to him with a red rope. Inextricably bound, the two wander through Japan, encountering others along the way who have similarly overlooked love for other, more fleeting pleasures: fame, power, money. ~ Michael Hastings, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: Unrated, 1 hr. 53 min.
Directed By: Takeshi Kitano
Genres: Drama, Romance, Art House & International

In Theaters: Sep 5, 2002 Wide
On DVD: Mar 8, 2005
Studio: Palm Pictures

Critic Reviews

G. Allen Johnson, San Francisco Chronicle
The cinematography is colorful and sweeping, the editing and storytelling simple and pure.
Ty Burr, Boston Globe
It's all as passionate, refined, and insistently sad as Bunraku puppetry itself.
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
Dolls isn't a film for everybody, especially the impatient, but Kitano does succeed, I think, in drawing us into his tempo and his world, and slowing us down into the sadness of his characters.
Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune
A work both rigorously stylized and deeply personal.
Carina Chocano, Los Angeles Times
The movie's pace is appropriate to its mood, which is crisp, melancholy and gently cruel.
Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger
Studied and stately, and restrained to the point of stasis, Dolls isn't for everyone. But it will provide loyal fans of Kitano, and Japanese art, a decided pleasure.
Jeffrey M. Anderson, Combustible Celluloid
The stories have a fateful, lonely feel, like one of Wong Kar-wai's missed connections. Yet their tragic timelessness, and the lovely, aching pace at which they are told, bring them to a level of extraordinary beauty.
Marty Mapes, Movie Habit
The melodrama of the Bunraku introduces the melodrama of the film
Luke Y. Thompson, New Times
...this anthology of tragic tales is never dull and always a feast for the eyes.
Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews
Kitsch art.
Jules Brenner, Filmcritic.com
pretentious and as hollow as the puppets
Marcy Dermansky, About.com
There aren't many movies more visually beautiful than Takeshi Kitano's odd but moving "Dolls."
Ed Gonzalez, Slant Magazine
Disappointing by Takeshi Kitano's typically excellent standards but the film's DVD cover sure is purty!
John Hartl, Seattle Times
Devoted fans of Kitano will want to see Dolls. Others may be put off by the dirgelike pace (Kitano takes full credit for the editing) and a ghastly, mood-destroying pop-music number performed by Fukada.

Read all 14 critic reviews

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Featured Audience Ratings

Steven C

When I viewed Takeshi Kitano's "Dolls" I was told I would either love or hate the film. In retrospect, neither of those emotions crossed my mind. I merely though the film was OK. I certainly enjoyed piecing together the three stories and dissecting the themes, symbolism… More
When I viewed Takeshi Kitano's "Dolls" I was told I would either love or hate the film. In retrospect, neither of those emotions crossed my mind. I merely though the film was OK. I certainly enjoyed piecing together the three stories and dissecting the themes, symbolism and being taken under it's visual spell- but I couldn't help being reminded by so many other, better films. The film is about obsession (clearly taken from "Vertigo"), it deals with relationships where the couples are imploding but bound together (clearly taken from "Eyes Wide Shut"- with the same use of color and music), and it's about the emotional violence men can inflict on weak woman (clearly taken from "In the Company of Men"; "Dolls" also adopts, without the grace Neil Labute's film had, the idea that ALL women are weak, pitiful messes). "Dolls" just seemed like a rehash of better and more interesting films- granted, it has beautiful imagery, but that alone does not make a great.
El Hombre I

Takeshi Kitano brings us three stories about the decisions we make that affect our whole lives. The key element here is that we sometimes make the wrong decision due to emotions involved, not to mention pressure from others, and framed as a bunraku performance, Japan's national… More
Takeshi Kitano brings us three stories about the decisions we make that affect our whole lives. The key element here is that we sometimes make the wrong decision due to emotions involved, not to mention pressure from others, and framed as a bunraku performance, Japan's national art-form involving elaborate puppets. Dolls is Kitano's quietest and most accomplished film so far, in my humble opinion. Given the unhappy consequences for many of the love-struck protaganists, this may lead the viewer to believe that the idea of love, although lasting, is bitter-sweet as Kitano goes from making his well known violent films to one of pain involving what we do to ourselves when we take the wrong path in life. Be careful what you wish for<a href="http://s273.photobucket.com/albums/jj203/goji9000/?action=view&current=Dolls.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj203/goji9000/Dolls.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
Tsubaki S

Drags a bit in some parts, yet Kitano knows how to keep things simple and direct to the point.
Lesley N

I nearly stopped watching this in the first ten minutes, but luckily once the Japanese dolls were put away, it became more of a Kitano film. Three stories about love, though you'd have to be Pollyanna to find much goodness in the co-dependent relationships of the three couples… More
I nearly stopped watching this in the first ten minutes, but luckily once the Japanese dolls were put away, it became more of a Kitano film. Three stories about love, though you'd have to be Pollyanna to find much goodness in the co-dependent relationships of the three couples who are melancholic or just plain irritating, depending on your POV. Watch with caution if you're suffering unrequited love. It might give you all sorts of ideas. <img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2418/2018201330_07cdab0fc8.jpg">
Daisy M

When I started to watch Dolls, in the first 10 minutes I wanted to close it down, was for me an odd movie and way too slow.But being a movie of Kitano I wanted to give it a try and as the movie went on I started to like it. There was no happy ending in this movie. But it was a moving… More
When I started to watch Dolls, in the first 10 minutes I wanted to close it down, was for me an odd movie and way too slow.But being a movie of Kitano I wanted to give it a try and as the movie went on I started to like it. There was no happy ending in this movie. But it was a moving film, that will have you thinking about the depth of love. In most romantic dramas, there was sex, not in this one, but still Kitano could show you the depths of love without the sex part. There was little dialogue, so made me pay more attention what was really going on. Overall, it was a bitter three human stories.
Christopher B

Beautiful and tragic Kitano movie with seperate stories all involving heartbreak. A wonderful yet sad viewing experience.