Left Field Cinema

The work of Takeshi Kitano is renowned for being overtly violent, vicious, and cruel at times. Some of his best films like Hanna-bi and Brother have extremely high body counts and use violence as an artistic tool rather than a means to secure higher audience figures. But Dolls is a very clear exception to Kitano’s film making trademarks, it is not particularly violent (although Kitano does still manage to include a brief Yakuza shoot-out even if it is off screen). The other distinction is the lack of Kitano in his acting persona “Beat” Takeshi, often taking the leading roles in his films, here he is no where to be seen and its unfortunate to admit but there is a marked improvement because of his absence, not because Kitano is a bad actor, far from it, but because it seems that when he’s not concentrating on his own performance he’s been able to focus more thoughtfully on directing the other members of his cast.

Dolls is based on an old Japanese Bunraku puppet theatre, Bunraku began in the 16th Century, and has become very popular in the years since its creation, it is a rather bespoke form of theatre, but it still has a very clear place in canon of Japanese art forms. Although recently the art form is in danger of disappearing as the old masters retire or die, there are fewer of the current generation are interested in continuing the tradition. Dolls is Takeshi Kitano’s symbolic tribute to this art, although the titular dolls only appear briefly in the films prologue and climax, the entire plot of the film is very heavy influenced by the stories employed in the Bunraku theatre. We are presented with three stories; the first follows a groom to be Matsumoto played by Hidetoshi Nishijima who has been convinced by his parents to break-up with his long standing girlfriend Sawako played by Miho Kanno so that he may marry the rich daughter of the head of the company Matsumoto works for. On his wedding day he learns that Sawako has lost her mind because of the break-up and as a result has attempted suicide. Matsumoto instantly abandons the wedding and finds Sawako, but she doesn’t recognise him, she doesn’t even recognise herself. Matsumoto decides to take her out of the hospital and they travel together without a plan. The second story follows an aging Yakuza boss Hiro, played by Tatsuya Mihashi; internal conflict within the criminal underworld means he requires a new body guard, the guard flippantly remarks that with his career he has no time for women, Hiro remembers a time when he was also like that, he left his girlfriend Ryoko played by Chieko Matsubara so that he could do his job better, upon breaking up with Ryoko she pledged to bring him his lunch every day to a bench in the park. Years later Hiro visits this park and is stunned to learn that she kept her word and has for all this time brought him his lunch every day, she doesn’t even recognise him anymore, he pretends to be someone else and through this deception they rekindle their sweet and now elderly romance. The third story surrounds a successful young pop star Haruna played by Kyoko Fukada, she has a set of devoted fans including Nukui played by Tsutomu Takeshige. There is an accident and Haruna looses an eye which forces her into early retirement. Nukui has to find a way to get to Haruna - to comfort her and let her know that he doesn’t care what she looks like - he still loves her.

Between the three strands of the films narrative, there is a lot of story to cover in just two hours. Structurally is comparable to Amores Perros which predates Dolls by two years, it concentrates on one story at a time, but it also has a bit of overlap between the stories once the bulk of the first and second is completed, the first story in particular continues with brief moments throughout and then takes centre stage for the films climax. Stories two and three are given less attention, but by no means does this diminish the films content. All three stories are also gently weaved together, as pivotal characters from one story pass by characters from the next story and in doing so effectively pass the narrative dominance from one to another.

Dolls is possibly Kitano’s subtlest, most delicate, gentle, emotive and compassionate film, for a master of the art form who is known for his cold, detached and downright brutal story telling it would seem that he’s managed to squeeze just about all the love and care missing from his other works into this one film. Love is one of the most difficult of human emotions to convey on screen without descending into sacrine or sentimental antics, but Kitano has managed it with a minimal amount of action, a lover pinching the others drink, or playing a practical joke by tying them to a surfboard and giggling as they trip over. It is all done with careful hand, and it works far more effectively than the traditional methods. More is conveyed with a simple look than ten lines of dialogue. As stated earlier the absence of Kitano himself is one of the beneficial aspects of the film, the leading characters are all very much in touch with their emotions, and often display their feelings towards one and other rather than being internally charged but outwardly static as is often the case with Kitano’s characters. Despite the absence of Kitano in a leading role, this is still very much a Kitano film. No one can ever accuse the man of laziness - Dolls was written, edited and directed by Kitano and he still remains a creative force to be reckoned with. Editing alone deserves special attention, Kitano is a master of the subtly drawn flashback and knows exactly when to cut back to the person recalling the events. As for writing and directing Kitano has managed to create very real and sympathetic characters even with the restrictions of multi-stranded narratives, although there is a deep undercurrent of melancholy it never overwhelms us – but rather informs our pathos.

The cinematography and locations are gorgeous, Dolls makes full use of the stunning variance within the Japanese landscape, often exploiting the wide range of deep and vivid colours which naturally occur in rose gardens, or public parks in autumn, covered in burgundy leafs. Visually it successfully builds to the breathtaking final shot on the top of a snow covered mountain. Possibly Kitano’s single greatest image as a film maker is achieved at the end of Dolls, the last shot also perfectly surmises the thesis of the film. Ultimately the film is a study of unconditional devotion, not love (although love is a factor) but devotion - total, uncompromising and complete devotion. Matsumoto is so devoted to Sawako that he sacrifices his career, prospects, finance and his parent’s security as well in order to be with her even though she isn’t herself anymore. Ryoko is so devoted to Hiro that she has sacrificed the better part of her life waiting for him to return, she has never given up hope that he will one day join her on her park bench even though after a certain point it must have seemed implausible that he would return - she continued. But the most acute of the thematic explorations comes in the third story, in order for Nukui to get close to his pop star princess Haruna he blinds himself so that she will feel more comfortable with a man who can’t see her or judge her for what she looks like. His is literally and metaphorically a blind devotion which can not be paralleled, willing to mutilate himself for someone he’s never said more then two words to.

As the first storyline progresses we are given another symbolic gesture, in order to keep Sawako from accidentally hurting herself, Matsumoto physically ties her to him with a piece of rope, they are physically joined together, they can’t separate from one and other even if they want to, a clear metaphor for their genuinely sympathetic relationship.

Perhaps only the middle story isn’t fleshed out enough or spends too much time on irrelevancies when it should be focusing on its central couple. Some viewers will probably find Dolls unengaging or just plain dull; others might have expected the typical Kitano bullet happy feature and would doubtlessly be disappointed with this meditative creature. There is a lot of the main couple walking to their ultimate destination, where this might also be seen as boring by some; I personally found every painful step they take together brought me closer to their plight. Dolls is arguably Kitano’s finest creation, exceeding even Hanna-Bi, it is a truly masterful work although I accept that it probably is not to everyone’s taste.

M. Dawson