Dolls 2002

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Dolls ★★★ 2002

Lyrical Japanese film intertwines three character studies into a wistful movie about devotion and lost love. A man literally ties himself to the girl he loves after realizing his weaknesses drove her to attempt suicide. A gang lord remembers the promise given to a girlfriend 30 years earlier. Thirty yearslater he returns to the park where they met, finding her still waiting. The final chapter fumbles the connection a bit, fo- cusing on a famous pop star becoming disfigured in an auto accident. She flees the public eye, only to let one devoted fan into her life. Lush photography and landscapes are pure dazzling eye candy, but the emotionally syrupy excess may turn off some audiences. 113m/C DVD . Tatsuya Mihashi, Chieko Matsubara, Miho Kanno, Hideto-shi Nishijima, Kyoko Fukada, Sebastian Blenkov; D: Takeshi “Beat” Kitano; W: Takeshi “Beat” Kitano; C: Katsumi Yanagijima; M: Joe Hisaishi.