Dolls

"Three stories of never-ending love."

2002 1h 54m JA

🙌

7.5

BANGER

🍅

72%

FRESH

👌

METACRITIC

⭐

7.5

IMDB

★7.5TMDB · 380🍅72%Rotten Tomatoes●71Metacritic★7.5IMDB · 17,576

DramaRomance

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Dolls takes puppeteering as its overriding motif, which relates thematically to the action provided by the live characters. Chief among those tales is the story of Matsumoto and Sawako, 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.

“Three stories of never-ending love.”

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Cast

Miho Kanno
Sawako
Hidetoshi Nishijima
Matsumoto
Tatsuya Mihashi
Hiro
Chieko Matsubara
Ryoko
Kyoko Fukada
Haruna Yamaguchi
Tsutomu Takeshige
Nukui
Kayoko Kishimoto
Haruna's Aunt
Nao Omori
Matsumoto's Colleague

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Takeshi Kitano
Writers: Takeshi Kitano
Languages: Japanese
Countries: Japan

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 7

ERA

Did you know

Released 24 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 7

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Takeshi Kitano, shot by Katsumi Yanagijima. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 7

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Joe Hisaishi. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 7

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Takeshi Kitano shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 7

CAST

Did you know

Miho Kanno and Hidetoshi Nishijima and Tatsuya Mihashi carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 7

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "Three stories of never-ending love.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 7

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0330229 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Takeshi Kitano directs. Katsumi Yanagijima behind the camera. Joe Hisaishi scores. Takeshi Kitano cuts. Produced in Japan. Dialogue in Japanese.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Released 24 years ago.
2Directed by Takeshi Kitano, shot by Katsumi Yanagijima. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
3Original score by Joe Hisaishi. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
4Editor Takeshi Kitano shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
5Miho Kanno and Hidetoshi Nishijima and Tatsuya Mihashi carry the top of the cast.
6Marketing tagline: "Three stories of never-ending love.".
7IMDB entry: tt0330229 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
8Classified under 13 themes, including "new love", "japan", "regret", "broken engagement".