Such a frustrating disappointment

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review

I am big fan of Takeshi Kitano for years, even if he is acting, directing, his work is always interesting to me. Somehow i didn't manage to watch "Dolls" to this day, and i now see that i missed a lot. "Dolls" is total beauty of the film, it is movie which Kitano only directed, he didn't acted in this one. "Dolls" is very similar to one of my favorite movies from Kitano "A Scene At The Sea", the main theme is love, Kitano is not acting, and soundtrack is done by magnificent Joe Hisaishi. It is sad that "Dolls" was last movie in which Kitano and Hisaishi collaborated. Hisaishi's compositions goes fantastic with Kitano's movies. The next thing i love in this movie is that there are three stories but they are all somehow connected one to another. Also i must admit i enjoyed that there is not much dialog, again similar to "A scene At The Sea", i had a feeling like i am watching beautiful painting, fantastic feeling. Movie is really sad, but it is beautiful sadness, that only Japanese mind can make it to be like that, i enjoyed every sequence and every moment of this movie, definitely a must watch for all fans of Japanese cinema and works of Takeshi Kitano. My grade 9/10.

Visually one of the most outstanding films I've ever seen is the Japanese film 'Dolls'. My top favourite for last year's Intl Film Fest, this film says so much with just colours and its stunning cinematography. The film basically contains 3 different stories and it started with an arranged wedding. The groom ran away from it and visited his ex-girlfriend in the asylum who went mad when he was forced to marry into a rich family.There wasn't much dialogue between the 2 characters as they embarked on the most bizarre journey, with the female lead always in a daze that the male lead had to tie a red string on her hand to keep her from wandering off. 6 They walked thru spring, summer, autumn and winter all the while intersected with 2 other side stories. One is about a woman who waited for her lover since teenage years till she's about 40+, preparing bento lunch for him everyday and waiting for him at the park. He finally came one day but ….sigh….The next story is about a popular singer and her number 1 fan, the pretty girl got disfigured one day and her fan, in order to meet her, decided to blind himself with his last vision of her poster. Pretty strong love huh….We've reached winter and that's when the female lead finally remembers the guy and the scene was so heartwarming. She just cried and u can just feel their love after going through so much. Seasons transit in such way that they walk from red leaves to snow ground in a step, very beautifully done and the colour motif is splendid from bright red to pure white.**Magical Journey**

The first five minutes of "Dolls" had me at odds with the film, and very close to turning it off. But the first five minutes are extremely important, and as the movie went on I liked it more. I will have you know that there is no happy ending in this movie, and the final scene made me sick to my stomach with sorrow. But it is truly a moving film, that will have you thinking about the dimensions of love and what it has become in today's society. In most romantic dramas, there is usually sex, but not so in this, which made me want to applaud the director for showing the depths of love without the physical part. There is also very little dialogue, so you MUST pay attention to the screen. Overall, it is a bittersweet study of six individuals all coping with lost love in one way or another. Bravo.

After this movie it's official:I'm fan of Takeshi Kitano.After movies like "Sonatine" and "Brother" I thought that Kitano always talks about same things.I was so wrong.When I watched "Dolls" I was surprised.This movie is so good that it left me speechless.Excellent story-telling from Kitano and I'm very glad that he did movie like this.I don't want to talk about the plot or about the characters because I don't think that words can describe this movie.If you like Almodovar's movies with lots of characters this movie is for you.So many characters and such a great performances from all actors.I don't know any of them but I bow to them after this movie.But without Kitano's talent non of this would happen.Excellent work from an excellent director.My applause to all who worked on this movie.Highly recommended. 10/10