Dolls

Should we start with first reactions? Takeshi Kitano was known for movies about Yakuza (“Brother” 2000) and cops (“Hana-bi” 1997) that were, at times, quite violent. So when “Dolls” came out in 2002, I wonder if it really found its audience. But then I’m not sure who had been watching him. I’ve not seen “Brother” or the other two films in the ‘Yakuza Trilogy’, but I did see “Hana-bi”. It is strange for a cop film. It centers on character not plot. Key characters are ex-cops instead of active duty. And it focuses on efforts to cope, or failure trying, that would never be found in your bang-bang-get-the-bad-guy flick.

Still, “Dolls” is an unusual movie that doesn’t readily fit into a category. It has a framing device of puppets that turns out to be more integral than a mere framing device. Color and costume are front and center in the presentation. And there are three stories braided together like the rope on the ‘bound beggars’.

Did you like this? Is it too stylized or abstract?