Dolls Reviews

• Love's Tragedy

  
  By A2B8GXSCB1R05T on 2005-03-03
  Based on the themes and aesthetics of Bunraku, traditional Japanese puppet theater, "Dolls" is a deliberate attempt to blend an ancient Japanese art form with modern technology and sensibilities.
  
  Like "Double Suicide," another Japanese film based on Bunraku, the film begins with the puppets on stage being manipulated by their handlers, then transitions intolive actors. Also in common with "Double Suicide," the film is highly stylistic and modern while retaining the pace and tone of the old-fashioned story telling.
  
  "Dolls" in all covers three stories: Matsumoto and Sawako, the happy couple who's meddling parents as well as their own poor choices leads to tragedy. Hiro, the stereotypical aging Yakuza gangster, kind to children yet ruthless to his enemies, seeking to find a love that was lost to him long ago. Haruna, the once popular singing idol, who's features were marred in an accident and is now lonely and alone, allowing no one to see her face.
  
  As with most Bunraku stories, each is a tale of the tragedy of love, and how exquisite love is often accompanied by exquisite pain. The agony and the ecstasy. But because this is Japan, these fierce emotions are bottled up inside the characters, who show their outward masks attempting to betray nothing of their true feelings. The true story is only available to those who can read between the lines.
  
  In the end, however, what drives "Dolls" is not the story, but the artistry of Kitano's camera. Some of the splendid scenes and colors in "Fireworks" find fruition in "Dolls." He claims that each shot can be framed as a piece of art. The changing colors reflects the traditional Japanese aesthetic of the four seasons, and of the changeability of nature and life. It is a beautiful film.
  
  Some have difficulty accepting Kitano Takeshi as anything other than a violent action director, and those people might have a hard time with the slow pace and brilliant images of "Dolls." It is definitely not going to be everyone's favorite, but it is one of mine.
  
  

• vacuous, pretentious nonsense

  
  By A2803L85VW2Q2 on 2005-02-22
  I love world cinema, but this must rank as one of the worst films I've ever seen. Beggars in designer clothes? They do indeed totter around the landscape like dolls - endlessly. The film is a tragedy which some have described as a poetic examination of true love - I couldn't agree less, the characters lack insight, simply playing out the roles chosen by themselves and society to the bitter end, leaving this reviewer completely unmoved.
  
  Takeshi Kitano has made a super-aesthetic film, but there is no real content here - just a series of meaningless scenes. This film was panned when it was presented at the Venice Festival - the only reason to watch it is to find out why.
  
  

• Broken

  
  By A2CRIEA7FXEFST on 2005-03-07
  For the most part, I believe, when one thinks about the films of Kitano Takeshi one either thinks about such violent yakuza/police films such as _Violent Cop_ or _Firewoks_ or a more humorous Kitano in films such as _Kikujiro_ and _Getting Any?_. However, with this 2002 film, Kitano pushes the envelope to something new and melancholy.
  
  The film begins with a performance of Bunraku, Japanese puppetry. Although the performance is lovely, one wonders what does it actully have to do with the film? This becomes evident when Matsumoto is introduced. Matsumoto is a low ranking salaryman, but one who has a great opportunity to get his foot into the world of Japanese business when his boss asks him to marry his daughter. The girl seems pleased, The girl's parents seem pleased, and Matsumoto's parents are overjoyed because the marriage would equal higher social status not only for their son, but them also. However, there is one major problem: Matsumoto is already engaged and in love to the cute Sawako. However, because of familial pressures, Matsumoto concedes to marry the boss's daughter. As a result, Sawako attempts to commit suicide.
  
  However, Sawako survives her suicide attempt, but is left in a near vegetable state. She does not speak much, and when she does it is usually to inanimate objects. She also has the tendency to wander off, which Matsumoto tries to remedy with by tieing her to a red string which he also ties around his waist. At first they are quite sedentary , but soon they begin wandering the country, eventually dressed in the robes resembling those of Burraku puppets.
  
  The movie does not only center around Matsumoto and Sawako. There is also an old yakua boss, who returns after 30 years to find that the girl he once loved still returns every saturday to a bench in the park to bring him lunch. There is also the sad case of a pop idol who maimed her face in an accident, and the fan who loves her regardless, even going to the extreme to prove his devotion.
  
  Dolls is a fantastic film. Very slow paced, but extraordinarily rich in scenery and subdued emotion. The camera work is lovely, and Japan's changing seasons are given full attention. Autumn's maples are truly fabulous.
  
  
  
  

• Sorrow and Loss

  
  By A1A2B601H44F17 on 2005-03-05
  A truly great film. Kitano has always been one of the most remarkable of film artists: a moving combination of extreme violence and extreme tenderness -- sort of a Japanese mixture of Peckinpah & Max Ophuls. Who else, other than Nicholas Ray, can claim such a range? "Dolls" -- released to empty houses back in 2002, and finally making it to the cinematically barren shores of the USA in '05 -- is Kitano at his most tender. Three stories are interwoven, and the dolls of the title refer, of course, to those among us -- a vanishing breed -- whose depth of love is just too strong for the world. They live in a world beyond ours. Characters such as this once held a prime place in the focus of world art. (Balzac made a career of them.) No more, outside of hearts such as Kitano's. Much, I imagine, in this movie comes from his life. The aging Yakuza(wonderfully played by Tatsuya Mihasi)is Kitano the guilty husband. The lonely celebrity disfigured by car accident leads back to Kitano's near-death in a motorcycle crack-up. Perhaps the lonely woman embodied by Chieko Matsubara and the main character Sawako is the director's dual valentine of apology to his loyal wife. Where it all comes from doesn't really matter. What does matter are some of the most moving moments in modern cinema: the fade out on the groupie madly in love with the pretty pop star, as he rocks out, headphones on, alone in his bedroom; the moment of recognition by Mihasi as he sees Chieko Matsubara still waiting, years later, at their chosen bench; Sawako holding up her angel necklace, as she and her lover gaze back into time, seeing the moment when the necklace was first given to her; the groupie and the pop star "smelling the roses"; the incomparable moment when Matsumoto, Miho Kanno's betrayer, realizes his fate is forever linked with hers, and he leads her toward the road they must take together. Kitano's films have always been about the struggle to protect love(romantic and fraternal) through violence. "Hana-bi"(literal translation: "Fire Flower") is the greatest of these works. Here, there is no violence. Only the sadness at the end of all roads taken to embody love, at the cost of everything else. The music by Joe Hisaishi and the photography by Katsumi Yanagishima are beyond compare. An absolutely must see film.
  
  

• I love it!

  
  By A3TKELWJDPJPIM on 2006-03-22
  Wonderful movie! Very emotionally touching and you can really feel for the characters. And yes, at some points, it's quite a tear-jerker.
  
  
• Mysterious and Serene
  By A281NPSIMI1C2R on 2006-10-12
  Throughout Dolls you feel as if you are observing the life of two Banraku dolls on an inner journey to escape the prison of their reality as they tell their story through three couples who seem to be struggling with similar themes and emotional issues.
  
  This almost silent contemplative art is much more poetic than dramatically complex and yet intricately woven so as to mingle the dreams and imaginings of six souls longing for completion.
  
  There is a contrast of serenity with conflict and it feels like the couples in the story are playing out the stories told by the Dolls. In one gorgeous scene the couple bound by a red cord dress like the dolls and that makes the ending highly evocative and memorably poetic in the most intriguing of ways.
  
  While viewing this movie you may feel more inclined to write poetry or phrases and have strange thoughts like: "I am tied to your heart with a crimson rope. When you fall, I trip so easily over myself." In a way, you write many of the words of the script in your own mind and in that way make the movie your own. At the moment where they fall down a hill, you also see the puppets and it feels like the puppeteers are controlling the couple's life in reality.
  
  Dolls is an especially serene and visually stunning contemplative moment of art. The trees bursting with autumn grandeur are beautifully filmed and the red rope is strangely interesting as it trails along the ground, picking up leaves or pulling across snow or keeping the couple together even in chaotic dreams. The pacing is especially relaxing and you are left in an almost mysteriously silent mood.
  
  ~The Rebecca Review
  
  
• DOLLS is mystifying
  By A2PLWJVM15L9T8 on 2005-08-19
  With the influx of MTV-style editing and pacing into practically all of today's storytelling mediums, Takeshi Kitano's DOLLS is a remarkably quiet film. It harkens back to a more patient time, and challenges its audience with non-linear storytelling and vague visual metaphor. Equal parts Yasujiro Ozu and Seijun Suzuki, DOLLS is aimed at the patient intelligent filmgoer. The explosive violence of Brother or Zatoichi is no where to be found; comedic moments are few and far between. Kitano chooses to focus on the tragedy of life and love instead of death or revenge, and his deliberate style paints a picture worthy of hanging next to any classic Japanese fable. Fitting, since one such fable sets the film into motion. Meido no Hikyaku (The Courier from Hell), a landmark bunraku-japanese puppet theater-play by Japanese dramatist Monzaemon Chikamatsu, tells the story of a lowly courier who steals public funds to free his lover from her life of prostitution. Betrayed by a friend, Monzaemon and his lover flee to his hometown, hoping to die there together. This tragic pair inspires three interwoven, non-linear modern stories that echo the emotion and tragedy of Chikamatsu's tale; at times, like gods, the puppets watch over or directly influence the `real world' events.
  
  The three stories themselves are, at best, standard. The characters are pulled directly from the shelf. Their relationships are predictable: a woman destroyed by her lover's parents' lust for their son to marry up the social ladder; a yakuza boss and the brief love of his youth, meeting after decades of separation; a pop idol and her most obsessive fan. As the stories progress, paralleling each other in various, sometimes symbolic, manners, we are never intellectually surprised by the proceedings. Yet, through manipulation of this predictability, DOLLS devastates emotionally. Like the best fables, the surroundings are familiar, but the path is jarring. Technically, Kitano effectively experiments with Eisenstein's Soviet Montage Theory. Juxtaposition of images, both for symbolic and practical storytelling purposes, is in large part what makes the film so poetic, haunting, and effective. The seasons, whose colors are captured with staggering beauty by Katsumi Yanagishima (Battle Royale, Go, all of Kitano's films except Violent Cop and Hanabi), are as crucial and focused upon as any of the characters.
  
  Perhaps the film to most appropriately compare with DOLLS is Akira Kurosawa's Dreams. Both films are giant leaps into artistic experimentation by directors most well known for striking realism. Both move slowly, conjoin multiple stories and focus as strongly on symbolism and nature as on any storyline. Dreams is an undisputed masterwork, but Kitano's film takes more risks-almost all of which enhance the film-and achieves a greater sense of whole than Kurosawa's. It is interesting that Kitano followed up his biggest cinematic gamble with his most commercial and, arguably, most entertaining film to date (Zatoichi). This should not be surprising, however, coming from Japan's most consistently unpredictable auteur. DOLLS requires intense viewer patience, but for an audience open to the film's challenges, Kitano's film proves immensely rewarding.
  
  
• Takes my Breathe Away
  By A1SS9Q0ZTQUDZK on 2005-03-11
  The beauty of this movie is beyond belief. Every scene is like a painting. The loves stories take you deep into the dark heart of love. The movie follows three love stories that go through the seasons. The stories end-up intertwined. Just brilliant and beautiful.
  
  
• What a great film!!!
  By A2C2MHV38M368K on 2005-03-18
  This movie was beautifully filmed and directed. The story line is great the three stories of love and sadness are very moving, recommend this movie to all. Great movie!!!
  
  
• Beautiful Film
  By A18UWVAW5Q912V on 2005-04-01
  The best thing about this movie is its breathtaking cinematography. The shots, colors, composition, everything, makes it one of the most visually interesting movies I have seen in some time.On another level, the story is great. Its about the tragedy of love but it is done in a very unique way. These three stories (tied together by a red chord) touch on variety of human emotions. This is a must see in my book.
  
  
• lost lovers, Japanese style
  By AQ990HW13DP08 on 2007-01-24
  Matsumoto left his job on his wedding day to return to his true love Sawako, who in despair at his decision to marry another girl (the daughter of his boss) for parental approval tried to kill herself. She failed, and her attempt left her speechless, emotionally vacant, and prone to bizarre behavior like shoplifting. But he devotes himself fully to her, and throughout the film the two lovers reconnect not only literally but also metaphorically when, bound by a red cord around their waists, they wander together as "bound beggars" throughout the four seasons of the year. In a parallel love story, the old man Hiro reflects on how he left his girl for a job when he was as young (the opposite of Matsumoto's choice). He too reconnects since when he left decades earlier his lover promised to wait for him every Saturday with a box lunch. True to her word, Hiro finds her waiting, in the same dress and in the exact same place. In a third story, a famous pop icon Haruna is disfigured in a car accident, and agrees to meet an infatuated groupie, Nukui, who blinded himself out of devotion to her. Tragedy, tenderness, devotion, and brutal murders characterize all three stories. Dolls was an official selection at film festivals in Toronto, London, New York, and Cannes. The visuals in this film are stunning, but I am sure that the cultural subtleties and symbolism are lost on viewers like me who do not understand Japanese culture well enough. In Japanese with English subtitles.
  
  
• Highly recommend this movie!
  By A27U6EHD9Q3WRW on 2005-03-19
  I completely enjoyed this movie...it is a tragic love story, and it was very well filmed...the cinematography is absolutley amazing! No one can disagree with me on that. I think everyone should give this movie a shot.
  
  
• Question
  By AKAXJHVMQ6LMU on 2005-07-10
  As of July 9, 2005, Amazon does not have this info on their site about this product....a suggestion was sent to them that they do not have enough information on their site about this product, but that was over a month ago.
  
  Does anyone know if the original Japanese audio track is on this DVD, and if so, does this particular DVD have English subtitles availalbe?
  
  
• great stuff, redundant execution
  By AKYNIMNI8LOBP on 2007-06-18
  There is a lot to admire in Takeshi Kitano's canon of work. The diversity alone should earn him an early Lifetime Achievement Award from SOMEBODY for making it clear that Japanese culture is deep and complex rather than silly and purely imitative. Kitano has provided us with humor in his series _Takeshi's Castle_, which was later revitalized (and redubbed) for the amazing MXC - Most Extreme Elimination Challenge Season One, action and more than a little creepiness as the schoolmaster in Battle Royale, touching and human direction in movies like Brother and A Scene at the Sea and pure, gritty masterwork like Fireworks. Sometimes he crosses boundaries within the same work, and sometimes he'll just show up as a kind of villain (maybe?) in Johnny Mnemonic.
  
  I go through all of this history because I want to be clear that I have the highest respect for Takeshi Kitano, and I think this film has a wonderful base to it, but as a whole product I find it rather wanting and even a little redundant, giving me the willies at the thought that Takeshi Kitano might be falling back on previous success to define some of his latest work, and I think that would be an extreme shame for someone who has been so creative and multifaceted.
  
  _Dolls_ revolves on the metaphor of misery--the sadness that people create in their own lives and the prices they pay with that sadness. The centerpiece is the sad story of Matsumoto and Sawako. These two youngsters plan to get married, but then Matsumoto caves in to pressure from his parents to marry the daughter of his boss. On the day of the wedding, Matsumoto finds out that Sawako tried to kill herself. Matsumoto leaves the wedding to get Sawako out of the hospital, and he leaves everything (his parents, his job, his future) to take Sawako away.
  
  But Sawako is greatly ill from her traumatic experience and is almost child-like, especially in the way she wanders off, so Matsumoto ties them together with a red clothesline, and they become known as the 'bound beggars.' Their wandering lets them encounter others who have their own pain in their lives--an aging yakuza who regrets leaving behind his first girlfriend, a disfigured pop star and her stalker, etc. We watch as they struggle with their lives, which have been made nearly unbearable by their mistakes and decisions. Some may have the capacity to end happily, but all will clearly struggle. Hidetoshi Nishijima and Miho Kanno are quite wonderful as the young couple, and Takeshi Kitano even throws in some comic relief through a wheelchair-bound moocher and his lackey (and even a pair of salarymen who serve as a kind of chorus).
  
  In all, the ideas and the metaphors are tight in this film, but the execution lessens my interest in this. It would almost seem that Kitano learned a kind of laundry list of items to throw in for critical appeal (random slow-mo sequences, alinearity, deep-sounding soundtrack but really just inappropriate for the most part and annoying) and runs through the gamut when out to make an arthouse film. These tricks were already used in films like _Fireworks_ and Kikujiro, and so here they feel a little stale and out of place. Kitano's meditative leads has also been a little played out by now, and so this film gets dragged down by its forced stylism that comes across more as Kitano trying to make sure that it is indeed Kitano behind the camera, just like Quentin Tarantino has to make sure that you know when he's in the director's chair.
  
  This film may get some critical praise from those who are suckers for this kind of stylization, but I have high hopes that Kitano will find his own way to tell his stories quite uniquely with each film and get him that kind of spot that Kurosawa or Scorsese holds.
  
  
  
• Simply Stunning
  By A3AJZOJY2OGU2Z on 2007-07-06
  I bought this item and before I watched it I tried to explain the plot to a couple people and failed miserably. I began to worry about whether or not this film would be interesting at all. I am a fan of Takeshi Kitano but I heard in so many places that it was very different from his other work.
  
  It started off a little slow, a lot of shots seemed to linger a bit longer than you feel comfortable with. While some people would see this as boring and pointless, I began to realize that this film had something deeper, more innate to it. Just the way the shots were made brought a certain life to the film, something that can't be achieved by words alone.
  
  The film is not about action, or witty dialogue, however it is a film about emotion. I jest that it has a silent protagonist (Matsumoto) since there are actually so few lines spoken by him. Even though there weren't many lines at all, the film focused on character emotion. This can be seen beautifully in Sawako's plight after the ball toy was crushed. Once again it was a shot that lingered, but each time she tried to use it, you could see the sadness in her face, her constant reminder how everything she loves ends up dying. This theme, though never directly said, was so powerful and it made you really feel the emotions of the character.
  
  This film almost makes you lose all hope, it is a very depressing, real film that most people probably wouldn't appreciate. This is not a fairy tale where everyone lives happily ever after, it brings harsh reality to situations and leaves you with an almost empty feeling at the end.
  
  I can safely say that this film has a lot to offer to those willing to take it in. If nothing else appreciate the beauty of the camera shots taken as this is another amazing point of the film. The scenery is nothing short of astounding throughout the film.
  This film needs to be taken in and allowed to swell inside for a good while to really understand it, like I said, approach with an open mind and you will not be disappointed; after all, it is a Takeshi Kitano film, and it doesn't fail to deliver.
  
  
• Beautiful Tragedy
  By A2H15B6RP4LUN8 on 2007-07-16
  This is a film that haunts. Fantastic cinematography almost overpower the tales of yearning, betrayal and karma. A beautiful score and excellent performances bring it all together.
  
  
• The Most Pretentious movie of the Year
  By A3I7OX03X6KDMN on 2005-03-19
  After this movie was over I needed a nap. I'm sure that it was not intended to be this boring, but I just can't get myself to appreciate these Asians mood pieces. I'm sure the goal here was to be some sort of visual poem, but at times it went so over board with the pretension I just had to laugh (a man get shot, and instead of blood, we see...a red leaf fall into a river). That's not to say some of these shots weren't beautiful, they just weren't necessary. For example, the shot where some of the characters are walking in front of a wall of pinwheels. Yes, it looks very nice, but it is not needed so it detracts from the shot. I'm just not sure why the Asians are so set on slow paced movies that glorify mood at the expense of narrative. I don't think of Asia as an especially calm place, well maybe Tibet. At least when you sit down to watch a Ming-liang Tsai movie you know his pacing habits. It's slow paced because he'll watch somebody walk up a flight of stairs for 10 minutes, here there was stuff going on screen, but it was not useful to the plot either. Call me crazy but I like my movies with a story. This one does have some semblance of a story, but (of course) it is fractured. The theme that overrides this movie is success vs. love. Characters turn on each other because they are too successful or not successful enough, always destroying their personal relationships. Because of this I believe the only character the director truly liked was the lowly street worker. Yes he had a very unsuccessful job and his love affair was thin to say the least, but at least that came before directing traffic. A much better Asian movie that touches on a similar topic is "Oasis." That movie explored its ideas without time out for shots of hats falling off a cliff. Avoid "Dolls," as it is not a good movie. *3/4
  
  
• Dolls stands above
  By ALL0FUR61FN8J on 2005-06-26
  Master filmmaker Takeshi Kitano returns behind the camera for the first time since his indifferently received English-language effort Brother (2000) with this operatic tale of lost love. Dolls takes puppeteering as its overriding motif - specifically, the kind practiced in Bunraku doll theater performances - opening each section of his film with a story provided by the puppets and their masters, which relates thematically to the action provided by the live characters. Chief among those tales is the story of Matsumoto (Hidetoshi Nishijima) and Sawako (Miho Kanno), 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. He initially agrees, causing the unstable Sawako to be committed to a psychiatric hospital. When he leaves his new bride at the altar to save Sawako, however, he realizes that she's so incapable of caring for herself that she needs to be tied to him with a red rope. This is a fine articulate story of bunkoko ,love ,vengence ,horror and love highly recommend it.
  
  
• Not Like A Throwaway Barbie, These "Dolls" Are Collector's Items To Be Cherished
  By A27H9DOUGY9FOS on 2006-12-07
  I went into "Dolls" only vaguely aware of what it was. I remembered its theatrical release, but nothing about the movie specifically. I was, therefore, taken completely by surprise by this magical, beautiful, haunting, sad movie. Dealing with the themes of love, loss, and sacrifice--I was amazed that this quiet tale packed such an emotional punch. Ostensibly, the film seeks to blend the aesthetic of classic Japanese puppetry with modern day sensibilities. Not knowing much about the art of Bunraku, I can't comment on how effective this was. However, the film as a film is definitely noteworthy.
  
  The plot follows three separate stories. The primary action revolves around a young couple. Once engaged, the young man left the young woman and drove her to attempted suicide and madness. When discovering this, he abandons everything in life to be with her even though her mind is gone. They wander the countryside tied together, destitute, silent. It's a powerful story of love and commitment--almost wordless and completely unique. Other story threads involve a pop singer who becomes disfigured and an aging Yakuza boss reconnecting with a lost love. With much simplicity and beauty, elements in each story will make you smile and then break your heart.
  
  Whether or not you like "Dolls," no one can deny its visual appeal. This is one of the most technically astute films that I have seen in quite some time. It is an absolutely gorgeous moving canvas of colors and images. The cinematography and art direction are impeccable and every scene is memorably constructed. The sometimes surreal quality of the procession creates a tangible mood--sad and haunting. The color palette adds artistry and interest. And the construction of the film, its editing, also enhances the story. The interwoven storylines and the dynamically inserted flashbacks are used to great affect.
  
  I know there are some people (including a friend of mine) who finds this film dull and/or pretentious. The film's pacing is methodical, but I was fascinated not only by the beautiful imagery but by the haunting storyline. And I am not a fan of being self-consciously "arty" to no purpose, but I found lots of depth, feeling and meaning to this work--its "arty" nature, for me, served the film well. It's even more impressive that the film, while minimalist, could create such strong and lasting emotions in the viewer. The film lingers in my mind, I have thought of it often. That's a huge compliment--I'm not necessarily an emotional audience, so anything that makes a real connection with me earns my respect.
  
  I recommend this film wholeheartedly. Not necessarily for mass audiences, but lovers of film will have much to admire within "Dolls." KGHarris, 12/06.
  
  
• Poetic And Visually Stunning: Love And Anguish!
  By A2F5PAC9I5SCG6 on 2007-01-07
  WARNING: This Is Not A Film For Everyone. Some may find the film pretentious or vacuous. However, it is not! "Dolls," by director Takeshi Kitano, along with the terrific cinematography of Katsumi Yanagishima, is a wonderful film. The use of seasonal changes is both poetic and powerful. The film opens with a Bunraku puppet theatre performance and segues into three stories. These stories deal with love and the meaning of life. And although the film is slow paced, it does not detract from the meaning or beauty of this terrific film. If you are looking for action, look elsewhere, this film is not about that. This is a film about three stories of regret, sorrow, loss, and sadness to name just a few themes.
  
  Moreover, the cinematography in the film is very much a part of the film, just as the characters themselves are. The more I have seen of Takeshi Kitano's films, the more and more I have become impressed with his work. Unlike many of Kitano's past films, where violence is a major theme, here you have an introspective film with metaphors, symbolism, and tragedy which hides behind each of the characters. And each of these stories weaves a tale imbued with a regret and sadness that will not leave you feeling happy: Yet it will make you think about the meaning of life.
  
  Also, I was really impressed with cinematographer Katsumi Yanagishima; and especially the way he was able to use color as a visual representation of the seasonal changes. These powerful representations of the color spectrum enhanced the film tremendously, and were just stunningly beautiful. This is definitely a very emotionally draining film, but one that is well worth the purchase. This is just a small part of what this film gives the viewer. This film was presented at the Venice film festival, where it did not receive any good reviews. Moreover, it was pretty much trashed in Japan too. But you should not let this deter you from viewing this film; I will admit that this is not a film for everyone; but everyone should at least take the time to see this film at least once in their life. Recommended with extreme caution. Rent it first.
  
  

• Last Life in the Universe
• Zatoichi /Sonatine Double Bill
• Kikujiro
• Fireworks
• Battle Royale Directors Cut