Director Hirokazu Koreeda boldly took on the challenge of making a film about a sex doll, a story based on an original manga series. The main character, Nozomi, starts out as a woman who's never been treated as anything other than a sex object. She is sometimes embodied in the film by an actual doll and other times by Korean actress Bae Doona, a combination that works out very nicely. As she begins to gain more awareness of herself and the world around her, she realizes how human relationships can be infinitely more fulfilling. I don't want to give away too much, but in essence, she seems to discover the link between love and beauty. The notion of a character in search of its human soul is reminiscent of 'Pinocchio' and 'The Little Mermaid' (which is directly referred to in the film). To replace such traditional figures with a sex doll is an interesting concept and I thought Koreeda would get away with it... until I got about halfway through the film, at which point, unfortunately, he lost me.
Koreeda's 2004 film, 'Nobody Knows', is one of my all-time favorites, so I have to admit that I approached 'Air Doll' with very high expectations. The director's style is quiet, delicate, meditative, even feminine, something that is more commonly found in Asian cinema and art. As a Western man, I appreciate it when directors like him provide that sort of aesthetic, which is all too rare on our side of the globe. But as much as I enjoyed that quality in 'Nobody Knows', for example, I felt that 'Air Doll' is excessively sweet. At times, Bae's performance as a doll is very effective, particularly when her facial expressions seem most strange and awkward; but too often, she plays her role in a way that's just too "kawaii" (Japanese for "adorably cutesy") for me. Personally, I find that style more appropriate in animation, and rather too tacky on (live-action) film. The symbolism in 'Air Doll' also seems too heavy-handed and ultimately sinks the film from that wonderful lightness that it achieves in some parts earlier on.
Koreeda's 2004 film, 'Nobody Knows', is one of my all-time favorites, so I have to admit that I approached 'Air Doll' with very high expectations. The director's style is quiet, delicate, meditative, even feminine, something that is more commonly found in Asian cinema and art. As a Western man, I appreciate it when directors like him provide that sort of aesthetic, which is all too rare on our side of the globe. But as much as I enjoyed that quality in 'Nobody Knows', for example, I felt that 'Air Doll' is excessively sweet. At times, Bae's performance as a doll is very effective, particularly when her facial expressions seem most strange and awkward; but too often, she plays her role in a way that's just too "kawaii" (Japanese for "adorably cutesy") for me. Personally, I find that style more appropriate in animation, and rather too tacky on (live-action) film. The symbolism in 'Air Doll' also seems too heavy-handed and ultimately sinks the film from that wonderful lightness that it achieves in some parts earlier on.