A life-size blow-up doll develops a soul and falls in love with a video store clerk.A life-size blow-up doll develops a soul and falls in love with a video store clerk.A life-size blow-up doll develops a soul and falls in love with a video store clerk.
- Awards
- 1 win & 4 nominations
- Junichi
- (as Arata)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaAdapted from "Gouda's Philosophical Discourse: The Pneumatic Figure of a Girl'' (2000), a 20-page graphic short story by manga artist Yoshiie Gouda.
- Quotes
Nozomi: It seems life is constructed in a way that no one can fulfill it alone.
Nozomi: Just as it's not enough for flowers to have pistils and stamens, an insect or a breeze must introduce a pistil to a stamen...
Nozomi: Life contains its own absence, which only an other can fulfill...
Nozomi: It seems the world is the summation of others and yet, we neither know nor are told that we will fulfill each other...
Nozomi: We lead our scattered lives, perfectly unaware of each other...
Nozomi: Or at times, allowed to find the other's presence disagreeable...
Nozomi: Why is it that the world is constructed so loosely?
- ConnectionsFeatured in At the Movies: Cannes Film Festival 2009 (2009)
Indeed, city dwellers resemble sex dolls. Lacking souls and uniqueness, they can be easily substituted by others. Nozomi's sex with three different men exploiting her and treating her as a substitute is one of the examples. Degrading themselves by treating each other as functional objects, they will be forgotten once they become useless. A dead person therefore is depicted as a piece of garbage.
Moreover, some city dwellers prefer to live alone and sometimes they feel lonely. The movie reminds us that humans should have companions. DVDs gradually replacing cinemas also indicates that people nowadays prefer solitude.
Apart from these, city slickers value money and sex more important than soul and love. For instance, a man prefers an air doll to a real woman and even a little girl prefers a ring to a doll given by her mother.
Despite the gloomy atmosphere, the movie reminds us of the cycle of life which consists of not only downs, but also ups. Although plants wither in winter, they grow in spring. Perhaps we should learn from Nozomi who tries to appreciate every moment of happiness, be it fleeting or lasting, for instance, gazing at stars and even a raindrop, admiring the breathtaking scenery in the city, embracing a man she has a crush on while riding on a motorcycle, etc. Indeed, Nozomi is already happier than other real human characters in the movie.
Starring as an inflatable sex doll with a soul, Korean actress Doona Bae (The Host, Linda Linda Linda) gives a convincing and dazzling performance in this Japanese movie. The audience will be amazed by every nuance of her expressions / movements and the daring naked scenes.
The renowned Taiwan cinematographer Mark Ping-bing Lee (In the Mood for Love) succeeds in capturing the mood of this lonely city by often panning his camera slowly to observe loners. The dreamlike music by World's End Girlfriend also adds much purity, mystery and melancholy to this fractured modern fairy tale.
Although the plot would become more substantial if other minor characters were further developed, they help illustrate how lonely and alienated humans are.
After seeing this haunting movie, one may leave the cinema with a heavy heart and a deep sigh, trying to feel one's long-lost soul and pondering on the meaning of ephemeral life.
Hirokazu Koreeda is one of my favorite directors and his previous movies like Maborosi, Nobody Knows and Still Walking are highly recommended.
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Details
Box office
- Gross worldwide
- $1,208,769
- Runtime2 hours 5 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1