Dolls ドールズ (2002)

Dolls   

ドールズ 「Do-ruzu」

Release Date:  2002 (Japan)

UK Release Date: March 14^th, 2016

UK Distributor: Third Window Films

Running Time: 114 mins.

Director: Takeshi Kitano

Writer: Takeshi Kitano (Screenplay),

Starring: Miho Kanno, Hidetoshi Nishijima, Tatsuya Mihashi, Chieko Matsubara, Kyoko Fukada, Kanji Tsuda, Kayoko Kishimoto, Ren Osugi, Yuko Daike,

IMDB

Dolls is a beautiful film about love, love that is betrayed and love that is lost and regained. It is a gorgeous film visually and aurally, absolutely stunning at points.

Third Window Films Release Takeshi Kitano’s Dolls on Blu-ray on March 14th

Third Window Films are releasing a series of films by Takeshi Kitano on Blu-ray as Office Kitano updates the titles with 2K masters. Regular readers will know that I have reviewed Hana-bi and Kikujiro and next Monday I hope to review the latest film to get a release in the series, Dolls.

I was in high school when this was released and I must admit to being turned off by the obvious artiness of it, which isn’t to say that it’s bad so much as my taste ran more to his more violent gangster films. When I was in university I came to love his more sedate films like A Scene at the Sea and Kids Return. Like those two films, Dolls doesn’t feature Kitano acting on screen and it features a score by Joe Hisaishi (his last collaboration with Kitano). I suppose now is a great time to see how far my views have changed since it’s getting a release on March 14^th!

Here’s some info from a press release!

Wild 7 ワイルド７ (2011)

Wild 7                                            

Japanese Title: ワイルド７

Romaji: Wairudo 7

Release Date: December 21^st, 2011 (Japan)

Running Time: 109 mins.

Director: Eiichiro Hasumi

Writer: Mikiya Mochizuki (Original Manga), Masaki Fukasawa (Screenplay),

Starring: Eita, Kippei Shiina, Yuika Motokariya, Kyoko Fukada, Ryuhei Maruyama, Tsuyoshi Abe, Takashi Ukaji, Kiichi Nakai, Kotaro Yoshida, Yusuke Hirayama, Minoru Matsumoto, Jun Kaname,

Wild 7 was one of the first in a series of major live-action movies produced and released by Warner Bros. Japan in what has turned into a trend of adapting a series of famous manga and anime into movies. The list includes Rurouni Kenshin (2012), Black Butler (2014), and Ninja Kids!!! (2011), and Berserk (2012). The formula is simple, take something with an in-built fanbase and brand recognition which has enough elements like action and romance to appeal to a mainstream audience, and make a film with a decent budget, handsome actors and actresses and a solid director. The results so far have been high quality entertainment and this film is no exception.