Air Doll

Kūki Ningyō
dir. Hirokazu Koreeda
Japan 2009, 116’
subtitles: Polish and English

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Theatrical Screenings
We 13 Nov, 18:15
Kinoteka 2
Kinoteka 2
Su 17 Nov, 12:30
Kinoteka 1
Kinoteka 1
Online Availability
13 Nov, 10:00 – 1 Dec
Additional Materials
Credits
Japan 2009
Duration: 116’
director: Hirokazu Koreeda
screenplay: Yoshiie Goda, Hirokazu Koreeda
cinematography: Ping Bin Lee
editing: Hirokazu Koreeda
music: Katsuhiko Maeda
sound: Yutaka Tsurumaki
cast: Bae Doona, Arata Iura, Itsuji Ito, Joe Odagiri, Sumiko Fuji
producer: Takeo Hisamatsu, Kazumi Kawashiro, Yutaka Shigenobu, Masao Teshima
production: Engine Film
language: Japanese
colouration: colour
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Film description

Hideo, a lonely middle-aged man, embodies all the stereotypes of the Japanese fetishists. He is in a relationship with an inflatable sex doll named Nozomi: he dresses her, talks to her, fixes her makeup, cooks for her, and, of course, loves her with all his heart and body, rhyming his life with "Lars and the Real Girl." But as soon as he leaves for work, Nozomi comes to life. The "girl" quickly finds a job at a local video rental shop in Tokyo and starts getting to know the metropolis through the stories of the people she meets there, all the while searching for an answer to a haunting question – what are human feelings?

Koreeda flawlessly captures the sense of disorientation in the face of Tokyo's rapid modernization. In his most cinephilic and melancholic film, the master of children's cinema focuses on family bonds and tells the story of getting to know Tokyo as if through the eyes of a child. The doll that comes to life becomes a keen observer of reality, amazed by the state of human relationships and fascinated by her interactions with the inhabitants of the metropolis. "Air Doll" is an attempt to paint a portrait of Japan a decade after the economic crisis and just before Fukushima – at a time when the air that breathed life into the Japanese nation seemed to be leaking out.

text:
Łukasz Mańkowski

Hirokazu Koreeda

Filmography:

1995 Maboroshi no hikari / Maborosi 
1998 Po życiu / Wandafuru raifu / After Life 
2001 Oddalenie / Distance 
2004 Nikt nie wie / Dare mo shiranai / Nobody Knows 
2006 Hana yori mo naho / Hana 
2008 Ciągle na chodzie / Aruitemo, aruitemo / Still Walking 
2009 Dmuchana lala / Kūki Ningyō /Air Doll
2011 Życzenie / Kiseki / I Wish 
2013 Jak ojciec i syn / Soshite chichi ni naru / Like Father, Like Son 
2015 Nasza młodsza siostra / Umimachi Diary / Our Little Sister 
2017 Sandome no satsujin / The Third Murder 
2018 Złodziejaszki / Manbiki kazoku / Shoplifters 
2019 Prawda / La vérité / The Truth 
2022 Baby Broker / Beurokeo / Broker 
2023 Kaibutsu / Monster

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