Nozomi (Bae Doona) dreams that there’s more to life in Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Air Doll
AIR DOLL (Hirokazu Kore-eda, 2009)
IFC Center
323 Sixth Ave. at West Third St.
Opens Friday, February 4
www.ifccenter.com
Over the last twenty-five years, Japanese filmmaker Hirokazu Kore-eda has compiled a remarkable resume, directing more than a dozen narrative features and five documentaries that investigate such themes as memory and loss. His 2009 film, Air Doll, examines loneliness through the eyes of a blow-up doll come to life. Bae Doona stars as Nozomi, a plastic sex toy owned by Hideo (Itsuji Itao), a restaurant worker who treats her like his wife, telling her about his day, sitting with her at the dinner table, and having sex with her at night. But suddenly, one morning, Nozomi achieves consciousness, discovering that she has a heart, and she puts on her French maid costume and goes out into the world, learning about life by wandering through the streets and working in a video store, always returning home before Hideo and pretending to still be the doll.
Adapted from Yoshiie Goda’s twenty-page manga The Pneumatic Figure of a Girl and inspired by the myth of Galatea, Air Doll is a compelling contemplative study of emptiness and connection. Nozomi’s wide-eyed innocence at the joys of life comes sweet and slowly, played with a subtle wonderment by South Korean model and actress Bae (Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, The Host); the cast also includes Arata, Joe Odagiri, Susumu Terajima, and Kimiko Yo. Gorgeously photographed by Mark Lee Ping-Bing (In the Mood for Love, Flowers of Shanghai), the film does take one nasty turn, but it’s still another contemplative gem from the masterful director of Maborosi, Nobody Knows, Still Walking, and Like Father, Like Son. Air Doll has played numerous festivals over the years but is finally getting its long-overdue official US theatrical release courtesy of Dekanalog, opening February 4 at IFC Center.
Taiwanese auteur Hou Hsiao-hsien pays tribute to master filmmaker Yasujirō Ozu’s centenary with Café Lumiere, a beautifully lyrical yet elegantly simple drama about a young woman making her way through life. Pop star Yo Hitoto stars as Yoko, a woman who spends much of her time riding trains and trolleys to visit bookstore owner Hajime (the always excellent Tadanobu Asano) and to find out more about Chinese composer Jiang Wenye. She also returns home to her stepmother (Kimiko Yo) and father (Nenji Kobayashi); the latter doesn’t react when he finds out that Yoko is pregnant and does not intend to marry her boyfriend. In fact, there are barely any emotional reactions at all, although there are plenty of trains taking the characters where they seemingly want to be. Cinematographer Lee Pingping shot Café Lumiere on location with natural sound and lighting; his camera often lingers statically on a scene as the characters walk in and out of the carefully composed frame and are heard off-screen, in long takes, furthering the illusion of reality — mimicking the truth Ozu strove for in his work. In essence, the film has no beginning, no middle, and no end; it is 104 dazzling minutes in the life of a fascinating woman and her friends and relatives. Café Lumiere is screening December 4 at 4:30 and December 6 at 7:30 as part of the Film Society of Lincoln Center festival “Ozu and His Afterlives,” which honors the 110th anniversary of the master filmmaker’s birth and the 50th anniversary of his death; he died on his birthday at the age of sixty in 1963. The series features Ozu’s An Autumn Afternoon and Equinox Flower in addition to seven works that were either directly or indirectly inspired by Ozu and his unique style, including Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Still Walking, Jim Jarmusch’s Stranger Than Paradise, Aki Kaurismäki’s The Match Factory Girl, Claire Denis’s 35 Shots of Rum, Pedro Costa’s In Vanda’s Room, and Wim Wenders’s Tokyo-Ga.
In a close-knit rural village far from the hustle and bustle of Tokyo, the police have arrived, investigating the mysterious disappearance of Dr. Ino (Tsurube Shofukutei), the local doctor who takes care of everyone’s medical needs, running the clinic and making regular house calls, a trusted figure often seen riding around on his motorized bike, greeting the citizens like an old friend. As the detectives question the residents, flashbacks depict the special relationship that existed between the well-compensated doctor — the town pays him $200,000 a year — and the people. Dr. Ino had recently been joined by an intern, med-school graduate Keisuke Soma (Eita), who showed up in a flashy convertible, upset he didn’t get a position in a Tokyo hospital, but even he was soon won over by Dr. Ino’s charm and skill. But when nurse Akemi Ohtake (Kimiko Yo) has to guide Ino through a difficult procedure and city doctor Ritsuko Torikai (Haruka Igawa) has doubts about how Ino is treating her ill mother (Kaoru Yachigusa), questions arise that bring some surprising answers. Winner of three major categories at the 2009 Hochi Film Awards — Best Director, Best Supporting Actor (Eita), and Best Supporting Actress (Yachigusa) — DEAR DOCTOR is a warm, tender-hearted story written and directed by Miwa Nishikawa, who also earned accolades for her first two films, 2003’s WILD BERRIES and 2006’s SWAY. Shofukutei is terrific as Dr. Ino, a cross between Akira Emoto’s Dr. Akagi and Robin Williams’s Patch Adams (and we mean that in a good way). The solid cast also includes the ubiquitous Teruyuki Kagawa (SWAY, TOKYO SONATA, GOLDEN SLUMBER) as pharmaceutical supplier Masayoshi Saimon. DEAR DOCTOR is a real charmer.