Dolls
Another pure original from Takeshi Kitano
In Dolls, a man who once drove his beloved to attempt suicide now wanders the earth connected to her by a long red cord; an old yakuza boss who long ago chose gang life over love returns to the park where his sweetheart used to bring him lunch; and a reclusive, disfigured pop star is adored by an ardent fan. Love and faith, Takeshi Kitano suggests in his lyrical and typically original film, can coexist with impossibility and loss.
Released after Zatoichi but made before it, this singular work finds the Japanese Renaissance man in a romantically melancholy mood. And to tell his three stories of happy/sad devotion, he moves fluidly between flesh-and-blood performers and traditional Bunraku theater puppets. The seasons change, and the varying light only emphasizes the brilliance of the costumes, by avant-garde designer Yohji Yamamoto (who declares himself a ''Kitano-film freak''). As an exception to the norm, Kitano doesn't appear this time, confining himself merely to writing, directing, and editing. As is the norm, Dolls is nothing like what he's done before, and probably nothing like what Kitano will do next. (L. Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly)
Dolls
Sat February 19, 2005, 7:00 & 9:30, Muenzinger Auditorium
Japan, 2002, in Japanese, Color, 115 min, Unrated • official site
Tickets
10 films for $60 with punch card
$9 general admission.
$7 w/UCB student ID,
$7 for senior citizens
$1 discount to anyone with a bike helmet
Free on your birthday! CU Cinema Studies students get in free.
Parking
Pay lot 360 (now only $1/hour!), across from the buffalo statue and next to the
Duane Physics tower, is closest to Muenzinger. Free parking can be found after 5pm at the meters
along Colorado Ave east of Folsom stadium and along University Ave west of Macky.
RTD Bus
Park elsewhere and catch the HOP to campus
International Film Series
(Originally called The University Film Commission)
Established 1941 by James Sandoe.
First Person Cinema
(Originally called The Experimental Cinema Group)
Established 1955 by Carla Selby, Gladney Oakley, Bruce Conner and Stan Brakhage.
C.U. Film Program
(AKA The Rocky Mountain Film Center)
First offered degrees in filmmaking and critical studies in 1989 under the guidance of Virgil
Grillo.
Celebrating Stan
Created by Suranjan Ganguly in 2003.
C.U. Department of Cinema Studies & Moving Image Arts
Established 2017 by Chair Ernesto Acevedo-Muñoz.