Dolls

Dolls (2002) is a Japanese drama by Takeshi Kitano available to watch online on iFILM. Three separate stories, all circling the same idea: love abandoned in pursuit of something else, and the weight of that choice decades later. The film moves at the pace of a scroll painting, with Yohji Yamamoto's costumes burning against autumn forests in shades that barely look like film.

A young man leaves his girlfriend for an arranged marriage and learns she has lost her mind from the heartbreak. He ties a red rope around them both and they wander the seasons together. An aging yakuza boss — wealthy, dying, alone — finds his way back to a park bench where a girl once brought him lunch every day for years before he chose ambition over her. A devoted fan blinds himself after an accident; his idol disfigures her own face so he will not recognize her and feel guilt.

Kitano — far better known for his crime films — made something here that barely resembles them. The bunraku puppet-theater motif running through the film asks how much of what we call fate is just consequences of choices we made ourselves. Stream Dolls (2002) online on iFILM.