Bae Duna in new movie

[ginnycat5]

"Air Doll" was reviewed this morning in the Chicago Tribune on page 5 of the Movies/Live section. Two and a half stars rating. Plays Friday -Thursday at Facets Cinematique, 1517 W. Fullerton Av.

Dratted Trib website wouldn't cough up the review. It's headline is "Roundup", and the first review is "Genius Within: the inner life of Glenn Gould"
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Hideo (Itsuji Itao) waits tables in a Western eatery and has a perfectly happy existence with Nozomi at home. He chats with her over the dinner table, makes love to her in bed and says goodbye to her every morning. Thing is, Nozomi is actually an inflatable doll.

Just after he's left for work one day, the doll starts to twitch in bed and morphs into a real woman (Bae Du-na), who stares in wonder at the real world and walks around the quiet neighborhood, imitating people's speech and behavioral patterns.

Though Bae spends notable sections of the movie in her birthday suit, the actress brings a wide-eyed innocence to her role that prevents the film from becoming mired in its sexual connotations. Even Nozomi's introduction to human carnality is handled with simplicity.

Offbeat beauty Bae is perfectly cast by Japanese director Hiro-kau Koreeda; other roles are handled OK. But at more than two hours, the jam is simply spread too thin. Review by Derek Elley, Variety
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(Older review, too brief:
"Air Doll" (Friday-Sept. 23): A stylized, postmodern riff on "Pinocchio," this urban anti-fairy tale from Japan (adapted from a graphic novella) is the story of an inflatable doll that comes to life — facets.org.
www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/movies/ct-ae-0912-mov-local-preview-20100912,0,5754416.story )

Google this for more:
variety, derek elley, air doll

Bae was innocent in "Someday" too. The plot reminds me of Splash, when Darryl Hannah first walked on land. Fish out of water, LOL.

[ginnycat5]

More about Air Doll at
www.facets.org/pages/cinematheque/films/sept2010/airdoll.php
including interviews, reviews, the trailer for the US, and some photos.

[Ken]

Thanks for the info. We're going to see it!

It should be doubly interesting because Air Doll is actually a Japanese movie and if it's anywhere near as good as Bae Doona's other Japanese movie, Linda Linda Linda, it should be really excellent. If it's like any of her other movies, the synopsis won't do it justice. I have to believe that the Tribune critic was in a bad mood or has some kind of disorder to give it that rating. Bae Doona always chooses excellent projects - we've seen most of her entire filmography by now and there's not a bad movie or series in the bunch, which is why we watch whatever she's in.

[TheBo]

Disorder? ROFL.

[MTR]

Many rave about Koreeda but sadly im not one of them his films are long in the tooth to say the least ,even though the prospect of Bae losing her laundry may be enticing to many of us men its still not enough to warrant the pain of sitting through another 2 plus hours of Koreeda tedium .
Now for a few good Japanese films im waiting on ''Zatoichi The Last" ,Miike's 13 Assassins ,Sakurada Mon and a big buzz on these three K Films "I Saw The Devil ",The Man From Nowhere" and "Bedeviled "

[TheBo]

Sept 23, 2010 17:10:44 GMT -5 MTR said:

Many rave about Koreeda but sadly im not one of them his films are long in the tooth to say the least ,even though the prospect of Bae losing her laundry may be enticing to many of us men its still not enough to warrant the pain of sitting through another 2 plus hours of Koreeda tedium....

ROFL domyoungchun.

Bo

[Ken]

Sept 23, 2010 17:10:44 GMT -5 MTR said:

Many rave about Koreeda but sadly im not one of them his films are long in the tooth to say the least ,even though the prospect of Bae losing her laundry may be enticing to many of us men its still not enough to warrant the pain of sitting through another 2 plus hours of Koreeda tedium .
Now for a few good Japanese films im waiting on ''Zatoichi The Last" ,Miike's 13 Assassins ,Sakurada Mon and a big buzz on these three K Films "I Saw The Devil ",The Man From Nowhere" and "Bedeviled "

I hate to say it, but you were right on target, dm - this turned out to be a pretty tedious film, though it certainly wasn't Bae Doona's fault. She carried the movie as much as she possibly could and I have to give the movie some credit for trying a make a serious statement about alienation, but Air Doll turned out to be a very wierd amalgam of Chekov's A Doll's House, The Stepford Wives and Pinocchio. There were a few brilliant sequences, such as Doona's walking around the neighborhood just after her awakening dressed as a French maid taking in everything, but being completely oblivious to people's reactions.
For a movie that has aspirations of being serious art, much of it is heavyhanded or half-baked. I guess the movie didn't really intend to be plausible, but it needed to make more sense than it did, especially the ending.

I also take back what I wrote about the Tribune critic having a disorder - his review turned out to be pretty accurate and two and a half stars is just about right. Doona was very good as exdpected and the movie has some goodnesses, but its weaknesses and length (and wierdness) overshadow a lot of that.

[ginnycat5]

Ken, thanks for the first-hand report. I'm not sorry I missed it, now.

[ginnycat5]

More about Bae Doona: While searching for a schedule for Ch. 41, I found a directory of actresses and found a photo of Bae Doona posted: www.hancinema.net/korean_actresses.php Surprisingly revealing vest.... I think of her as reserved and mostly serious, but I guess that impression shows that she's a good actress.

[TheBo]

Ginny, I think you were trying to link to her photo page--that there you have is just for all the actresses.

Here's her gallery: Bae Doona

Let's see if I can link to the actual photo I think you're talking about:

photo 199331

[ginnycat5]

Bo, thank you for the links! The site changed the photo too. Today (on that page I linked to) in the place for Bae Doona, she's elegantly dressed instead of having tousled hair and a skimpy vest.

[TheBo]

Hmm. I guess we're destined for confusion. LOL...