Being the ignorant pleb that I am I haven’t actually seen any of the films that the multi-talented cult figure Takeshi Kitano has directed; all I know is that his films frequently involve crime thriller-type themes, striking instances of humour and a distinctive and individual style. As a first experience of Kitano the director then, Dolls is a surprising one because it’s a very experimental piece that defies mainsteam classification. It takes a very unusual approach to storytelling in comparison to those I’m used to: the stories may come across as clichéd at first glance but in terms of execution a conventional romance it certainly isn’t.

The allusions to bunraku puppet theatre were lost on me since I know nothing about the medium but I don’t think it’s necessary to be familiar with the details to appreciate the movie as a whole. The film relies heavily on symbolism and metaphor, which extends from the puppets that make the ‘dolls’ of the title to most of the movie overall. It is very stylised so the narrative shouldn’t be taken literally and at face value; those who prefer their drama more realistic might find it odd that the events portrayed are shown like some sort of stage play. It could also be argued that the characters are indeed like emotionless puppets playing out their roles but that I think is missing the point.