Air Doll Blu-ray - Bae Doona

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S E A R C H D V D B e a v e r

(aka "Air Doll" or "Kûki ningyô')

Directed by Hirokazu Koreeda
Japan 2009

A present-day fable for the increasing disconnect we find in urban life, Hirokazu Kore-eda's Air Doll transports the Galatea myth to present day Tokyo. A life-size air doll (Bae Doona, The Host) lives in a shabby apartment in Tokyo. She cannot speak, nor can she move. But she is the only companion her middle-aged master has. He talks to her, puts her in a bath, and makes love with her every day after he returns from work. This routine life is disrupted when fantasy turns into reality. The air doll suddenly comes to life, filled with a soul. Like a newborn baby, she doesn’t understand what is going on around her, but she sees a world waiting to be explored outside the apartment. Eventually venturing to the outside world, the air doll is fascinated by everything she sees, and though she meets many people in all walks of life, they can't seem to provide her an answer to what "being alive" means. When the air doll wanders into a video store, her world is forever changed. She meets Junichi (Arata Iura, After Life), the clerk, and immediately falls in love with him. The air doll begins working in the store and everyday, she and Junichi become closer. They go to the movies and explore the city together...like a couple. Everything is going perfectly for the air doll, until one day when her hand is accidentally cut and she begins to deflate in front of Junichi! A romantic fantasy that explores the complexities of love and loss, joy and pain, fantasy and reality, this bittersweet love story examines the intricacies and frailties of human existence. Adapted from the manga by Yoshiie Goda and featuring breathtaking cinematography from Mark Lee Ping-Bing (In The Mood For Love).

***

Award-winning filmmaker Kore-eda Hirokazu explores what it means to be human through the experiences of an unlikely heroine: an Air Doll. Appearing in her second Japanese film after Linda Linda Linda, acclaimed Korean actress Bae Du Na stars as an inflatable sex doll that comes to life in the aesthetically and emotionally beguiling fantasy drama based on Goda Yoshiie's manga. Breathing life and charm into her quirky character, Bae Du Na delivers a charming performance that is both whimsical and heartbreaking, and daringly bares all for the film's nude scenes. Arata (Snakes and Earrings), Itsuji Itao (Love Exposure), and Odagiri Joe (Warrior and the Wolf) play the three men who open her eyes to the compassion and cruelty of being human.

Nozomi (Bae Du Na) is an inflatable air doll, nothing more than a sex object for her lonely, doting owner Hideo (Itao Itsuji), but she gradually develops self-awareness. One day, while her owner is at work, she steps out of the apartment for the first time. Leaving the grasps of her owner, the wide-eyed doll ventures out into a poetic new world full of curious personalities and adventures, and falls headfirst in love with dour video store clerk Junichi (Arata).

Posters

Theatrical Release: May 14th, 2009 - Cannes

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Comparison:

Bandai/ Asmik Ace - Region 2 - NTSC vs. Dekanalog - Region 'A' - Blu-ray

Box Covers		Bonus Captures:
Distribution	Bandai/ Asmik Ace - Region 2 - NTSC	Dekanalog - Region 'A' - Blu-ray
Runtime	1:56:08	1:56:21.000
Video	1.85:1 Aspect Ratio Average Bitrate: 7.67 mb/s NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s	1.85:1 1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray Disc Size: 39,461,517,220 bytes Feature: 33,542,056,512 bytes Video Bitrate: 31.93 Mbps Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video
	NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate DVD:
Bitrate Blu-ray:
Audio	Japanese (Dolby Digital 2.0)	DTS-HD Master Audio Japanese 0 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 24-bit (DTS Core: 2.0 / 48 kHz / 768 kbps / 24-bit)
Subtitles	English, Japanese, None	English, None
Features	Release Information: Studio: Bandai Aspect Ratio: Original Aspect Ratio 1.85:1 Edition Details: • Trailer(1:54) DVD Release Date: March 26th, 2010 White Keep Case Chapters: 12	Release Information: Studio: Dekanalog 1.85:1 1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray Disc Size: 39,461,517,220 bytes Feature: 33,542,056,512 bytes Video Bitrate: 31.93 Mbps Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video Edition Details: • Q&A with filmmaker Hirokazu Kore-eda and actors Bae Doona, Arata Iura, and Itsuji Itao at the Japanese Premiere (9:49) • Footage from the world premiere at the 62nd Annual Cannes Film Festival (4:44) • Camera Slate and Outtakes Montage (6:38) • Trailer (2:17) 20-page liner notes booklet with photos and essay by Joel Neville Anderson Blu-ray Release Date: July 26th, 2022 Transparent Blu-ray Case Chapters 11

Comments:

NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

ADDITION: Dekanalog Blu-ray (July 2022): Dekanalog have transferred Hirokazu Kore-eda's Air Doll to Blu-ray. It is not a dramatic jump over the Japanese DVD. This 1080P has a high bitrate and the higher resolution is superior if mostly in its larger scale. Colors match up well although they may be marginally richer and brighter in the HD presentation - as is the notch ahead in contrast layering. Although overall it still has a dullness. It's transferred on a dual-layered disc and I don't know of another, English-friendly, Blu-ray of this film exists.

Doug has informed us that the 2018 Japanese Blu-ray of “Air Doll” available HERE, has English titles. (Thanks Doug!)

NOTE: We have added 56 more large resolution Blu-ray captures (in lossless PNG format) for DVDBeaver Patrons HERE

On their Blu-ray, Dekanalog use a DTS-HD Master 2.0 channel track (24-bit) in the original Japanese language. Air Doll has no overtly aggressive moments. The score was the debut for Katsuhiko Maeda (as World's End Girlfriend - his stage name) - he is a a Japanese musician from Gotō Islands, Nagasaki Prefecture and the founder of the record label Virgin Babylon Records. It's quite a passive contemplative score suiting the film well and sounding clean in the lossless transfer. Dekanalog offer optional English subtitles on their Region 'A' Blu-ray.

The Dekanalog Blu-ray includes a ten-minute Q&A with Hirokazu Kore-eda and actors Bae Doona, Arata Iura, and Itsuji Itao at the Japanese Premiere as well as five minutes of footage from the world premiere at the 62nd Annual Cannes Film Festival and a seven-minute montage of Camera Slate and interesting Outtakes. There is a trailer and the package has a 20-page liner notes booklet with photos and essay by Joel Neville Anderson entitled "Full With Emptiness".

Coincidently my last review was for Night Gallery Season 2 - that has an episode with a robot maid that has a strange parallel to this 2009 film. Hirokazu Kore-eda's Air Doll is a fascinating 'Pinocchio / Blade Runner / Spielberg's A.I. Artificial Intelligence' social commentary fable. It's equal parts amusing, poignant, distasteful, melancholy, a little sexy and... unusually unique. It touches on so many human themes including loneliness, self-deception, objectification, love, aging, jealousy, fetishism, and desire among others. So different from the director's other films like Maborosi, Distance, After Life and Still Walking. I really enjoyed the bizarre premise and observant take on disposability. It was a pleasure revisiting this strongly recommended film in this higher resolution!