On the late Japanese movie binge I’ve been on I came across the movie Air Doll again after seeing it mentioned once or twice on /jp/ some months ago. After watching it I felt compelled to write up a quick write-up of my thoughts because well, besides being about an air doll that freaking comes to life, it was actually quite interesting in a unique and unexpected way.

The plot: a washed up old man miraculously sexes life into his blown-up air doll wife, Nozomi, who after discovering she finds a heart, begins her curious adventure into the urban city unbeknownst to her owner. She unintentionally becomes hired at a movie rental store and soon discovers several qualities the human heart like love and even heartbreak. The story ends as one would begin to suspect, a bittersweet tragedy. Despite her efforts, Nozomi never quite establishes becoming human and decides to cast away her own heart and return to being inanimate after witnessing the cruelties of mankind and losing what was most precious to her.

Regardless of the more depressing atmosphere apparent in the latter half of the film, there was still a certain silver lining and beauty found in Nozomi’s heart. Her pure curiosity and child-like innocence juxtaposed well in contrast to the darker themes. I feel the director was really able to nail his goal of making the watcher question what it really means to be a human being.

Though of course the movie was not without its flaws. The main one being its hefty length of over 120 minutes. Ideally 90 minutes would have been perfect. Perhaps chocking away 10 minutes from the first half and 20 from the depressing second would have made it grand. The second flaw I felt was the ending. While it served its purpose, it doesn’t really give quite a satisfying amount of closure to the story and left me feeling quite hollow (dun dun tch!).

Otherwise the movie was surprisingly well produced for a Japanese film. The soundtrack was beautifully orchestrated by World’s End Girlfriend. But what I felt shone most of all was Bae Doona’s superb acting as our favorite air doll Nozomi. I could actually believe that Nozomi’s character was not actually human which wouldn’t normally be possible with just any actress.

Overall I’d give the film about a 6/10 but I’d say it definitely had the potential to be an 8 or 9 given the correct directing. Still, Nozomi’s pure efforts were able to touch my own heart and that is enough for me to give her a 10/10. I now know what I’m going to name my very first inflatable doll. ～(￣∇￣～)