Air Doll

I loved the measured pace and contemplation of Hirokazu Kore-eda's Afterlife, a meditation on life by looking at what happens to people after death. Air Doll has an equally intriguing premise: an air doll (primarily used as a sexual outlet for lonely men) comes to life. Played with wide-eyed wonder by Du-na Bae, for air doll Nozomi the world is a wonder. Initially she mimics people she sees, then gets a job at a video store where a young man recognizes her strangeness, but does not react to it. He answers her questions and teaches her a bit about life. Other people in the neighbourhood come into play fleetingly, but ultimately the film didn't really go to a lot of places, do a lot of things. Kore-eda reveals strange beauty in simple things, but in the end I was questioning exactly what all this was about. The film is a poem: beautiful, but perplexing. (6.5/10)