Air Doll (2009)

July 5, 2022 12:12 PM

A blow-up sex doll develops a soul and learns about the beauty of life. Starring Bae Doona, directed by Hirokazu Koreeda.

Air Doll isn’t the story of a quirky loner and his meaningful relationship with an inflatable sex toy. It’s the story of the inflatable sex toy itself (herself?), who, early in the film, spontaneously “grows a heart” and is transformed into the lovely (and frequently stark naked) corporeal form of Korean actress Bae Doo Na (The Host)—though her, uh, seams still show, and there’s a handy nozzle where her navel should be. And so, every day, while her owner/husband is at work, our unnamed and blissfully innocent heroine goes out into the world and tries to learn what it means to be human, which for some reason involves taking a part-time job at a video store and learning that Victor Erice’s Dream of Light can only be purchased, not rented. Not sure how this goofy but ambitious film wound up in Un Certain Regard, as Kore-eda (a Competition vet) is definitely swinging for the fences here, not just raising questions about the nature of identity and desire but also pointedly suggesting (by never showing the actual doll after the opening scene, even when it’s immobile) that women in general are treated by men as passive semen receptacles. Alas, the film is a little too cute and scattershot to achieve real profundity, with the doll-woman too often coming across like a playfully erotic version of Being There’s Chance the Gardener, defined entirely by her absence of guile. With Kore-eda’s fine Still Walking having only just premiered last fall (and awaiting its U.S. release), this follow-up, despite having been in the works for years, feels a tad rushed. Grade: B-
-- Mike D'Angelo, AVClub

Currenly on Criterion Channel, and rentable on Amazon Prime. Scores 63%/NA on Rotten Tomatoes.

posted by fleacircus (3 comments total)

I did not seem to see the same movie as many reviewers who call it e.g. saccharine or sentimental; I saw a movie that is darkly dryly humorous about loneliness and the awfulnuss of being alive.
posted by fleacircus at 12:18 PM on July 5, 2022

Modern remake of Video Girl Ai?
posted by humbug at 1:16 PM on July 5, 2022 [1 favorite]

Modern remake of Video Girl Ai?

Closer to Pinocchio, but with nihilism instead of morality.
posted by fleacircus at 1:37 PM on July 5, 2022 [1 favorite]