Dolls — Module 03 questions and scene summaries

Questions for this day (pre-Summer 2013)

There is no written exercise for this day. But I will ask you to compare the values you see in this film with the other three films we've seen. I will also ask about the image sequence mentioned under "Thoughts" on the first day of screening of this film. And I might ask for speculation on the color red.

Scenes 14-18 summaries for Dolls

DVD Scene 14 (begins at 1:17;43)

Nukui, the fan, is staring at a magazine photo of his idol Haruna Yamaguchi. He memorizes her face, then gouges out his eyes with a box cutter (not shown).

Nukui is walking in the street; blind.

Back to current timeline of the story; Nukui is walking on the beach, towards Yamaguchi. He is passed by the Matsumoto-Sawako couple.

Yamaguchi agreed to meet Nukui because, though she is ashamed of her face, he cannot see her. When she asks him what happened to his eyes, he answers that not being able to see was probably better.

Our couple is walking.

Hiro, the mafia boss, is waiting at the park bench where Ryoko always comes to sit. (Until now he has only looked at her from afar, but there has been an attempt on his life. Perhaps this has made the difference and he elects to meet her.) Ryoko asks this man to move for her "boyfriend" and he scoots over, just a little, on the bench.

Our couple is walking down railroad tracks. There is a lake beside them. In a camera long shot, Sawako falls and rolls towards the lake, pulling Matsumoto with her. He brings her back to the top.

It is autumn in a rose garden. Nukui and Yamaguchi walk together, as a couple. She has taken him to smell the flowers. They are somehow happy. While this scene is still on screen, a voice over returns to Hiro, speaking to Ryoko, asking him whether her boyfriend has come or not. He doesn't come, she answers.

At the park bench, the conversation continues. She says she doesn't mind if he doesn't come because recently you have always come, so she is thinking of not waiting for him anymore. And she gives him her lunchbox that she is always made for her boyfriend. He thanks her. He puts his scarf around her. They look happy.

DVD Scene 15 (begins at 1:26;45)

Our couple is looking at, then walking under,the red of autumn maples. Red has been a key color throughout this film. She is also now dressed in red. they are, of course, still connected by the red rope.

Nukui is playing Yamaguchi's hit song on his harmonica, remembering the words.

Our couple is walking at night, along a stream. They come to a bridge. He crosses but she waits. He pulls her along, she goes.

They are resting under a bridge. Matsumoto is asleep, she is not. She takes a red maple leaf from his hair near his ear.

In the next shot, it is now Nukui, dead, from a blow to the back of the head and the blood there is similar to the shape of the maple leaf just picked by Sawako.

Return to her looking at the maple leaf.

Morning, and the police are investigating the death--it seems he was hit by a car while walking along a road at night--and they are washing away the large amount of blood. A double image reminds us that he was a traffic safety officer.

Back to the bench. "Today I made cod roe for you. Do you like it?" Rokyo. Hiro says yes. It was her boyfriend's favorite too. His body guard is waiting.

The boss is returning to his car. But the man walking behind the boss reaches for a gun.

The maple leaf floats down the river ...

The couple is walking. The music, mostly dreamy throughout this movie, is just a bit ominous before the music track goes silent. Shots of beautiful red maples. But she seems to be getting tired of walking.

The odd couple (the unintelligent looking young man and the man in a wheelchair that is the son of one of the boss's brothers) are in front of the boss's gate, calling his name but no answer.

Ryoko is waiting on the bench, but no one. She looks really sad.

Yamaguchi is at the beach. She, too, is alone (Nukui is dead) and she looks really sad, too.

DVD Scene 16 (begins at 1:35;22)

The couple drags their worn red rope through the maple leaves, but it is winter and the scene is soon just white with snow.

They are sitting in a tunnel at night, because it is cold.

They walk through a winter scene.

A flashback of the two of them in the snow, having their picture taken by a friend. When he says he wants to use the picture to tell everyone they are engaged, they attack him with snowballs.

They are walking down a path deep with snow on both sides. They find a lodge, and a pole outside it, from which are hanging robes (these are the same robes the two puppets wore at the beginning of the film, but now they are life-sized). For a moment we mis-see this scene as two puppets hanging from the pole.

They put on the robes and continue walking. It would be easy to say that this is a classical "michiyuki" scene (the long walk at the end of some Edo period plays that tells the heart of a story). In other words, it is usually a walk towards death.

It is night and they are still walking.

DVD Scene 17 (begins at 1:42;37)

They come to a lodge. They look for food on the outside. Nothing. They look in through the window.

They are remembering a party; at this party their friend announces the engagement. He puts a necklace around her neck. (Can't afford a ring.)

Looking through the window, both are sadly remembering. She shows him that she stills wears the necklace. She smiles, then cries. He begins to cry and hugs her.

They are sleeping outside, with a little fire to keep them warm. A man from the business chases them away.

They are walking across a dark landscape with shot cuts to the two puppets walking with him leading.

The pause, and then she falls and they both fall, and slide down a slope (and the puppets struggle, too).

Black screen.

Dawn. They are hanging motionless from a tree over a precipice.

The puppets seem to be looking at them. The puppets look at each other lovingly, perhaps knowingly.

Zoom out.

DVD Scene 18 (begins at 1:50;40)

Credits.