Dolls

• Legendary director & actor Takeshi Kitano (Brother, The Blind Swordsman: Zatoichi) departs from his usual stylish gangster thrillers to present a masterpiece that is both artistic and moving. Bound by a long red cord, a young couple wanders in search of something they have tragically forgotten. An aging yakuza boss mysteriously returns to the park where he once met his long-past girlfriend. A disf

A mysterious drifter (Josh Hartnett) and a young Japanese Warrior Yoshi (Gackt) both arrive in a town that has been terrorized by outrageous and virulent criminals. Each is obsessed with his seperate mission, and guided by the wisdom of The Bartender (Woody Harrelson) at the Horseless Horseman Saloon, the two eventually join forces to bring down the corrupt and contemptuous reign of Nicola (Ron Perlman), the awesomely evil woodcutter and his lady Alexandra (Demi Moore), a femme fatale with a secre! t past.A mysterious drifter (Josh Hartnett) and a young Japanese warrior Yoshi (Gackt) both arrive in a town that has been terrorized by outrageous and virulent criminals. Each is obsessed with his separate mission, and guided by the wisdom of The Bartender (Woody Harrelson) at the Horseless Horseman Saloon, the two eventually join forces to bring down the corrupt and contemptuous reign of Nicola (Ron Perlman), the awesomely evil woodcutter and his lady Alexandra (Demi Moore), a femme fatale with a secret past.The exquisite and complex art of bunraku puppetry is employed in this beautifully staged adaptation of the tragic Japanese drama "Meido No Hikyaku" by Monzaemon Chikamatsu, which tells the story of a poor clerk's doomed love for a prostitute. The performers are members of the world-renowned Bunraku Ensemble of Osaka. 90 min. Soundtrack: Japanese; Subtitles: English. In Japanese with English subtitles.Tear into the origins of the legendary tournament that pits the worl! d's greatest warriors against the forces of Outworld in the fi! ght to s ave our planet. Discover never-before-revelead storylines that deepen the mythology of the Mortal Kombat multiverse and the backstories of your favorite characters, including Jax, Sonya, Scorpion, Sub-Zero, Raiden, Johnny Cage, and more! This is kombat taken to a whole new level, more gritty and raw than anything you've ever seen before. FIGHT!A naïve young man assumes a dead man's identity in order to join a underworld game of Russian Roulette. The stakes are high, but the payout is more than he can resist. His only collateral is his life and however long his luck can hold. Are his odds any better than any other player in this most deadly game?In a young Republic of China, where greedy warlords fuel a period of war and strife, Hou Jie (Andy Lau) arrogantly shows no mercy to his enemies seeking refuge with the benign and compassionate Shaolin monks. After unscrupulously killing a wounded enemy, Hou Jie pays a terrible price for his actions and is forced to seek refuge in! the same Shaolin Monastery he blatantly disrespected. Hou Jie s traitorous second-in-command Cao Man (Nicholas Tse) continues where the once-warlord left off, betraying his country and his own people. Hou Jie must adapt to Shaolin principles to stop the monster he created.

Bonus Features
English Dub
Deleted Scenes
US Trailers
International TrailersBased loosely on the 1982 martial arts epic Shaolin Temple, which helped to mint Jet Li as a star, this Hong Kong blockbuster from Benny Chan stars Andy Lau as a battle-weary warlord who finds refuge and then solace among the monks of a Shaolin temple. Set during the tumult of early Republican China, the story unfolds as Lau's warlord usurps his rivals, but at the cost of his daughter's life and his wife's loyalty. His spirit crushed, he decides to atone for his violent past by joining a Shaolin order (which counts Jackie Chan, in a glorified cameo, as its cook). Lau's path to enlightenment is cast into doubt! when he discovers that his former second-in-command (Nicholas! Tse, in an enjoyably overripe performance) has enslaved the local population and forced them to unearth relics in order to pay for greater weapons. Things naturally come to a head between Lau and Tse, but the film is less concerned with sprawling martial arts battles than the emotional conflicts between and within its major players. Honor, familial loyalty, remorse, and pursuit of spiritual wholeness are cornerstones of Hong Kong action films, but the depth of the performances and screenplay (by Alan Yuen) lends rich nuances to the subjects, often at the expense of adding an extra fight scene to the picture. That's perhaps a good thing, as martial arts choreographer Corey Yuen's usual pyrotechnics are hobbled somewhat by his leads, who are fine actors but only modest fighters, leaving the firepower to wushu champion Wu Jing as a Shaolin elder. Chan's formidable talents are used to underscore his comic contributions to the film, and as such, are only mildly entertaining. That's also! how most martial arts fans will view Shaolin, though those who value theme as well as action may find it a frequently thoughtful diversion. The Blu-ray collector's edition features a gallery of deleted scenes (mostly extended versions of scenes in the theatrical cut) and trailers, as well as a pair of by-the-books featurettes on the film's production. Slightly more interesting are a handful of interviews with the principals, which touch on the picture's historical basis and the '82 Li film, among other subjects. --Paul GaitaKimstim and Kino are proud to present this collection of short films from one of the world s greatest stop-motion animators: Kihachiro Kawamoto. Famous for his beautiful, expressive puppets, Kawamoto began his career in the 1950s. Honing his skills at the legendary Kratky Studios in Prague (under the mentorship of celebrated Czech animator Jiri Trnka), Kawamoto harnessed Japan s unique aesthetic traditions to create visually stunning stori! es. Drawing on ancient legends, contemporary short novels, as ! well as Noh, Kabuki, and Bunraku doll theater, Kawamoto s haunting, poetic films speak of passion and loss in worlds populated by ghosts and demons. ALL FILMS ARE IN JAPANESE WITH OPTIONAL ENGLISH SUBTITLES, UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED.

THE BREAKING OF BRANCHES IS FORBIDDEN (14 min / 1968 / Color) A monk orders a young acolyte, who happens to have a fondness for sake, to guard a beautiful cherry blossom tree. 

AN ANTHROPO-CYNICAL FARCE (8 min / 1970 / B&W / IN FRENCH WITH OPTIONAL ENGLISH SUBTITLES) A dog race is interrupted by a ringmaster who attaches fish to the animals collars and makes them run in circles. The crowd becomes incensed and the ringmaster finds himself in a race for his life.

THE DEMON (8 min / 1972 / Color) A pair of hunters encounter a ghastly demon in the woods. Escaping by severing the apparition s arm, they make an even more grisly discovery on the journey home. Based on the 12th-century Japanese medieval legend Konjaku-monogatari.

THE! TRIP (12 min / 1973 / Color / NO DIALOGUE) A young girl sets off on a surreal metaphysical voyage through which she will learn all the pain and joy of life.

A POET S LIFE (19 min / 1974 / Color) A mysterious meditation on the power of poetic imagination. A worker fired from a factory for demanding higher wages is plagued by ghastly nightmares. Based on a story by novelist Kobo Abe. 

DOJOJI TEMPLE (19 min / 1976 / Color) Two pilgrims, an elderly monk and his young disciple, out on a spiritual journey, encounter a mysterious woman whose frenzied passions transform her into a huge white serpent.

HOUSE OF FLAMES (19 min / 1979 / Color) A Japanese Drama of the Absurd. A young village woman is torn between two suitors. Out of anguish, she decides to destroy herself. Although her intentions are pure, her death reverberates with shocking consequences. The short films of Kihachiro Kawamoto represent a fusion of Eastern European stop-motion animation and tradit! ional Japanese Bunraku puppetry. Kawamoto studied under the gr! eat Czec h animator Jiri Trnka (The Puppet Films of Jiri Trnka), and his cut-out/puppet combination films--"An Anthropo-Cynical Farce," "The Trip," and "A Poet's Life"--share the dark visions of the old Soviet Bloc artists. "The Breaking of Branches is Forbidden," in which a drunken novice violates the orders of a severe old monk, echoes the farcical Kyogen comedies that break up programs of Noh plays. "Dojoji Temple" is a strikingly beautiful retelling of a popular Kabuki play: overcome by lust, a woman transforms into a demon-serpent to take revenge on the monk who rejects her. Kawamoto has said that "Dojoji" allowed him to experiment with the combination of two- and three-dimensional elements needed for "House of Flames," his masterpiece to date. Reminiscent of a Noh tragedy, the film recounts the story of three star-crossed lovers whose suffering transcends the phenomenal world. The title of the collection is not hyperbole: Kawamoto's films truly are exquisite. His most re! cent film, The Book of the Dead is also available on DVD. (Unrated: suitable for ages 12 and older: violence, alcohol use) --Charles SolomonJapanese pop stars Gackt and HYDE star in this wild hybrid of futuristic science fiction, John Woo-style gunplay, and Gothic vampire horror. MOON CHILD follows a group of childhood friends as they advance in a futuristic criminal underworld. Sho (Gackt) feels he is doomed to walk in his idol Kei's (HYDE) footsteps as a vampire with the gift of eternal life and the curse of blood thirst. Over time, their tight friendship becomes corrupted because of their rivalry and love for the same woman. Filmmaker Takahisa Zeze brings a stylized sting to the blood draining and hyper violent proceedings. Japanese with English subtitles.The musclebound Cimmerian warrior of Robert E. Howard's pulp novels makes a sword-swinging return to the screen in this action-packed epic. Follow Conan (Jason Momoa) as he embarks on a brutal and blood! -soaked quest for vengeance against Khalar Zym (Stephen Lang),! the evi l, power-mad warlord who slaughtered his people two decades earlier. With Rose McGowan, Rachel Nichols, Said Taghmaoui, and Ron Perlman. 112 min. Widescreen (Enhanced); Soundtrack: English Dolby Digital 5.1; Subtitles: English, Spanish; audio commentary; featurettes.You think your childhood was rough? Check out the opening 20 minutes of Conan the Barbarian, a bone-cracking coming-of-age prologue that fully explains the "Barbarian" part of the name. The film gets off to a ripping start, including li'l Conan's lethal dispatching of a crowd of restless natives (it's not every lad that returns from camp with the decapitated heads of his enemies dangling from his shoulders) and a great deal of hoo-hah about the forging of swords. As the character grows into manhood, played by Jason Momoa (Game of Thrones), the cascade of brutality continues: boiling oil, nose trauma, death by metal fingernails--you name it, the movie has it. The "origin story" plot is a workable way! into the world of pulp writer Robert E. Howard's hero: Conan seeks vengeance for the death of his father (Ron Perlman) and pursues power-hungry Khalar Zym (Stephen Lang, enjoying the fruits of Avatar), who in turn seeks the final piece of a many-tailed magic mask, which will give him untold power. Rose McGowan is all spooky as Khalar's daughter (she's got the fingernails) and Rachel Nichols is an innocent slated to be sacrificed by the evildoers. Director Marcus Nispel rolls out the tech hardware for this relentless action picture, pumping up every sound with a digital whammy that might make your head feel it has been split in two by Conan's mighty sword (that is, if you didn't already feel that from the chaotic cutting--since the movie was originally released in uninspired 3-D, this visual unpleasantness was enhanced in theaters). The movie's not a complete bust, but it is a fairly punishing experience. As for Momoa, he's got the pectorals, and generally comes acro! ss as a likable sort. Of course, Conan isn't supposed to be a ! likable sort, so his casting will likely trigger an unexpected response in viewers familiar with the 1982 version of the character. You will miss Arnold Schwarzenegger. --Robert HortonInspired by the everlasting emotions expressed in Japanese Bunraku doll theatre, Dolls weaves three stories delicately intertwined by the beauty of sadness. Bound by a long red cord, a young couple wanders in search of something they have tragically forgotten. An aging yakuza mysteriously returns to the park where he used to meet his long-past girlfriend. A disfigured pop star confronts the phenomenal devotion of her biggest fanDolls is a film of extraordinary beauty and tenderness from a filmmaker chiefly associated with grave mayhem and deadpan humor. That is to say, this is not one more Takeshi Kitano movie focused on stoical cops or gangsters. The title refers most directly, but not exclusively, to the theatrical tradition of Bunraku, enacted by half-life-size dolls and their visib! le but shrouded onstage manipulators. Such a performance--a drama of doomed lovers--occupies the first five minutes of the film, striking a keynote that resonates as flesh-and-blood characters take up the action.

The film-proper is dominated by the all-but-wordless odyssey of a susceptible yuppie and the jilted fiancée driven mad by his desertion to marry the boss's daughter. Bound by a blood-red cord, they move hypnotically through a landscape variously urban and natural, stylized only by the breathtaking purity of light, angle, color, and formal movement imposed by Kitano's compositional eye and rigorous, fragmentary editing. Along the way we also pick up the story of an elderly gangster, haunted by memories of the lover he deserted three decades earlier and generations of "brothers" for whose deaths he was, in the accepted order of things, responsible. Another strand is added to the imagistic weave via a doll-like pop singer and a groupie blinded by devotion to her.!

This is a film in which character, morality, metaphysics,! and des tiny are all expressed through visual rhyme and startling adjustments of perspective. It sounds abstract--and it is--but it's also heartbreaking and thrilling to behold. Kitano isn't in it, but as an artist he's all over it. His finest film, and for all its exoticism, his most accessible. --Richard T. Jameson