Abstract
Based on a popular manga/comic, Kore-eda’s Kūki ningyō/Air Doll (2009) tells the “modern fairy tale” of an inflatable sex doll who comes to life to discover paradoxes of emptiness and fulness in human existence. Kore-eda’s sensitive exploration of the possibilities of connections with others, and of the mysteries of air, features a captivating performance by Korean actress Doona Bae.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Bibliography
Barker, Jennifer F. The Tactile Eye: Touch and the Cinematic Experience. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2009.
Bertolé, Claudia. Splendidi riflessi di ciò che ci manca: Il cinema de Koreeda Hirokazu. Edizioni Il Foglio, 2013.
Cannon, Kristopher L. Spring 2016. “Ec-static Air: The Unseeable Sounds of Being Beside Oneself.” Discourse 38, no. 2 (Spring 2016): 265–280.
Ehrlich, Linda C. “Ningyō: An Homage to the Films of Kawamoto Kihachirō.” Journal of Japanese and Korean Cinema 3, no. 2: 117–137, 2011.
Elley, Derek. “Air Doll (review).” Variety, May 15, 2009.
Faimaru, Dan. “Air Doll/Kūki ningyō.” Screen Daily, May 15, 2009.
Finkelstein, Barbara, Anne Imamura, Joseph Tobin, ed. Transcending Stereotypes: Discovering Japanese Culture and Education. Yarmouth, Maine: Intercultural Press, 1991.
Jenkins, Mark. “Air Doll: A Wistful Pinocchio with an Unlikely Past.” NPR, June 3, 2010, 44–49.
Kawamoto Kihachirō. “Ningyō no inochi” (A Puppet’s Life). Translated by Linda Ehrlich and Hiroko Takada-Amick. International Journal of Comic Art 14, no. 1 (Spring 2012): 236–239.
Law, Jane Marie, ed. Religious Reflections on the Human Body. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1995.
Lewis, Diane Wei. “From manga to Film: Gender, Precarity, and the Textual Transformation of Air Doll.” Screen 60, no. 1 (Spring 2019): 99–21.
Mes, Tom. “Air Doll (review).” Midnight Eye, 2009.
Morris, Wesley. “Air Doll: A Sweetly Sexual Fairy Tale.” Boston Globe, June 4, 2010.
Nolletti Jr. Arthur ed., Film Criticism XXXV, no. 2–3 (Special double issue: Kore-eda Hirokazu, Winter/Spring 2011): 27–41
Satō Tadao. “Shisha no sho (Book of the Dead).” In Iwanami Hall Publication on The Book of the Dead. Tokyo: Equipe de Cinema, 2005.
Yokota Masao. “The Japanese Puppet Animation Master.” Asian Cinema XIV, no. 1 (Spring-Summer 2003): 28–44.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Ehrlich, L.C. (2019). Air: Kūki ningyō/Air Doll, 2009. In: The Films of Kore-eda Hirokazu. East Asian Popular Culture. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-33051-4_10
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-33051-4_10
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-33050-7
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-33051-4
eBook Packages: Literature, Cultural and Media StudiesLiterature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)