Hirokazu Kore-eda's latest feature Kûki ningyô (Air Doll, 2009)--based on a manga by Yoshiie Gōda about a life-size blow-up doll who develops a soul and falls in love with a video store clerk--has been selected for screening in Cannes' Un Certain Regard. In San Francisco to promote the appearance of Still Walking in SFIFF52's World Cinema sidebar--in tandem with the film's upcoming theatrical release--I took a moment during our conversation to enquire after his latest.
Michael Guillén: Congratulations on being selected for this year's Un Certain Regard with your new film Air Doll. I'm interested in what you were seeking to explore thematically in your latest film?
Hirokazu Kore-eda: The doll is inflated with air, so it's basically empty or blank inside. She is living in Tokyo and around her are us urbanites who are also empty. We have nothing inside of us either and we are isolated. I wanted to explore the emptiness, the loneliness that is felt by the inflated doll and the isolated urbanites.
Cross-published on The Evening Class.