Air Doll

An inflatable doll kept in a Tokyo apartment by a lonely middle-aged man becomes something else entirely when she comes to life. She leaves the flat without her owner's knowledge and sets out into the city, where she meets Junichi, a clerk at a video rental store, and falls for him. She begins dating him and takes a job at the same shop, learning what it means to be alive as she goes. The arrangement holds until an unexpected turn disrupts it.

The film is a drama with fantasy elements, based on a manga by Yoshiie Goda, and was written and directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda, who also produced it with Toshiro Uratani. It was his fifth feature, following Still Walking and preceding Like Father, Like Son. Bae Doona plays the doll, Nozomi, alongside Arata Iura as Junichi, with Itsuji Itao, Joe Odagiri, Sumiko Fuji and Masaya Takahashi in supporting roles. It runs 116 minutes.

Released in Japan in September 2009, it had a modest worldwide box office of about 1 million dollars, consistent with a limited art-house release. Viewers are broadly favourable: it holds 6.9 out of 10 on IMDb from roughly 9,100 votes and the same 6.9 on TMDB from 289 votes. The critics' rating stands at 6.4 from 41 reviews, somewhat lower than the audience scores.