Paprika

I saw this two days ago at the New York Film Festival.

The plot: What happens when we acquire technology that allows us to migrate the boundary between dreams & reality, and what happens when that boundary blurs?

The Animation: Stunning; Madhouse always does good work and Kon's movies always produce some fun reality bending sequences.

The Music: Susumu Hirasawa who did the Paranoia Agent soundtrack came up with the score here too. The opening song is a particularly infectious number. It makes you smiley. It's like the opening song from Paranoia Agent on steroids. I really could not get the grin off my face till the beginning sequence ended.

The Cast: The voice cast is headed by Megumi Hayashibara, probably the most prolific and well known female seiyuu ever, with roles such as Rei Ayanami (Evangelion), Lina Inverse (Slayers), and Faye Valentine (Cowboy Bebop) to her credit. Akio Ohtsuka and Koichi Yamadera, Batou & Togusa of Ghost in the Shell fame, both play major roles as well. All do a fabulous job as usual, but Hayashibara really shines in her Paprika role.

This film has great animation, music & actors, but the plot is really just a thin veneer for the lucid dreaming sequences that permeate so much of Satoshi Kon's work. I still recommend seeing it because it's a really light fun film, but I don't think it adds up to being more than the sum of some really great parts. I think this one needs to be enjoyed in pieces rather than as a whole.

I have only seen this movie a few hours ago and am still stunned by simply how incredible it was. Who ever thought anime could be so fantastical? While the plot, at times confusing and going on the border of being a stereotypical anime, is terrific and i couldn't ask for it to be any better. Many reviewers condemned this film because of the randomness and lack of explanation for some parts, but i believe that Satoshi Kon did this on purpose. Kon simply made this movie like a dream; it is colorful, incredible, random, and offers scarce explanations. The film wants you to think about what the meaning of these "dreams" are, instead of telling you what the meaning is, much like what you would have to do with a real dream.

The best part of this film is that it can appeal to the non-anime fanatic crowd. I have seen all a few animes (only hayao miazaki films) so i wouldn't be called a true fan, and am not much into the science-fiction animes and what not that many people seem to love, yet i could not help but fall in love with Paprika.

Please, Please, PLEASE see this movie. Its too incredible to go under-appreciated by the world. Perhaps the best film of 2007, maybe one of the best from the past few years, if you see this movie you will NOT regret it.

I'm not an expert in anime, nor have I seen a lot of this genre, but I utterly admire the immense creativity of people like Hayao Miyazaki ("Princess Mononoke", "Spirited Away"). Satoshi Kon's "Paprika" is a great example of anime at its finest. The movie is a sea of original ideas and a visual blast. Apparently, the plot is about the theft of a machine that allows scientists to enter and record people's dreams, and how a detective and a young therapist called Paprika join forces to get it back. But there is so much going on and so many smart innuendos (remember: this is Rated R anime, not "Ratatouille" - even though I think the R rating is just too much in this case) that "Paprika" becomes one of the most original adult animations in recent memory - superior to Richard Linklater's "Waking Life" and even "A Scanner Darkly", I dare to say. I won't give away anything because I don't want to spoil a single scene, but I'd say that I see it as a movie about the power of movies over our life/dreams, and about the love people like me have for the Seventh Art. I don't know if that was Kon's original idea and honestly I don't care - it's not every day that you find a movie that amuses and says something to you in such an unpretentious way. Whatever was Kon's original idea, I think that he got what he wanted: a movie that both entertains and makes you think. Simply fascinating. 10/10.

Paprika isn't for the faint-hearted. Don't expect a story for children.

The story opens with a cop who's plagued by a recurring nightmare, so he seeks psychological help. If you've ever seen and enjoyed Alfred Hitchcock's Spellbound, it'll help you understanding what's going on in the film.

The cop forms a relationship with Paprika, a dream character who becomes his guide in helping him understand what happened in his past that makes him feel such shame in the present. Paprika assumes many forms in the everchanging dreamscape to relate to the other characters.

This seems all good at the beginning, but the device that enables dream analysis is stolen. This creates an even bigger problem than just nightmares; what happens when people can't control their dreams and has them hijacked by evil? Paprika isn't the easiest movie to sum up. On one level, it's like watching dreamy, fantastical animation, but there's also a deeper psychological question being asked: What is a dream exactly and to what extent does it affect your consciousness and waking life? How much fantasy is good for a person whether it be in dreams or spending time on the Internet? If you bury guilt and desire into your subconscious, how will it manifest in your dreams?

Paprika is definitely a visual spectacle. I don't recommend waiting to see it on video. I had the honor of catching it on the big screen, which I believe is necessary to capture the depth of the imagery. Parts of it really seemed like dreams I've had (times when I've tried to walk, but couldn't get anywhere and the harder I tried, the worse it got).

I put Paprika up there with Pan's Labyrinth. A lot of people will be turned off from it by the subtitles and another set of people will be lost by the mythology in it. If you don't have problems with these kinds of things, you will probably have a delightful viewing experience.

It takes a person with an analytical mind to put the plot together. If you follow the recurring images, the mythology will make sense. A lot happens on the screen. I didn't have a problem understanding what was going on and I enjoyed putting the puzzle together. I don't think most moviegoers are like that these days, so I can see them getting bored or annoyed because they can't figure out what's going on. If you prefer the Disney genre of animation, avoid Paprika, it will just frustrate you. If you're crave more than a simple plot, Paprika will satisfy that hunger.

The soundtrack is quite good too. It's a refreshing break from Elton John power ballads.

Kon is renowned for his superb editing and wildly creative visuals in Paprika, but for what purpose? What remains when the visuals is eliminated from the equation? Paprika's tale had a painfully obvious twist near the conclusion, and its basic outline was rather shallow. Furthermore, an extraneous romantic element that was considerably less coherent than Kon's most bizarre vision. You're probably thinking, "It's all about the execution; as long as it's done well, who cares about a weak storyline?" Indeed, execution is more crucial than content, and a dull story can be made interesting by using bizarre images and inventive editing. Take Kon's earlier work, Millennium Actress, for instance.

I merely discussed the major plot; the detective's side story was, regrettably, far more intriguing. Here, the visual is used in a way that perfectly complements his tale and conflicts; it is executed similarly to Millennium Actress. When a side plot becomes more fascinating than the main narrative, though, something is off.

Characters are also pretty weak. The antagonist lacked depth and was terribly dull. I'm afraid I can't speak for the other actors in the cast. Furthermore, Atsuko's romantic evolution towards the end was so forced it was unreal. This baffled me more than any bizarre imagery Kon could conjure up, yet again. The only character in Paprika who came close to saving face was Konakawa, the investigator. He genuinely grew during the film and had a respectable amount of characterisation.