Anime Review :: Paprika [2006]

Director - Satoshi Kon
Written By - Seishi Minakami, Satoshi Kon
Language – English Dub
Genre – Sci-Fi Thriller, Satoshi Kon Dream-theater.

Animation is an easy forum for surrealism, since the only limitation is the director and staff’s imagination. And, while it’s always interesting to see someone’s artistic exploration on screen, generally, it never goes too far beyond just that. "interesting." Since the essence of film is the storytelling, regardless of how many walls with eyeballs, talking dolls, or Michael Bays-plosion surround it, more often than not, heavily surrealist films read more as a sort of creative masturbation rather than anything that took much skill. Unchecked creativity that leaves the viewer wishing they had a handful of whatever drugs necessary to make what their watching as mind-expanding as it may have been intended.

Then again, perhaps that’s just me. My qualms that stem from my obsessive devotion to Joseph Campbell and the idea of stories being what makes any film worth the time it takes away from your life.

Either way, for that reason any time I line up a Satoshi Kon film, it usually comes with some healthy skepticism. Despite not once being a let down (Paranoia Agent and Perfect Blue being personal favorites of mine,) Kon always walks a thin tightrope of letting his love of blurring the lines between reality and dreams get the best of him.

Paprika, of course, is no exception. Yet even when we start to wonder if we’ll be drifting off into complete nonsense, the real world comes back long enough to provide us just enough bits of tangible story to keep this sci-fi thriller on perfect pace.

With so many things to say about the film, from it’s beautiful use of color and seamless drifting from dreams to the real world, to the gripping story, to even the whimsical and imaginative dream sequences themselves, the most noteworthy thing about Paprika (and the thing that really took me by surprise) is just how disciplined it is. A story this structured in this sort of whacky environment takes a near super-human effort to keep on course, which gets accomplished wonderfully, even packing a nice consolation sub-story about a detective having reoccurring dreams about a case he’s working. It gives the film’s proper ending more freedom to be slightly ambiguous while providing enough loose-ends clean-up to not leave you feeling cheated for paying attention to all the details.

An altogether sensational film that provides just enough structure and formula to give it’s creative pulp and philosophical exploration room to really thrive.