Paprika adapted and directed by Satoshi Kon (2006)
17 January 2008Another mind blowing film, that is not at all your typical anime, in fact I would say Kon’s films are only animated because it would cost too much to make them live action. This film is totally insane, but does make sense. This film is really an amazing trip into the subconscious. And the animation is amazing. This is one you will want to watch a few times for it to really sink in, but it is fantastic and worth the effort. I particlarly enjoyed when Paprika became the monkey king, floating on her cloud. So cool. What an amazing film! Kon is really one of the greatest directors in the world, and more people need to check out his films, because they are not just for anime audiences at all. Of course it isn’t your standard film, and is pretty damn sureal, pushing the bounds of reality and dreams, but what else could a film about dreams be?
The film starts in the dream world of Detective Konakawa Toshimi (Koichi Yamadera), going from a circus, to a spy movie train, tarzan in the jungle, a wedding, and a long hallway, and the only real consistency is him chasing someone, and a lovely young woman with red hair named Paprika (Hayashibara Megumi). When he awakens he feels better, though everything is not resolved as of yet, but it turns out Paprika is using a psychotherapy device called a DC Mini which allows a user to see another person’s dream, and even go into them and explore them. And Paprika is in fact the dream going alter ego of Doctor Chiba Atsuko (also Hayashibara Megumi). She is helping the detective and his anxiety because he is best friends with her her boss, Doctor Shima Torataro (Hori Katsunosuke) a bespectacled and tiny man. When Atsuko returns to the institute she learns from her best friend, the morbidly obese Doctor Tokita Kosaku (Furuya Toru) who created the DC Mini, that in fact 3 have been stolen and can be used for ill. They 3 doctors plan to get it back, but then Shima loses it and jumps though a window, badly wounding himself. When they look into Shima’s dreams they recongnize Tokita’s assistant Himuro Kei (Sakaguchi Daisuke) and decide to go find him as he has not been to work. The dream is of a parade of inanimate objects, anthropomorphically dancing, with Shima in the center.
REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS…
Himuro’s place is a mess, but things are messed up, and Chiba gets drawn into a waking dream where she is in some sort of amusement park, and she almost jumps off the ledge of the building, but is stopped by Doctor Osanai Morio (Yamadera Koichi) who is a lesser doctor, but obviously likes Chiba.
The chairman (Tanaka Hidekyuki) whp rins the hospital, learns of the theft and bans the use of the DC mini. Of course things don’t stop and more doctors start going insane with visions from the DC Mini.
Meanwhile Tokita has tried to solve the mess and has gone into Himuro’s mind, but has gotten trapped as well. Shima and Paprika try to solve it and she dives into the dreams, finding that Himuro isn’t behind it, he is only an empty shell. Paprika dives into the insanity to try to find out what is going on. And eventually she gets trapped by the Chairman, who is the thief and Osanai who has given his body to the chairman and become his total lackey. Paprika gets taken by Osanai, who pins her down and rips away the Paprika personality away, then the Chairman takes over Osanai and is going to kill Shima, but Detective Konakawa breaks in and frees Shima.
Konakawa realzies his nightmares were in fact guilt over a friend that he made movies with in high school, but abandoned his dreams before college, and his friend who was sick was left alone and died. He finishes the film in his dreams and shoots Osanai killing him and hopefully the Chairman.
Chiba thinks things are over, but they aren’t and it seems dreams are merging with reality. Tokita is still mad and a giant child’s robot eats Chiba, but not Paprika who has split from her. A ghostly Chiba appears and reveals that she is in love with Tokita, and in coming to terms with her fealings, and her dreams which she is repressed is reborn, and grows to take out the giant form of the Chairman, and literally is able to eat him and revert the world to reality.
Chiba then sits at Tokitaa’s bed side as Konakawa and Shima watch her put her hand on his and leave, the old friends talking. Konakawa then learns that Chiba will be marrying Tokita, and takes her suggestion to go see a movie, which he hasn’t done in years (since he left his friend), and he goes and buys a ticket to go see a movie.
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WOW, WOW, WOW!!! This movie is insane and absolutely amazing!! Fantastic, another piece of genius by Satoshi Kon! He is really one of the best filmmakers in the world!
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