WOW. SO um… I just finished watching Paprika and wow… No words. But I’ll force some out so that I can process what I just watched…
Synopsis and spoiler-free analysis portion:
AHEM. Paprika (パプリカ) is a Japanese animated movie directed by Satoshi Kon (今 敏, Kon Satoshi). It is a sci-fi, psychological thriller centering around a new, unstable technology called the “DC Mini” which allows people to enter each other’s dreams. The protagonists are Dr. Atsuko Chiba, a scientist who is working on the DC Mini project, and Paprika, a mysterious female therapist who uses the DC Mini as a means to deliver psycho-therapy to patients plagued with nightmares. One of Paprika’s patients is the police detective Toshimi Konakawa, who has been suffering from nightmares from an unsolved case. The unstable technology soon creates problems for all those who are involved with it.
“Is this real life? Or is this fantasy?”:
Wow. What a wild ride Paprika was. Holy shit. I have to say, while I was watching the movie, I was so freaking confused – even scared sometimes. I think my brain is still intact. I seem to be able to digest the movie a little now. People have compared this movie to Christopher Nolan’s Inception (2008), with the main similarity of course lying with the DC Mini, which gives the user the ability to manipulate dreams. If you thought Inception was confusing… oh boy. Inception seems like a walk in the park after watching this movie. Inception at least had the decency to explain the plans to you.
And HOLY were parts of this movie CREEPY. The pictures I provide for this post does not even begin to outline the weirdness that is in this movie (because I don’t want to spoil anything). It’s not particularly gory or anything, but there are things that happen in this film that will make your skin crawl. It’s a scary ride – but scary good.
Creativity points:
I have to hand it to Kon and everyone who worked on this film – this film was creative. I can’t even imagine how this was put together. It was just like a big snowball of “what if this happened?” It was like nothing was out of bounds – which is what I love about animated films. It was very colourful. Animation was really cool – the fluidity of some shots were so realistic that I gasped out loud when I saw it (because it freaked me out). I really wish I could insert a gif but you know. No spoilers. Freaky things like that are best to be experienced on your own, in the context of the film.
Recommended for:
Thought this film isn’t gory or gruesome, I still wouldn’t say it’s for the light-hearted. Some pretty dark stuff happens in this film. Since it’s animated, it probably won’t be as bad for most people (unless you really are that squeamish). Seriously though, if this was live action, I don’t think I’d sleep for days. If you liked Inception, or movies about dreams or psychological thrillers, this is a good one to watch. Animated movie fans, this will be a treat. Guaranteed to be a treat for your eyes.
In-depth analysis (SPOILERS AHEAD!):
Turn back now or regret it forever. Unless you’ve already watched the movie.
What I liked about it:
Well, I think it’s already pretty obvious. The creativity, of course. It’s a cool idea they had for this technology; and the things that happened inside of the dreams themselves were pretty crazy. I liked that it wasn’t predictable AT ALL – which I find that after watching and reading so many things, a lot of movies are. But this one wasn’t. I had no idea where the boundaries between dream and reality were, the way I’m sure the characters had no idea. And when they finally reveal it, my mind is blown a little. A really good one was when Chiba goes into a dream while in Himura’s room. She is chasing after him, and she tries to jump over a rail, which eventually, collapses into nothing.
My favourite part of the really big dream where the detective goes to save Paprika/Atsuko. I specifically liked the ending of that segment, where he ends up on “floor 17”, or the floor with the victim of the murder he was trying to solve. His reaction to finally catching the “culprit” was priceless, and it made me really happy, because I felt really bad for him throughout the movie for some kind of reason.
I also really liked the scenes where Osanai has Paprika pinned down in his weird butterfly room. That was really creepy and such, but really interesting to watch. When Osanai reached his hand into her body, I did NOT expect him to be able to go under her skin to tear her mask off. Boy did these scenes make me feel uneasy. But I couldn’t look away.
What I didn’t like about it:
I was kind of let down by Paprika as a character… I don’t really know why though. I think I expected her to be more lovable – she is supposed to be the “woman of your dreams” after all – but she fell kind of flat for me. But of course, that’s probably because she doesn’t really exist, so you can’t really expect her to “develop” the way the other characters developed. The “real” her is Atsuko Chiba. But I didn’t like Chiba’s character that much either. She just felt kind of flat to me… It was sweet when they show her “dreaming” inside the bigger dream, where she dreams about being with Tokita. I liked that. I think the problem was that I didn’t get to spend as much time with our protagonist(s) as I liked, so it was hard for me to fully enjoy them as a whole character. I’m not fully satisfied with the end product of the characters.
Aside from the two main characters, I felt that the villains were kind of generic and boring to watch, especially the company president. How many times have you watched something where an old guy who all the characters trust, is actually the one behind all the mishaps in his quest for power? It’s not exactly groundbreaking. And he just wasn’t that convincing as a villain. I wish they delved more into the psychological aspect of dreams, rather than having an actual “villain”. He didn’t seem to have a really good handle on how to manipulate the dreams to his advantage.
I feel like some things weren’t really explained in this movie as well. What happened to Osanai and their company president? Are they just dead? Won’t the police get involved with that? I guess I can just infer what happens after. Also, why was the baby Chiba able to destroy the president in the end? It just seemed kind of like a random solution to what happened. I guess it doesn’t have to all make sense. I really think I just need to rewatch it.
TLDR;
Recommended for: Satoshi Kon fans (how have you not watched this movie though? He only has four), fans of Inception, fans of sci-fi psychological thrillers, fans of animated movies
Not recommended for: People who don’t like to be mind-fucked, people who can’t handle any level of horror
Ratings:
Visuals: 9/10 – They were really good. I don’t know what else to say about them. I think character design maybe could have been better. Some of them seemed a little prototype-y.
Story: 8/10 – I don’t really have many complaints about it… Just that there seems to be a bit of rushing here and there, and maybe the characters could have been developed better. Also, I feel like some of my questions were left unanswered. Maybe I just need to rewatch it again. I still find it to be super cool and creative though.
Overall enjoyment: 7.5-8/10 – Despite giving it higher scores, I’d give it a 7.5 to 8 out of ten. Why? I didn’t really fall in love with the characters, and some things that happened seemed a little random. Maybe this score will change if I rewatch it.
P.S. Now that I’ve written all of this down, it all seems okay now : )