Paprika

[MonkeyM666]

But I don't have a closet...



AHHHHHHH SOMEONE PUT A CLOSET IN MY ROOM!!! WHY?!?!?! WHY WOULD SOMEONE DO SUCH A THING?!?!?!?!?!

AHHRHRHRHRHHHHGGGG!!!!

[Theta]

But I don't have a closet...



AHHHHHHH SOMEONE PUT A CLOSET IN MY ROOM!!! WHY?!?!?! WHY WOULD SOMEONE DO SUCH A THING?!?!?!?!?!

AHHRHRHRHRHHHHGGGG!!!!

Freudialicous!

[MonkeyM666]

I didn't say that my mother, who was a whore but really loved my sister in a dream was in the closet that isn't there.... did i?

[Theta]

I didn't say that my mother, who was a whore but really loved my sister in a dream was in the closet that isn't there.... did i?

Not explicitly...but it's there, between the lines.

[Pacino86845]

I guess this had a limited opening over the weekend, but SOMEONE must've seen it, right? RIGHT?!

[Ribbons]

What's Paprika's schedule in the UK? In the States it came out in New York City last weekend, but I think that's it.

[BuckyO'harre]

SOMEONE must've seen it, right? RIGHT?!

I saw it

























in the grocery store.

*runs before bannage*

[Fawst]

Well, this movie can only really rank in one of two categories: better than or not as good as Akira.

[Ribbons]

Now with 100% more main page review:

[quote="Moriarty"]PAPRIKA is a [rare] thing indeed. This is not “just another anime filmâ€

[Keepcoolbutcare]

Sony Pictures Classics will be rolling this one out in the weeks ahead

i'm rollin' 'em already 'cuz, fina-titfucking-lly, it's opening in Berkeley on Friday.

w00t!11!

7h3r3 1$ n0 £337 ƒ0r wh47 1'm ƒ33£1n9!

[Keepcoolbutcare]

people, concepts and ideas you might want to at least be familiar with before viewing PAPRIKA*.

Jung, Freud, Semiotics, Representative Realism, Reality Shift, Synchronicity and a mess of psychological subjects that are relatively fascinating in and of themselves.

Hyperreality and/or the seminal works of Daniel Boorstin, Jean Baudrillard, Marshall McLuhan.

i'm thinking I may have to see it again to properly "review" it (or whatever it is that i do that passes for reviewing...making shit up, mostly), but I really, really, enjoyed the film. A visual marvel, obviously, with an oft repeated motif of a dazzling carnival/parade set-piece and one of the creepiest sexual molestations ever filmed, Kon, it seems, has taken a lot of the themes he's previously explored and incorporated them all into this delirious smörgåsbord of jammed, jarring frames.** At times as funny and knowledgeably self-reflective of itself and its medium as anything you're likely to see, blurring the lines between the "real", the conscious and unconscious to the conjunction point of no return while simultaneously managing to condemn, question and slyly embrace the pseudo-events, shared pop-cultural symbols/phenomena and samey-ness of our human species Collective Fictions and Non-Fictions, PAPRIKA is a veritable pop-art cum philosophical wrestling match of ideas...it's unique, bewildering and breathtaking, often all at the same time.

aka, i liked it a lot and would love to discuss it with ya'll, so SEE THIS MOVIE!

*my at best cursory knowledge was enough to suffice, so it's not like you gotta be all expert at that shit. I just imagine it would really increase ones enjoyment.

**RANDOM DIVERSION THAT SCANNED BETTER WHEN I DIDN'T TRY TO FORCE IT IN THE MIDDLE OF AN ALREADY LONG WINDED PARAGRAPH ...am I alone in thinking that a fair share of anime is, like hip-hop or certain disposable "pop" music, kinda dated the moment it's experienced? Which isn't to say certain animes, or any cartoon for that matter, can't stand the test of time but I know for certain that the "art" of Satoshi Kon has improved with each picture, how TOY STORY and all Pixar flicks just seem to look better each and every time they come out with a new one...but I digress.

ETA: huh, I thought this was all Kon, turns out it was a originally a novel written by Yasutaka Tsutsui. I have/had a lot of thoughts to add here, but something just kicked in and any slight semblance to coherent thought has left me.

[Pacino86845]

Thanks for the thoughts KCBC, but I have no fuckin' clue when this will be making it to my area...

[Keepcoolbutcare]

Thanks for the thoughts KCBC, but I have no fuckin' clue when this will be making it to my area...

just how fluent is your French & or Arabic? 'Cuz there's a French & Arabic DVD that's getting released on June 20th.

[Pacino86845]

Thanks for the thoughts KCBC, but I have no fuckin' clue when this will be making it to my area...

just how fluent is your French & or Arabic? 'Cuz there's a French & Arabic DVD that's getting released on June 20th.

Oh heavens, YES!!!

[Pacino86845]

Ok I can't do any fancy name-dropping like KCBC, but I just saw this and I concur wholeheartedly with the parts of his review I actually understood.

I don't know what more I can say than simply that Paprika was brilliant. A visceral, unique joy. Kon hit all the right notes with this film... it IS as awesome as the trailer made it out to be! Perfect marketing!

9/10

[Keepcoolbutcare]

you get to see it in a theater Pacino?

it's funnier, and scarier, than the trailer lets on, but aside from that, good call.

[Adam Balm]

I bet this movie's huge in Hungary.

[Keepcoolbutcare]

I bet this movie's huge in Hungary.

Goulash...

[Adam Balm]

In any event, thanks to the praise here I'll be watching this either tonight or tomorrow night. (Despite the references to Baudrillard and semiotics.)

[Pacino86845]

you get to see it in a theater Pacino?

it's funnier, and scarier, than the trailer lets on, but aside from that, good call.

Sadly, I didn't watch it in the theatre... but when/if it makes it to theatres out here I would definitely go just to see how everything feels... even watching it on a small screen, some moments had my spine tingling. I'm hoping that the different "giants" will appear more imposing when watching Parika on the big screen.

Balmy, if you have a chance to watch this on the big screen, you should definitely go for it.

[MonkeyM666]

ALL EDITED AS I WANTED TO WRITE MORE :

Well I saw this last night and WOW What a beautiful and unique story. The animation is absolutely top notch and really puts modern western animated cinema to shame (other then Pixar). The action was fantastic and that crazy music that was in the opening and closing titles really set the scene. A joy to experience, even though I was confused as hell for the first 20/30 minutes

The basic story behind Paprika is that dreams have become accessible and recordable thanks to the genius mind of the heavy weight inventor Tokita Kosaku. Tokita invents a machine called the DC mini which allows someone to ‘log in’ to a persons dreams. The goal of the Tokita Kosaku is to help people interpret their subconscious minds through the aide of a trained philologist. The technology is unfinished when three samples are stolen and the misuse begins.

A lot of the film plays out like a detective novel, with the symbolic and often disturbing dreams leaking into the reality of the film. Themes of god vs man, man against machine, and how fragile our conscious minds really are flow consistently through the steps of the film. You don’t need to know very much about psychology to understand what’s going on, but it does help.

The idea that no one man should not have control over a subconscious mind is an interesting one, and it’s portrayed in a way that really makes you wonder what side you’re on. I found my self sympathising with the villain at some stages as he only wants to control something that, in his opinion, has gone to far. Also, and I thought of the Zone when I saw this, the idea of alt personas is also breached with our dream guide, Paprika. She’s portrayed as a nymph type character that pops in and out of people’s dreams giving aide and helping restless minds.

I dare to say that I enjoyed the style of the film more then Spirited Away, it rips out some of the strangest images that Kon’s mind can come up with. The 4/5 years has seen amazing advancements in 3D imaging. The images are crisp, clean and bright. There is no detectible difference between the 2D and 3D animation as there usually is. It was so worth all the hype, and as has been said above, this is one film that the trailer was perfectly made for. Kon keeps going from strength to strength….

9/10..

[buster00]

HOORAY! Paprika finally came to my town!

This movie's a serious trip. What a mind-blower.

Absolutely dazzling. Highest recommendation...and yeah, see it on a big screen if at all possible.

10/10.

[Maui]

Yes, as usual, I'm the last one to cross the finish line.

So what's the deal, it's out of the theatre, not yet on DVD? I can get a french version?

[Ribbons]

As far as I know it's not on DVD yet; on Netflix release date is "unknown." Grr and double grr...

[Pacino86845]

SUCKAS!!! It's out on DVD in Europe, YAY!!

If you can import the Region 2 French DVD, it comes with French, English, and Arabic subtitles!! I can double-check the English subtitles, but I'm pretty sure they're included. Plus the box art is really nice, and it's made out of cardboard rather than that woeful plastic.

[Pacino86845]

This is the version I have, but there is a super badass deluxe version as well.

Also available on Blu-ray!!

[Ribbons]

This is the version I have, but there is a super badass deluxe version as well.

Also available on Blu-ray!!

Man, that looks badass, Pacino, but I don't think I have the right Region player (right? The US is Region 1, right? Ribbons = n00be'd). However I just checked on Amazon.com and it says that it's coming out November 27th. So it shouldn't be too long a wait, provided the date doesn't change.

[Pacino86845]

Yeah you would need a player that could switch Regions.

Well if it comes out November 27 then it's no big deal.

[Maui]

Thanks Pacino and Ribbons - I will wait for end of November release.

[stereosforgeeks]

Paprika on BluRay? Excellent!

[tapehead]

Hallucinatory pscychoanalysis? At least the equal of Kon's previous Psycho-thriller Perfect Blue, Paprika is quickly becoming one of my favourite anime features. When attempting to describe the dark complexities of Perfect Blue, I found myself reaching for comparisons to De Palma and Hitchcock; in this case, except for the obvious connections to anime greats like Miyazaki, Kawajiri, Oshii and Otomo (I noticed references to 'Akira', 'Wicked City' and 'Princess Monoke') and perhaps modern speculative writers like Philip K Dick or William Gibson (I've drawn a long bow elsewhere recently and also tried to compare this to Pynchon), this film is peerless.

To me 'Perfect Blue' and 'Paprika' are companion pieces (although you might also consider them a trilogy of sorts, including 'Sennen joyû'/ 'Millenium Actress' as the second instalment of Kon's 'psychodramas' focussing upon paradoxically strong yet vulnerable heroines). The former exploring the obsessive psyche of a fan cum stalker, the intimate interconnection of an unwilling pop icon and her psychotic fan - visually quoting his earlier film, Paprika skips in slow motion, defying normal gravity, just like Perfect Blue's fan/stalker Uchida - the latter the unconscious neuroses of the individual amongst the seemingly endless complexity and absurdity of a postmodern existence in which their mind starts unravelling... and they can watch it happen, and indeed interpret their own psychic disintegration like discussing a movie...

There is also an intriguing and (semi)coherent sci-fi narrative at work throughout, which this psychodrama exists within, though it may take more than one viewing before you can focus upon it. In short, the story explores the complications that occur when Psychiatrists start employing the "DC Mini" a device invented by a giant man-child 'visionary' Doctor Tokita (more than once we see him possessing a 'third eye'), which has the ability to display the visuals of a subject's dreams on a screen, as an aid to the 'talking cure.' But that is merely the jump-off point. There are perhaps some similarities between the way the DC Mini functions with the way that Joel Barrish finds himself fleeing the memory-erasing hardware of Lacuna Inc. in 'Eternal Sunshine', though the device itself, streamlined and vaguely organic in appearance, foreshadows the sinister aspects of the psychiatrists seeking a more intimate relationship with the patient - a little like the surgical instruments in Cronenberg's 'Dead Ringers'.

The visual psychosis first marches into view as an endless parade of semiotic delirium that reminded me at first of the cartoon accompanying
Roger Glover's Butterfly ball (it might just be the creepy frogs, or my very own subjective semiological reference point, but it's a persistent thought I have watching the film, as well as being a pretty well-known piece of animation) but quickly the darker suppressed (or repressed, depending on your view of psychology) elements of the human psyche start rising up through the skin of the quaint 60's psychedelia, and is accompanied by never-ending legions of everyday objects (but especially childhood toys, the obsession of Himuro, Tokita's former assistant who we first discover has stolen the DC Mini), brought to life, oddly animate. To move about this shared and expanding 'dream world', Paprika embodies characters from fairytale and myth, from Tinkerbell to the Monkey-god, whatever shape might best navigate a delusional world of a collective psyche - the merged Unconscious of every neurotic that has plugged into the machine under the control of Osanai, the assistant of to the Chairman of the corporation enabling this team of 'psychic pioneers', who himself has an unhealthy fixation on Paprika / Atsuko, and has tried to hijacked this new terrain for his own ends, not realising that the Chairman too has plans for it.

If you're still following the story at this point it won't bother you too much that Osanai occasionally appears as a cloud of brilliant blue butterflies, or that much of what I've described actually takes place around a central story concerning a police detective plagued by a recurring dream which culminates in a fatal shooting that seems very familiar to him but he can't recall quite why. Also, just as you think the story is resolving, the dream world invades waking life...

But the film does obey a logic of it's own, and the conclusion is comprehensible, as well as being quite lovely. It's not an 'bad trip'; recurring motifs of Circus, Theme Parks and children's playthings serve to remind us this is entertainment. Even it's most murderous and psychotic sequences are gleefully visual and rendered in relentlessly gorgeous and artful compositions, and Susumu Hirasawa's feverish and perfectly ridiculous soundtrack seems insanely joyful, making it one of the most brilliant shows of it's kind that I've seen.

[Pacino86845]

I'll tell you what'd be a headtrip: reading Keepcool and tapehead's reviews of Paprika back-to-back (doesn't matter which you start with).

Amazingly expressed, tapes... I appreciated the Dead Ringers and Eternal Sunshine nods in your review.

[Keepcoolbutcare]

dammit Tapes, how many Best Review Zonie noms are you gunning for? Since most folks haven't seen it and thus 'prolly won't grok half what you wrote, this won't get a nom...but it damn well should.

I could get all sycophantic and start quoting and responding to nearly every line you wrote, but instead I'll just seethe with my "green eyed monster", which doth mock my beastly scribblings.

and MonkeyM, good stuff as well, really liked...

The idea that no one man should not have control over a subconscious mind is an interesting one, and it’s portrayed in a way that really makes you wonder what side you’re on. I found my self sympathising with the villain at some stages as he only wants to control something that, in his opinion, has gone to far.

as Kon did (sorta) humanize his villain, or at least make his machinations somewhat sympathetic.

I'm positively atwitter with anticipation for the DVD release so I PAPRIKA another look and hopefully chime in with some more musings.

[MonkeyM666]

I'll tell you what'd be a headtrip: reading Keepcool and tapehead's reviews of Paprika back-to-back (doesn't matter which you start with).

Amazingly expressed, tapes... I appreciated the Dead Ringers and Eternal Sunshine nods in your review.

BINGO!

Damn fine writing there Tape. Damnit man if you had written that when it came out Harry could have plastered that all over the mothersite.

KCBC... I hate to say it, but I may just change my nomination for best review....

[Keepcoolbutcare]

KCBC... I hate to say it, but I may just change my nomination for best review....

my problem is I don't know which of Tapes heady reviews to nominate!

[MonkeyM666]

We should just nominate Tape.... that's all.... and let the folks choose. The Host review was fine stuff too... hummm...

[tapehead]

Thanks guys - pleased it makes some sense to others. After I'd read the other posts here, I had to come and respond after I'd gotten my own thoughts together. Reading KC's review guaranteed to me I had to see it at my first opportunity.
Paprika is definitely going to figure amongst the best I've seen this year, and it's got me going back through my anime DVDs as well as looking for others that I haven't seen. I really think it's an extraordinary film that's given me a renewed appreciation of the genre. It's also a dense and complex head fucker, that I'm sure I'll be back with a few more musings on...

[Keepcoolbutcare]

Thanks guys - pleased it makes some sense to others.

"some sense" indeed, I had to read it twice to suss out half of it!

kinda like the film in that regard.

meta-reviewing!

[tapehead]

Paprika is getting it's release this week in several regions on dvd / BluRay etc.

Go get it and watch it, all-a you guys!!!

[Dee E. Goppstober]

I agree. I've just seen this today- and it's brilliant. Quite literally very dreamy and absolutely beautiful.

[MonkeyM666]

It is great, and WELL worth a few watches. I threw it on for my second viewing the other night and got so much more out of it. Instead of being all confused and getting my mental footing in the first 20/30 minutes I new what the deal was and took a whole heap more in. Stellar stuff...

[Dee E. Goppstober]

Yeah - this one is definetely a re-watcher.

As a matter of fact - since I'm turning into a real night-owl anyway- I am going to do so RIGHT NOW!

[Karl Hungus]

I'm getting this for Christmas. Can't wait to see it.

[Spifftacular SquirrelGirl]

What an amazing movie. Just finished watching it and I have to agree with Mori and his review.

Just wonder how much of a difference there is between this movie and the novel it was based on.

Also, always a big plus to hear Megumi Hayashibara in a big role.

[Maui]

This is an Anime mind f*ck in the best possible way!!!

WOW! Loved it. I need to watch this again and again and again!!! I need to own this, that's what I need to do.

DC minis...

Freakish masturbations...

Dolls parading over a bridge....

Dream terrorism......

If you combine KCBC's and Tapes reviews - pretty much sums up this visually stunning masterpiece.

[Retardo_Montalban]

This movie takes all my sickest most disturbing fantasies and puts it up on the silver screen.

[Maui]

This movie takes all my sickest most disturbing fantasies and puts it up on the silver screen.

It's just beautiful to watch. From start to finish!

[Retardo_Montalban]

I watched this at one of Edmonton's local indie theatres and I must say, I was tempted to pull a Pee Wee Herman.

[Maui]

I watched this at one of Edmonton's local indie theatres and I must say, I was tempted to pull a Pee Wee Herman.

You are a canuck? I didn't know that.

[Retardo_Montalban]

I watched this at one of Edmonton's local indie theatres and I must say, I was tempted to pull a Pee Wee Herman.

You are a canuck? I didn't know that.

Yeah, I'm hardcore baby.... er... um.... eh