Active Anime's Paprika Theatrical Special Review by Christopher Seaman.

Anyone who has watched anime on the big screen can appreciate what I am about to say.

If you have not done so, you don’t know what you’re missing.  If anime ever plays in your town in a local theatre, go watch it.  You won’t get many chances to do so, and unless you are willing to support it when it does come your way, there will never be any incentive among the studios that spend vast amounts of money on it to bring out more for us in North America.  The efforts by Pixar and Disney to run Miyazaki’s wondrous films are to be lauded for these screenings do not generate much income for the studios.  As anime enthusiasts, we have an obligation to support them and hopefully encourage through ticket sales more productions. 

Yet we must also support other studios when they take the leap into anime.  Sony Pictures, through their Classics division is one such company worthy of this support, especially as they have recently screened PAPRIKA, the latest work from Satoshi Kon, (PERFECT BLUE, MILLENNIUM ACTRESS, PARANOIA AGENT, TOKYO GODFATHERS), in theatres in New York, Los Angeles, and Toronto.  Clearly hoping to get some coveted film awards next year, this effort of Sony’s should be applauded, not just for good business practices, but also just for giving us anime lovers a chance to see a great film as it was meant to be seen- up on the screen in a theatre.  As for the film itself, one can hardly imagine anything else in the pipeline this year, with the possible exception of Studio Ghibli’s EARTHSEA film, that will even come close to PAPRIKA in terms of quality.  It is easily the most remarkable piece of cinema this reviewer has watched theatrically so far in 2007.

PAPRIKA is set in the present day, like all of Satoshi Kon’s other stories.  However, while the setting is established in the ‘real’ world, everything that happens within it is far from ordinary.  As the analysis of dreams provides the foundation for this story, Kon wastes no time in going sideways with the plot- adapted from a 1991 story by science fiction writer Yasutaka Tsutsui.  The twists and turns continue through the film, leaving the audience breathless with excitement as reality is warped again and again.  The key to this exploration of dreams is the DC Mini, a device developed by the overweight and geeky Dr. Tokita, for the psychoanalysis of dreams in patients seeking mental treatment.  So powerful it could actually destroy the mind of the user is misused, it is a device which has stirred up controversy among its corporate and government supporters.  Dr. Atsuko Chiba, Tokito’s colleague and a trained psychotherapist, has used the DC Mini to help patients during its development phase, entering their minds as her alter-ego Paprika, Chiba knows what good the device can do.  When one of the four prototypes and Tokito’s assistant Himuro both disappear, she also knows that powerful and dangerous forces are at work to sabotage the project.  The only problem is she has trouble distinguishing dream states from reality as she pursues the missing researcher and device, as her frequent use of the DC Mini has affected her own perceptions.  As a result, Chiba often works side by side Paprika, and sometimes ends up in dangerous situations where the dreams almost become the reality.  Supporting her in this investigation is the Chief, a quirky little scientist with the stereotypical huge glasses and peculiar lusts.  An early victim of the DC Mini’s darker applications, he is saved from oblivion by Paprika, only to bring his old friend, Police Detective Konakawa, a DC Mini user and familiar of Paprika himself, onto the job.  Together, they race to retrieve the device and as its hallucinatory powers grow to threaten all of Tokyo itself.  As if the dreams weren’t confusing enough for our heroes, the conspiracy to bring down the DC Mini project itself makes for considerable intrigue in its own right.

Satoshi Kon has stayed true to form in PAPRIKA, offer further meditations on the nature of reality, the human spirit and its ‘dreams’.  From the idol entering her own private hell in PERFECT BLUE, to a young film star seeking escape to a perfect reality in MILLENNIUM ACTRESS, Kon has given his viewers much to mull over in his films.  PARANOIA AGENT, showing a city going completely mad in the wake of a series of assaults by a mysterious boy on rollerblades named Li’l Slugger, and TOKYO GODFATHERS, which explores personal dreams for inner peace, outer love and a collective hope among the homeless heroes in the story for closure with the past and a better tomorrow, are both further examples of Kon’s fascination with this theme and his willingness to revisit it, if only to mine new insights for his stories.  With PAPRIKA coming from existing source material, it seems a perfect fit for Kon as a director to explore in anime.  In fact, while many directors longed to make the story into a film, only Kon was given credit in the industry as being able to do it.  Using anime expertly, not like a cartoon, but as an alternate way of creating true cinema that can stand favorably alongside any live action feature, Kon has been acknowledged as a master film maker by both his peers and Yasutaka Tsutsui, who personally gave him the nod to create this film.

PAPRIKA not only gives the audience stunning animation, created with trademark attention to detail, (especially in the optically demanding dream sequences featuring a kind of animated hyper-reality), but also provides us with more of Susumu Hirasawa’s beautifully inventive music.  This composer, who has scored just about every feature Kon worked on, has a way of telling the story in notes that is so identified with the director’s style that it is hard to imagine anyone else ever being able to compose a believable score for one of these films. 

Yet credit must also go to Art Director Nobutaka Ike, Color Designer Satoshi Hashimoto, Animation Director Masashi Ando, and Director of Photography Michiya Kato for their efforts in bringing the visions to life.  Lots of beautiful backgrounds, expertly animated shots (quite a few that just show off the amazing abilities of the animators), and some pieces that are wickedly funny for their subtle details and inside jokes compose the film.  Knowing everything that goes into anime must be crafted by hand or computer first, it only makes the humor even sharper for audiences who know what to look for.  Seldom will one be so stimulated watching a film in a theatre as one is watching PAPRIKA.  This reviewer can only hope that its quality is not lost in translation to DVD. 

So…who might want to watch it?  THE GLOBE AND MAIL, a national Canadian newspaper had a segment in its Entertainment section coinciding with the release of PAPRIKA about other dream films that had been made lately.  Mentioned were THE MATRIX, WHAT DREAMS MAY COME, THE CELL, EXISTENZ, among others.  Some may think PAPRIKA owes much to these films in the genesis of its story.  This reviewer, however, argues it should be the other way around, as the original story was published long before these films were produced.  Still, if such stories interest you, PAPRIKA is definitely worth watching, along with Kon’s other films.  You will understand when it finishes you don’t need drugs to have your mind completely messed with.  One shot of marching frogs playing clarinets will go a long, long way to accomplishing that all by itself…  

IN SUMMARY:
Visionary! PAPRIKA is a feast for the senses.  Glorious images that mesmerize and astound fill the screen from the first frame to the last.  PAPRIKA is classic anime eye candy and mind-bending brain food stuffed into one techno-trippy dream pill.

Reviewed by Christopher Seaman

Review Date: 06/24/2007

Rating: R

Language: Japanese with English Subtitles

Produced by “Paprika” Film Partners MADHOUSE/Sony Pictures Entertainment (Japan) Inc.

Developed by Masao Maruyama

Original Story written by Yasutaka Tsutsui

Screenplay by Seishi Minakami/Satoshi Kon

Character Design/Animation Director Masashi Ando

Art Director Nobutaka Ike

Color Design Satoshi Hashimoto

Director of photography Michiya Kato

Music by Susumu Hirasawa

Sound Director Masafumi Mima

Editing Takeshi Seyama

Co-Producer Satoki Toyota

Executive Producer Jungo Maruta / Masao Takiyama

Animation by MADHOUSE, Inc.

Director Satoshi Kon