Sunday, July 1, 2007

パプリカ (Paprika) (2006)

Synopsis: Have you ever wondered what if your dreams are really real and what you precieve as reality isn't real at all? Well, that's what this movie is about. Tokita is a genius who invents a machine called the DC Mini which enables therapists to go into the dreams of troubled sleepers and helps them solve whatever is bothering them. This sounds pretty sweet and at first it is sweet but when three DC Minis go missing, dream terrorism occurs as people begin to loose track of reality. The only person that can stop it is a scientist, Chiba who is Paprika in her dream state. Paprika has the ability to go into people's dreams even without this machine. Now, it's up to her to stop the dream terrorist before he destroy more dreams and ultimately replaces reality with a dream world.

Should You Watch It? Are you confused yet? If you are then good! cause this movie is hella confusing. It's definitely a thinker but if you put in that extra effort, the rewards are well worth it. The animation style alone should be enough to convince any fan of the genre to go take a look. It's an interesting new take on surrealism and the merging between reality and dreams. The story, after some thought, is very interesting and raises a few interesting questions about dreams and society in general.

Things to Watch Out For: The central question in the A plot is whether there is a difference between dreams and reality and how can we truely differentiate between the two. The deeper question is about perception and if what we percieve is in fact reality. This movie asks us to look around and think about our daily judgments. It's common practice to look at someone or something and just past judgment, cause it's our perception but often times that's not the reality. Also, is reality something that can be manufactured? Is TV reality? What about the internet and virtual realism?

Things You Don't Expect: I did not expect this movie to be so much like Akira. If anyone has seen it, and I would like to think many of you have, then you will know the unique style that I'm talking about. Although, this isn't as revolutionary, it is quite good and has some nudity which is nice to see. Not cause of the nudity but because it's bringing animation to an adult audience which is something that North America as yet to do.

Final Comments:
Story: 9.5 (Yasutaka Tsutsui: Novel, Seishi Minakami: Screenplay)
Direction: 8.8 (Satoshi Kon)
Voice Acting: 7.0
Animation: 9.0 (Masashi Ando)
Music/Sound: 8.0 (Susumu Hirasawa)

Final Score: 8.2

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