Perfect Blue
Directed by:
Satoshi KonScreenplay:
Sadayuki MuraiCast:
Rica Matsumoto, Shin'ichirō Miki, Hideyuki Hori, Shinpachi Tsuji, Kishō Taniyama, Akio Suyama, Emi Motoi, Yōsuke Akimoto, Masashi Ebara, Emi Shinohara (more)Plots(1)
Mima is an ex-pop idol who was worshipped by the masses before fashion dictated otherwise. In order to salvage her career, she decides to drop music and pursue acting. A soap opera role is offered but Mima's character is less clean cut than desired. Regardless, she agrees and events take a turn for the worse. She begins to feel reality slip. She discovers (imagines?) her identical twin, a mirror image that hasn't given up singing. Internet sites appear describing every intimate detail of her life and a figure stalks her from the shadows. Her friends and associates are threatened, and killed, as Mima descends into a dangerous world of paranoid delusion. She fears for her life and must unravel fact from illusion in order to stay alive. (official distributor synopsis)
(more)Reviews (3)
A cartoon psycho movie about a split personality with a hint of erotic can really be filmed only by a Japanese.
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Perfect Blue is a Japanese production that is a beautiful example of what adult anime movies look like, and I do not mean hentai or anything like that. I mean anime movies with adult themes and a hardcore narrative even without gore. A rape scene, even in an animated form, can really mess with the viewer, especially when you think about how it shatters dreams.
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Perfect Blue is no doubt the (un)acknowledged inspiration for some of Darren Aronofsky's best work (i.e. Requiem for a Dream and Black Swan) and a very thought-provoking contribution to the paranoid "schizothriller" subgenre overall. The unbridled desire to fulfill ambition regardless of the psychological and physical consequences is portrayed here without the slightest adornment, and the occasional horror motifs are pretty damn cool. [80%]
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