Perfect Blue

Perfect Blue

So I went to the movies yesterday (18.9.2018) to see Perfect Blue, a japanese animated psychological horror movie directed by Satoshi Kon released in 1997, and damn was it an experience! I’ve seen couple other Satoshi Kons movies before seeing this one but nothing could have prepared me for for the ride that this movie is.   
The previous films I saw were Paprika and Tokyo Godfathers (two amazing movies that I highly recommend to everyone). 

I don’t want to spoil the movie for anyone so I’ll try to write as vaguely as I can about it.




Little about the plot
The movie revolves around the main character Mima Kirigoe, a singer in a J-pop idol group called “CHAM!”, and her decision of leaving the idol group to pursue a career as an actress. Soon after leaving CHAM! Mima finds out that not everyone is happy with her decision and what people are willing to do to get what they want. 




Themes and storytelling in the movie
Perfect Blue explores the world of mental health, one's own identity, online stalking, the dangers and strains of being a public icon. Subjects explored in the movie are messy and hard to grasp when in motion, and the movie beautifully conveys the sense of losing reality and one’s own mind by melting scenes and parts of Mimas life and acting career together. I left the cinema still questioning what scenes were real and which weren’t (were they all real!?), it’s definitely going to take me couple more viewings to get the full story, and I love that!





Influences in cinema
While I was writing this post I found out that Perfect Blue influenced a lot of Darren Aronofsky's Black Swan and that Requiem for a Dream uses a scene directly from Perfect Blue. (Pretty cool :^D)




In conclusion
I loved everything about this movie! It's a beautifully brutal and unsettling film that is truly unique cinematic experience, and I consider this film to be a timeless classic since the themes and the story of this movie still feel extremely current. I highly recommend this movie to everyone who likes movies that provoke deep unsettling feelings and challenges the viewer. That being said, my recommendation does come with an extreme trigger warning as the film contains couple rape scenes.  



 Perfect Blue is a masterpiece of art and cinema

Comments

  1. Rats VideosSeptember 19, 2018 at 11:57 AM

    Wow this sounds pretty amazing, I will definitely watch it. Recently I have been interested in Japanese animated movies as well so thanks for suggesting this one. Very short and to point summary, which is not always easy to achieve ;)

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownSeptember 19, 2018 at 10:19 PM

    I love Perfect Blue, it's really beautiful :) Glad that you enjoyed it too. (It's actually directed by Satoshi Kon, Sadayuki Murai was a writer for that.)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mikko TanskanenSeptember 19, 2018 at 11:05 PM

      Oh haha, thanks for pointing that out! No idea how I made that mistake....never write your blogs in a hurry :-----D

      Delete
  3. LaisSeptember 21, 2018 at 11:31 AM

    You made this movie so interesting I'm gonna have to watch it. Thanks for adding (yet another) movie to my watchlist >.<

    ReplyDelete
  4. TeroSeptember 25, 2018 at 8:52 AM

    I've heard about this film before. I might watch it at some point. I have a few Japanese animated films in mind I'd want to watch, but I don't really know where I'd get my hands on them.

    ReplyDelete

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