Paprika
- Thread starter Wolfco
- Start date
entry is now up: http://anime-planet.com/anirec/1081.html my review is linked
N
noidea
Nice review. I think I'll see it anyway, but I'll keep your opinion in mind.
K
krza
I actually liked the movie and the dub version is releasing soon. As far as Paprika's soundtrack.. talk about out of this world. Trippy music I must say, nonetheless, I did enjoy it!
I liked the soundtrack way better than the movie though..
I liked the soundtrack way better than the movie though..
FireFlower
New Member
Well let me tell you before: I haven't (probably) watched other Satoshi Kon's shows so I didn't notice all references in show.
Well I think this movie was pretty random. I got main idea was
Mainly was miscellaneous pack of things put in one and then looked what it was.
Art was very beautiful. I watched also short 2 min interview about amusing park graphics about how they were discussing whatkind contrast, details they should use. They had taken real pictures and then edited / drawn pictures to look really good.
Edit: I watched blu-ray version. I still have to watch bonus material someday ^^
Well I think this movie was pretty random. I got main idea was
dreams were becoming one with people and finally was becoming one with the world itself.
Mainly was miscellaneous pack of things put in one and then looked what it was.
Art was very beautiful. I watched also short 2 min interview about amusing park graphics about how they were discussing whatkind contrast, details they should use. They had taken real pictures and then edited / drawn pictures to look really good.
Edit: I watched blu-ray version. I still have to watch bonus material someday ^^
alexander
New Member
(you might want to hide this!)
So you foresaw the end a few minute into the movie? But surely not the problems of each character, which are the real meat of the story.
Just saw that the director voiced the small bartender, so there's more than just visual references ^^
alexander
New Member
I'm sure that apart from the sleep-walking people the real world was never affected. All the weird stuff was dream world only.
In the end Chiba managed to find the cause of each characters recurring dream, and since those made up the shared dream, they could get out.
In the case of the chairman I'm not sure whether he got that an inflated man alone can't create a world, and gave up, or died after being deflated in a dream he was too deep/long into.
Uriel
Well-Known Member
Hidden it already. Yes, personal problems were not obvious but the main plot (which maybe was not the most important thing here but still) was pretty straight foreword.
I got this bad habit of naming guilty characters asap after watching CSI...
ForgottenSon
Member
I think my views are pretty much in accord with sothis (though she's rather more harsh on the plot and characters than I), Uriel and FireFlower.
The visuals and music - I downloaded the OST as soon as I finished watching - are indeed stunning, but they don't really make up for the shortcomings in the plot.
I have seen another of Kon's films - Perfect Blue - and can't help but compare Paprika with that film. As FireFlower pointed out, the main theme of the show is the merging of dreams with reality, something I feel is handled much better in Perfect Blue. In Paprika reality is almost as vibrant and cartoonish as the dream worlds which makes the cut off between reality and fantasy blurred, but at the same time results in a lack of subtlety. We're subjected to a deluge of bizarre, often forced, imagery which is just too much for me.
The visuals and music - I downloaded the OST as soon as I finished watching - are indeed stunning, but they don't really make up for the shortcomings in the plot.
I have seen another of Kon's films - Perfect Blue - and can't help but compare Paprika with that film. As FireFlower pointed out, the main theme of the show is the merging of dreams with reality, something I feel is handled much better in Perfect Blue. In Paprika reality is almost as vibrant and cartoonish as the dream worlds which makes the cut off between reality and fantasy blurred, but at the same time results in a lack of subtlety. We're subjected to a deluge of bizarre, often forced, imagery which is just too much for me.
FireFlower
New Member
Yeah I'm not too familiar with japanese voice actors. This was probably first for me that I wasn't able to recognize voice actors by their voices. After I have watched about over 150 different anime shows and I noticed there are few voice actors. But now I wasn't able to tell who was who even tough alexander mentioned me some.
Maybe the story wasn't so good but art is beautiful, good voice actors, a lot hidden references. Example
Maybe the story wasn't so good but art is beautiful, good voice actors, a lot hidden references. Example
Movie posters had other anime shows names: Perfect Blue, Tokyo Godfathers etc, which are made by same director)
Uriel
Well-Known Member
Agreed. In Perfect Blue the way worlds were merging was handled so believable that it was scary.
Here it is rather confusing and even if that was the point result is rather unpleasant.
FireFlower
New Member
Well who was main culprit
I noticed after reading article from Anime magazine the movie benches look exatly like benches in Helsinki's cinema Orion (I watched Star Wars - Clone wars there). Kinda funny thing actually... or is it just coincidence?
start gave pretty good clue. That office where chairman was, I got immeadly feeling he is a bad guy. But during show it seemed like he was just one of the tight necks sitting in office, and soon after that everything starts rolling on you...
I noticed after reading article from Anime magazine the movie benches look exatly like benches in Helsinki's cinema Orion (I watched Star Wars - Clone wars there). Kinda funny thing actually... or is it just coincidence?
ForgottenSon
Member
I never really suspected who the "culprit" was. I never really cared as the film's style made it very difficult to engage with the characters or plot, making me in all senses a passive observer with no real stake in who's responsible for what. The only times I was truly engaged were:
1) The scene in the bar wear Konakawa finally gets to the bottom of his dreams. I found his sense of guilt for leaving his friend quite moving.
2) Chiba expressing her love for Tokita.
Unfortunately the film is so hectic prior to these tender moments that they lack context, denying them the emotional impact it might have had.
2) Chiba expressing her love for Tokita.
Unfortunately the film is so hectic prior to these tender moments that they lack context, denying them the emotional impact it might have had.
valondar
Active Member
Another reference would be the appearance of the detective as Akira Kurosawa in the film.
For my own two cents, Paprika is a better film than Perfect Blue for a number of reasons, not merely because it's more accomplished in the technical aspects and is a more assured work of a talented director. The latter film does aggressively screw with one's mind but there's a tidy resolution at the end and an overall purpose built into the scheme of things.
Paprika, however, is about dreams and dreaming. Dreaming does not posess either quality - it's as freeform and inventive a look into the dreaming mind as Waking Life, though ultimately far more satisfying than that rather delightful oddity.
They're both great films, though, albeit pretty much everything Satoshi Kon has done so far I consider great.
For my own two cents, Paprika is a better film than Perfect Blue for a number of reasons, not merely because it's more accomplished in the technical aspects and is a more assured work of a talented director. The latter film does aggressively screw with one's mind but there's a tidy resolution at the end and an overall purpose built into the scheme of things.
Paprika, however, is about dreams and dreaming. Dreaming does not posess either quality - it's as freeform and inventive a look into the dreaming mind as Waking Life, though ultimately far more satisfying than that rather delightful oddity.
They're both great films, though, albeit pretty much everything Satoshi Kon has done so far I consider great.
Fireflower - If you liked Paprika, then Perfect Blue and Paranoia Agent are the two Satoshi Kon works most similar to it. They're worth seeing.
So too are Milennium Actress and Tokyo Godfathers, which I consider his two best films and overall two of the best anime films that I've seen.
The short Satoshi Kon worked on in Memories is also superb, and Roujin Z - which he didn't write or direct but did some somewhat proto-Paprika design work on - is a wonderful little satire and a thoroughly underrated film.
Right I'm done. Yadda yadda masterpiece, I'm off.
alexander
New Member
I don't read reviews
How do you define plot? Lots of consecutive events culminating in an ending? Then there's indeed not much. But as I said, it's not catching the perp, it's what happens on the side, namely the character's therapy.
Generally Asians are more about the process. Just compare the number of not-happy-endings between Japanese and American movies.
I have seen them all, although with Perfect Blue that was a long time ago. Remember that much of that movie is shown through the eyes of a maniac, whereas Paprika is 3rd person.
BTW a woman in the parade wore Mima's stage costume ;)
Which is the point. They cannot control the switch because of the latent field from the DC. So it's oscillating, like when you're really tired and slipping into day dreams. Which is how the Radio Club website works, as a trigger.