Perfect Blue

IMDB
First time viewed: No
Current Release: No
Watched With: Naomi

The late great Satoshi Kon's first directing gig. It was great to watch this again with fresh eyes especially after having seen Black Swan which shares some startling similarities in theme, tone, character and visuals. Arronofsky is obviously a huge fan too. There's even a scene from this he recreated in Requiem for a Dream.

Like a lot of Kon's film there is a great deal of blurring of the real world with fiction and fantasy. We follow a young Japanese pop singer who decides to leave her group and become a legitimate actress. Some fans are not happy about this and threatening notes appear. The action in her new tv show and her real life start to collide as the events get more threatening and confusing and a real identity crisis develops.

Unlike Black Swan there is a much greater influence from external forces that are helping cause this madness as well as her internal struggles. And there is a more concrete resolution that ends up more like a traditional thriller.

It's pretty cheap looking animation for the most part and it always seemed odd to me that this kind of story needed to be animated at all when it could just as easily have been acted out. It's such a big character drama acting piece and sometimes the animation just doesn't cut it. I think a lot is also lost in the translation. But the action and themes and certainly the creepy and chaotic mood are conveyed brilliantly.

It's a great film and defiantly worth seeking out. In fact most anything Satoshi Kon has made should be given a look. You'll see where a lot of Black Swan came from too.