Perfect Blue (1998)

An illusion within a nightmare...

As you might have noticed, I don't review films or write much at all on my website anymore.  Every once and awhile a movie or event comes along that is so special, different and all around strainge, that I just have to write something about it... even if no one reads it.  Perfect blue is one of these movies. The story takes many levels of reality, fiction, dream, and delusion, and merges them into an occasionally baffling but overall thrilling and satisfying film. Perfect Blue is a storming success in every department. As a movie in itself, it's a brilliant piece of work, packed with style and -very- powerful scares. Perfect Blue is a great start for Satoshi Kon, the director, as this is his feature length film debut in the anime world. This film is a beautifully crafted thriller where, like Hichcock before him, Kon always gets at one of our subconscious fears.			A blood covered appearance of "Mima," the main character
	Mima's delirium has merged with reality		We follow teen pop idol Mima, who tries to make the switch from singing to TV acting. Everything seems normal enough at first, but it wouldn't be a thriller if good ol' normality didn't come crashing to pieces to make way for some terrifying madness and violence. Things start to unnerve the audience with lurid details when the studio staff working around Mima are threatened, and later horribly killed, apparently by an obsessed Mima-fan who doesn't like the new direction her career is taking. And as if that wasn't bad enough, Mima herself is starting to go bonkers with all the pressure. She begins to have visions of a disturbing alter ego, more or less her "old self" from her singing days. And this "other" Mima doesn't want to play second fiddle to the new acting image Mima has taken on; she claims to be the real one, with the flesh-and-blood Mima being the fake. Mima's delirium grows gradually more entangled, until she sinks into a mental state where it's impossible for her, and for the audience to tell what is, and what is not reality. As an innocent person's world turns against her, Mima becomes isolated with no one she can really trust to help her.

What is interesting about this film is how the viewer's sense of distinguishing between fantasy and reality is blurred along with that of Mima, it forces you to completely pay attention to every moment or you'll get lost. You are left not being able to determine what is real or fantasy, and end up feeling very disorientated. The whole film is mainly about identity and the subconscious fear of losing it as one changes. Perfect Blue blends elements of the psychological thriller, the horror film, the adult-entertainment film and other dramatic themes so that in the end it seems to play out as a head-on collision of each genre. Sadly a lot of people don´t give animated movies the credit they deserv or they think that all animation is just for kids and has to be kid friendly in a Disney like way where the characters had to sing songs and say cheap jokes. Although the first four minutes or so has some of these childish aspects present, which feel completely out of place when compared to the rest of the film, Perfect Blue breaks all those myths demostrating the wide open and different story-telling horizons that only animation is able to bring.

My IMDB score: 9/10 (8.6 rounded up due to childish start to film)