Paprika is an anime film. This could have been a Philip K. Dick story as dreams and reality merge together seemlessly. The story was hard to follow and a bit incoherent. Steamboy was incoherent in a bad way, Head was incoherent (more surreal) in a good way. Paprika I'm not sure about.
The plot is about some scientists who invent a device called a DC-Mini that allows people to see into their dreams and even share them with other people. Somehow a cop is involved too, in fact the opening scenes cover his dreams (if I remember correctly). Some of the devices have been stolen and when used in the wrong way can be used to affect the dreams of many in a terrorist act. They try to find the thief and thwart his plans, as the reality gets stranger and stranger.
The animation is at times amazing. Like much of anime and European animation the backgrounds are quite detailed and realistic looking. I was particularly impressed with the plants overgrowing an abandoned amusement park and wondered if they were photographs superimposed on the drawing. While there are some parts that had me thinking this would be good as a live action film with Matrix-like effects, other parts just couldn't be live action and made use of animation's lack of limitations.
Reviews I've seen say it commented on everything from man vs machine, the nature of dreams and reality, how we relate to others, the nature of terrorism. Those topics might be mentioned, but I don't think Paprika actually had anything to say about these things. It was too busy being a trippy experience. It was kinda interesting but hard to follow. I'll probably watch it again on cable and I expect I'll enjoy it more.
2 comments:
I'm in agreement with your assessment. I felt the portrayal of the dream state in Paprika was more realistic (can you say that about dreams?) than typical movie tropes. Things that characterize dreams for me are hyper-reality, baroque detail as well as non-sequitur. Paprika has these in spades. Made me wonder what Salvador Dali would have done with an anime studio...
The thing that bugged me the most about Paprika (and many anime films) is the continuous state of heightened emotion. After a short time I get inured to the screaming actors, extreme speed and intense colors. I suppose animators need to take advantage of their limited resources/screen time, but at what expense to the viewer experience? I'm no anime expert, but Hayao Miyazaki seems to be one of the few anime directors that understands this.
- R
Thanks for describing exactly what I couldn't put into words.
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