Paprika (2006)

 

Paprika (2006)

8/10

Starring the voices of 

Megumi Hayashibara

Tōru Emori

Katsunosuke Hori

Tōru Furuya

 

Directed by: Satoshi Kon

 

When Paprika starts and we are jumping from one scene to another in a chase, from the circus to the train and then to where everything is all morphed together, and the character wakes up from the dream, you are at this point trying to figure out, okay, where are we.

Paprika is a fantasy sci-fi movie about dreams, and a dream terrorist who needs to be stopped because he stole a device called the DC Mini, which he uses to infiltrate people’s dreams. The movie is amazing on many levels, and it’s one of those movies where you know the maker, Satoshi Kon, must have loved making it. This is pure idea brought to life, and you can feel it, and I loved it for that.

The animation is incredible, the way it flows, and the voice casting captures the needed intent. The musical score does the job of creating that deep psychological thriller effect that makes you concentrate hard.

Now, the story is not easy to follow. This is a movie about dreams, metaphors, and reality all blended into one, so you need to be on your toes so you do not get lost in the surrealism. Kon was not one to provide guardrails to make sure the viewer has a hold on what is real, which is why many, like me, believe the Christopher Nolan movie Inception is Paprika with knee braces, trying to keep the viewer standing and straight so they do not fall too deep and get lost in all the dreams and metaphors.

So what is Paprika about? Well, in continuation of the brief intro, when the device gets stolen, dreams start bleeding into reality. Nightmares take over streets, identities fracture, and nothing is safe—not logic, not gravity, not your own sense of self.

Dr. Atsuko Chiba, whose dream-world alter ego is named Paprika, is trying to track the thief and restore order.

But the line between waking and dreaming collapses because the minds of the people who provided the data during the testing of the DC Mini are accessible through the stolen device.

What you are watching is characters morphing mid-scene, dreamscapes twisting and bending like liquid, and every frame loaded with surreal, mind-bending imagery.

The movie leaves you, the audience, to deal with the chaos, to determine what is real and what is not.

In the end, the drawback of this movie is its very strength, it is very deep, a lot of things are blurred together, and you can easily get lost because there are no guardrails or knee braces.

This is a movie made for the brave, to enjoy the art of its production and the depth of its plot. Sadly all that depth and art made it very confusing, difficult to follow, and sometimes annoying.

Still a recommend watch.