PAPRIKA

If America is the King of Live-Action, then no one can compete with the King of Animation: Japan. If you know anything about film outside of America, that fact should be obvious. And if you follow film here, you may recall a shining gem called Spirited Away which won a 2001 Oscar for Best Animated Feature and is, according to Wikipedia, the highest-grossing film at the box office in Japan ever.

Don't worry, all of this has a point. Because you see, the director of Spirited Away may be the only widely-known anime director in America, and the term "widely-known" is optimistic. The man who should also be acknowledged is Satoshi Kon, who has made everything from the R-rated Perfect Blue to the family-friendly Tokyo Godfathers.

Paprika came out in 2006 to relative laudation and notoriety here in the states, as it well should have been. The movie is a visual masterpiece, with its story bested only by its artistic direction. Kon is the master of confusing dreams and reality, and this movie is written to give him the best excuse he's ever had to show off that particular talent.

A new device called the DC Mini has been developed in the near-future, and it allows people to record, play back, and even enter, other people's dreams. Developed by Dr. Kosaku Tokita, an immature genius whose incredibly obese body houses the mind of a child, his associate Dr. Atsuko Chiba hopes to use the device to treat her patient's psychological illnesses. The device is controversial, however, as the hospital director believes it's a dangerous invasion of privacy. All hell breaks loose, however, when the device is stolen while it's in the development stage and before it's legal. Suddenly, acts of terrorism by the thief via the DC Mini begin to break down the walls between reality and dreams, and it's up to Dr. Chiba and her dream alter-ego, Paprika, to stop the collision.

The visuals are done by Madhouse Studios and they're a sumptuous feast for the eyes; the opening credits sequence is especially clever. The plot itself isn't that complicated; it's the progression of events and the strange sliding of the dreams that keep you unequivocally involved. It's a movie with more width than it has depth, but it has enough depth to make you think about the implications of future technology-both the good and the bad. Most of the time you're so overwhelmed (in a good way) that it's just enough to sit back and enjoy the ride. Although the villain's story regresses from genuine concern over, perhaps, mankind's other final frontier, to a power-trip, the other characters are so full of eccentricities that it's easy to miss his deficiencies. Also, Susumu Hirasawa's music is ethereal and zany.

I haven't seen the sub, although I should see it; however, to get a full experience and focus on the visuals, I would highly recommend the excellent English dub.

If you're a fan of luscious, surreal experiences, thrillers, drama, science-fiction, gorgeous direction, and mind-blowing stories which require an open mind, this is your movie.

-elln