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Perfect Blue

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Perfect Blue
File:Pblue.jpg
Directed bySatoshi Kon
Screenplay bySadayuki Murai
Story byYoshikazu Takeuchi
Produced byHiroaki Inoue
StarringJunko Iwao
Rica Matsumoto
CinematographyHisao Shirai
Edited byHarutoshi Ogata
Music byMasahiro Ikumi
Production
company
Distributed byRex Entertainment
Manga Entertainment
Release dates
  • July 1997 (1997-07) (Fantasia)
  • February 28, 1998 (1998-02-28) (Japan)
Running time
80 minutes
CountryTemplate:Film Japan
LanguageJapanese

Perfect Blue (パーフェクトブルー, Pāfekuto Burū) is a 1997 Japanese animated psychological thriller film directed by Satoshi Kon from a screenplay by Kon and Sadayuki Murai. Loosely based on the novel of the same name by Yoshikazu Takeuchi, the film tells the story of Mima Kirigoe, a member of a Japanese pop-idol group called "CHAM!", who decides to pursue her career as an actress. Some of her fans are displeased with her sudden career change, particularly a stalker named Me-Mania. As her new career proceeds, Mima's world becomes increasingly reminiscent of the works of Alfred Hitchcock: reality and fantasy spiral out of control, and Mima discovers that Me-Mania is the least of her troubles.

Plot

Mima Kirigoe, a pop-idol from the J-pop group "CHAM!", decides to leave the group to become an actress. Her first project is as in a direct-to-video drama series called "Double Bind". Some of her fans are upset by her change in career and persona, not least the stalker known as "Me-Mania". Shortly after leaving CHAM!, Mima receives an anonymous fax calling her a traitor. Mima finds a website called "Mima's Room" that has public diary entries which seem to be written by her discussing her life in great detail. She confides in her manager Rumi Hidaka about the site, however, she is advised to just ignore it.

Meanwhile, on the set of Double Bind, Mima succeeds in getting a larger part. The producers have agreed to give her a leading role, however, it is as a rape victim in a strip club. Rumi warns Mima that it will ruin her reputation, but Mima accepts the part voluntarily. Though it is apparent that Mima is indecisive, the atmosphere of the scene traumatizes her so that she increasingly becomes unable to separate reality from fantasy. She can no longer distinguish real life from her work in show business.

Several people who had been involved in the tarnishing of Mima's reputation are murdered. She finds evidence which makes her appear to be the prime suspect, and her increasing mental instability makes her doubt her own innocence. It turns out that the diarist of "Mima's Room" is delusional and very manipulative, and that an intense folie à deux has been in play. The faux diarist and serial killer, who believes herself to be a Mima who is forever young and graceful, has made a scapegoat of stalker Me-Mania.

Mima knocks Me-Mania unconscious with a hammer in self-defense when he attempts to rape her, and runs to her only support she has left alive, her manager Rumi. Later on, back in "Mima's room", Mima tries to call Mr. Tadakoro but he was murdered, along with Mr. Me-Mania who was killed in self-defense. When Mima encounters Rumi, however, her manager is wearing a replica of Mima's CHAM! costume and crazily singing Mima's pop songs. Rumi is in fact the false diarist, who believes she is the "real Mima". Rumi is angry that Mima has been ruining the "real Mima's" reputation, and decides to save "Mima's" pristine pop idol image through the same means she has been using all along: murder. Mima manages to incapacitate Rumi in self-defense after a chase through the city despite being wounded herself. Rumi remains permanently delusional and institutionalized. Mima has grown from her experiences and has moved on with her life with new found independence and confidence.

Cast

  • Junko Iwao (Ruby Marlowe in the English adaption) as Mima Kirigoe, the main protagonist of the film. She is a pop idol who plans on converting into acting. However, when she is terrorized by a dissatisfied stalker, she becomes increasingly unsound mentally and emotionally.
  • Rica Matsumoto (Wendee Lee in the English adaption) as Rumi, Mima's manager. A former idol singer, she is now only a mere shell of her former self. She is opposed to Mima's crossover into acting.
  • Shinpachi Tsuji (Barry Stigler in the English adaption) as Tadokoro, Mima's office manager. Unlike Rumi, Tadokoro views Mima's crossover into acting in a positive manner, though he can often be overbearing and pushy.
  • Masaaki Ōkura (R. Martin Klein in the English adaption) as Uchida, a stalker known in the film by the alias of Me-Mania.
  • Emiko Furukawa and Shiho Niiyama (Bambi Darro and Mary Elizabeth McGlynn in the English adaption) as Yukiko and Rei, Mima's co-singers in the idol group "CHAM".
  • Akio Suyama as Sei Doi, a delinquent who disturbs a live CHAM show at the beginning of the film. He is Uchida's first victim, as revealed in a newspaper clipping posted on an elevator.
  • Masashi Ebara (Jamieson Price in the English adaption) as Murano, a pornographer who arouses the ire of Uchida by taking pictures of Mima.
  • Kishō Taniyama as Cyber Powertron Blue.
  • Kaori Minami and Makoto Kitano as reporters.
  • Shinichirō Miki and Sōichirō Hoshi as CHAM paparazzi.
  • Shocker OH!NO! as an audience chairman.
  • Osamu Hosoi as a salaryman.

Background

Originally the film was supposed to be a live action direct to video series, but after the Kobe earthquake of 1995 damaged the production studio, the budget for the film was reduced to an original video animation. Katsuhiro Otomo was credited as "Special Supervisor" to help the film sell abroad and as a result the film was screened in many film festivals around the world. While touring the world it received a fair amount of acclaim, jump-starting Kon's career as a filmmaker.

Kon and Murai did not think that the original novel would make a good film and asked if they could change the contents. This change was approved so long as they kept a few of the original concepts from the novel. A live action film Perfect Blue: Yume Nara Samete was later made (released in 2002) that is much closer to the novel. This version was directed by Toshiki Satō from a screenplay by Shinji Imaoka and Masahiro Kobayashi.[1]

Like much of Kon's later work, such as Paprika, the film deals with the blurring of the lines between fantasy and reality in contemporary Japan.[2]

In the USA, Perfect Blue aired on the Encore cable television network and was featured by the Sci Fi Channel on December 10, 2007 as part of its Ani-Monday block. In Australia, Perfect Blue aired by the SBS Television Network on April 12, 2008 and previously sometime in mid 2007 in a similar timeslot.

Reception

The film was critically well received in the festival circuit, winning awards at the 1997 Fantasia Festival in Montréal, and Fantasporto Film Festival in Portugal.

Critical response in the United States upon its theatrical release was mixed. Some critics did not understand why Perfect Blue was done as an animated film, while others associated it with common anime stereotypes of gratuitous sex and violence.[3] Others,[who?] however, praised Kon's direction and the film's manipulation of psychological elements to achieve a level of intensity that many[who?] likened to the films of Alfred Hitchcock.

Madonna incorporated clips from the film into a remix of her song "What It Feels Like for a Girl" as a video interlude during her Drowned World Tour (2001).

In 2010 Darren Aronofsky acknowledged there being similarities between Perfect Blue and his film Black Swan, but said that it was not an influence.[4] Kon blogged about meeting Darren, [5].

Time Magazine included the film on its top 5 anime DVD list,[6] and Terry Gilliam, whom Kon had been a fan of[citation needed], included it in his list of the top fifty animated films.[7]

UMD video release

For the Region 1 UMD video release of Perfect Blue, Manga Entertainment featured the movie in cinema widescreen, leaving the movie kept within black bars on the PSP's 16:9 screen. This release also contains no special features and a single audio track (English).

See also

References

  1. ^ "夢なら醒めて…". Japanese Cinema Database (Agency for Cultural Affairs). Retrieved 2009-10-18. {{cite web}}: External link in |publisher= (help)
  2. ^ Satoshi Kon, Anime's Dream Weaver, Washington Post, 15 June 2007.
  3. ^ Review at filmcritic.com
  4. ^ Aronofsky Q+A, Filmadelphia
  5. ^ http://konstone.s-kon.net/modules/notebook/archives/60
  6. ^ 5 Top Anime Movies on DVD, 07/31/2005
  7. ^ http://www.timeout.com/film/features/show-feature/8838/
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