Perfect Blue (1997)

Sometimes there are just movies that really invade your brain. What was most surprising was that this film is an anime which the majority of western culture believes to be just cartoons for children. Anime though has very mature and adult themes in some of their shows/films but while getting ready to watch this I had no idea how depraved and intriguing it would be. Perfect Blue really just grabs a hold of you and refuses to let go until the credits start to roll.

I did not look up anything about this movie before watching it and I suggest viewing it that way. I will not include spoilers in this just because the ending is so crazy and following the story to the end is just so gratifying. The story is about a music idol Mima Kirigoe (Junko Iwao) who wants to give up on her part in a trio and become an actress instead. Her change in career catches the eye of an obsessed fan and he starts to stalk her, and as her career in acting starts to take momentum he becomes more and more dangerous. That isn't really a spoiler because the way the stalker is drawn is creepy and he appears in the first four minutes. The plot really starts to ramp up when she starts having to do things that go past her comfort zone, but with her feelings of pressure to succeed she is willing to put her feelings aside. What this movie entails though is this woman's breakthrough into her new career and the insanity she has to deal with as this stalker tries to kill her.

A lot of the scenes throughout it are very mature in nature so do not watch this if you have a weak stomach. But for how difficult it was to watch I could not look away. The animation throughout is spectacular and you become almost transfixed into the universe. One scene has her play a dancer/ stripper in a detective CSI sort of show. But as she is on stage, the crowd becomes savage and starts to sexually assault her. The animation does not shy away from the depravity of her acting in this scene. It gets worse when one of the other actors who is assaulting her says "I'm sorry" in between takes. This is a very difficult role and position to be in, especially for a new up and coming actress. With this scene though it really turns her into a character and I began to feel a wave of uneasiness as I was watching it.

The theme of the film is no surprise because it drops it pretty headhanded about the psychological problems that entertainers put themselves through. The nonstop trying to conform to others ideas of what to do and how the scene of popularity is killer (no pun intended). She puts herself through so many difficult and unfortunate hurdles that she almost loses who she is. She becomes damaged both mentally and eventually physically. Towards the end of the film you are almost unsure of what is real and what is part of her psyche. Although for her it really just pertains to her wanting to be liked by the public and her losing herself but the film puts it in such a ways that you could almost feel the pressure of living underneath such circumstances. By the third act of the film it really ramps up and it takes your breath away.

This film should be one of the great anime films that any cinephile should see and I feel like it is left behind. This could be up there with films like Princess Mononoke (1997) and Akira (1988) but I feel the subject matter and the fact that it was shown to a small audience in the United States played against it. Some of the shots throughout it are so influential that Darren Aronofsky bought the rights so he could use some of the images in his movies. Because of its release in 1999 in the United States, it was being overshadowed by what film could become with CGI. All I know is that this film is one of the most interesting and surreal films I have seen in awhile and it is a must watch if you have the stomach for it.

Grade: A

Genre: Horror, Mystery

Cast: Junko Iwao, Rica Matsumoto, Shinpachi Tsuji

Rated: R for animated sequences of violence and nudity, and for brief language.

Director: Satoshi Kon