Perfect Blue

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Perfect Blue
Directed by Satoshi Kon
Produced by Hiroaki Inoue
Written by Original Novel:
Yoshikazu Takeuchi
Screenplay:
Sadayuki Murai
Starring Junko Iwao
Rica Matsumoto
(Japan)
Bridget Hoffman
Wendee Lee
(US)
Music by Masahiro Ikumi (Office 193)
Cinematography Hisao Shirai
Editing by Harutoshi Ogata
Distributed by Flag of Japan Rex Entertainment
Flag of the United States Palm Pictures
Flag of the United States Flag of Canada Flag of the United Kingdom Manga Entertainment
Flag of Australia Flag of New Zealand Manga Entertainment
Release date(s) 1997
Running time 80 min.
Country Japan
Language Japanese
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

Perfect Blue is a 1997 feature-length anime film, directed by Satoshi Kon (loosely based on the novel of the same name by Yoshikazu Takeuchi). The film is a psychological thriller about 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 the stalker named Me-Mania. As her new career proceeds, Mima's world becomes increasingly reminiscent of the works of Alfred Hitchcock and Philip K. Dick: reality and fantasy spiral out of control, and Mima discovers that Me-Mania is the least of her troubles.

Contents

[edit] 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 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 much that she increasingly becomes unable to separate reality from fantasy. She can no longer distinguish real life from her work in show business.

Matters take a dramatic turn when several of those who had forced unsavory work on her are gruesomely murdered. She finds evidence which makes her appear to be the prime suspect, and in addition she can't in fact recall if she had committed any of the killings or not.

It turns out that the diarist of "Mima's Room" is herself totally delusional and very manipulative, and that an intense folie à deux has been in play. The faux diarist, who believes herself to be a Mima who is forever young and graceful, has made a cat's-paw and serial killer of the stalker Me-Mania.

Mima smashes Me-Mania 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 - only to find that Rumi is the false diarist, who believes she is the "real" Mima. She manages to incapacitate Rumi in self-defense after a chilling chase through the city despite being wounded herself.

In the anime's denouement Rumi remains permanently delusional and institutionalized, whereas Mima has moved on with her life.

[edit] Cast

[edit] Japanese

[edit] English

[edit] Background

Originally the film was supposed to be a live action direct to video series, but after the Kobe earthquake damaged the production studio, the budget for the film was reduced to an OVA. 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.

A live action film was later made that is much closer to the novel called Perfect Blue: Yume Nara Samete (2002) and was directed by Toshiki Sato. Kon and Murai didn't 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.

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.[1]

[edit] US Broadcast History

Perfect Blue aired on the Encore tv network and was featured by the SciFi Channel on December 10, 2007 as part of its Ani-Monday block.

[edit] Australian Broadcast History

Perfect Blue was aired by the SBS Television Network on April 12, 2008 and previously sometime in mid 2007 in a similar timeslot.

[edit] Certification

Canada:18A (Alberta/British Columbia) PA (Manitoba) 18 (Nova Scotia) R (Ontario) 16+ (Quebec)
Argentina: 16 Australia: MA Brazil: 16
Finland K-18 France: -12 Germany: 18/16 (edited version)
Greece: K-17 Hong Kong: III Ireland: 18
Japan: R-15 New Zealand:R18 Norway: 18
Portugal: M/18 Singapore: R21/M18 (edited version) Malaysia: PG-13 Switzerland:16
Taiwan R-18 UK: 18 USA:R

[edit] 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 had mixed reviews. Critics were baffled as to why Perfect Blue was done as an animated film, while others associated it with common anime stereotypes of gratuitous sex and violence[1]. Others, however, including prominent film critic Roger Ebert[citation needed], praised Kon's direction and the film's manipulation of psychological elements to achieve a level of intensity that many likened to the films of Alfred Hitchcock. Despite its unorthodox nature, the film is well known in Western anime circles, as it is even better well known in Western fandom.

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).

[edit] 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).

[edit] References

  1. ^ Satoshi Kon, Anime's Dream Weaver - washingtonpost.com

[edit] External links

v • d • e
The works of Satoshi Kon