Paprika: Satoshi Kon

I have never seen a film with the name 'Satoshi Kon' attached to it that in some way didn't leave me floored and spellbound. His last film before his untimely death, Paprika, is no exception. Continuing his tradition of playing with the boundaries of reality, dreams, fantasies, and delusions, Paprika gleefully elasticizes all concepts of time and space to create a film that is stunning to witness. Just like with Perfect Blue (1998) and Millennium Actress (2001), I left Paprika wondering where in the world animation could possibly go next. What techniques could there possibly be left to discover? What stories could there possibly be left to tell? However, Paprika isn't a perfect film. Despite featuring some of the best animation of Kon's career, the film lacks the same narrative cohesion which made his previous films easy to follow and understand despite their stylistic and narrative extravagances. We are never given a solid reason for why dreams and reality merge near the end of the film, nor how/why Doctor Atsuko Chiba developed such a radically different persona as Paprika. Her "romance" with Doctor Kōsaku Tokita is equally confusing, being both abrupt and inexplicable. I'm not saying that every film narrative needs to answer every single question it raises. But this is a film about the nature of dreams vis-à-vis reality; it relies on its narrative to frame the bizarre events and images that it parades in front of its audiences. Maybe another draft would have done the screenplay good.

9/10