Dream a Little Dream of Anime
Paprika is Surreal Mystery

The beauty of any animation is its ability to move beyond what is real and create a a world of our dreams. In Paprika, the dream world is exactly what we get. Director Satoshi Kon (Millennium Actress, Tokyo Godfathers) helms a story of reality, nightmares, and the surreal as a madman begins tampering with people's dreams.

Paprika
Dr. Atsuko walks through a dream in pursuit of a madman in Paprika. (Sony Pictures Classics, 2007)
Directed by: Satoshi Kon
Written by: Seishi Minakami & Satoshi Kon, based on the novel by Yasutaka Tsutsui
Starring: Megumi Hayashibara, Tôru Furuya, Kôichi Yamadera, Katsunosuke Hori, Toru Emori, and Akio Ôtsuka

Rated R (for violent and sexual images)
Running time: 90 min.

FilmGuru's Rating : 7 out of 10.

The story follows Atsuko (voiced by Megumi Hayashibara), a researcher who uses a device called the "DC Mini" to enter the minds of patients and help them analyze their dreams. The device not only lets her see the dreams. She can become a part of the dreams as Paprika, a highly spirited teen version of her own psyche.

The research program is endangered, however, when the Chief (Katsunosuke Hori) suddenly goes mad. It becomes clear that someone has stolen one of the DC Minis and is using it to spread his delusions. Racing against time, Atsuko and her team must find the killer before they too fall victim to his warped version of reality.

Entwined with the mystery is the story of one of Atsuko's patients, a police detective named Toshimi Konakawa (voiced by Akio Ôtsuka). Konakawa, a long time friend of the Chief, has been getting treatment with the DC Mini to help unravel his own nightmares. Along the way, he discovers the mystery hidden within his own dreams.

Often, anime strikes me as overload. The images, whether beautiful or surreal, tend to overwhelm me and throw me out of the story. While Paprika is certainly a visual feast, the story remains in control of the animation and not the other way around.

Though I missed Kon's acclaimed Millennium Actress, I can compare this to his work on Perfect Blue and Tokyo Godfathers. Paprika is far superior. Not only is the animation of a higher quality, but the story is easier to follow. The mystery is pretty straightforward, but offers some nice surprises. The end of the film is a descent into madness, however, and audience members are urged to just go with the flow and forget about trying to decipher reality from fantasy.

Those who would be put off by a subtitled film might wish to wait for the DVD, which will probably include a dubbed track. Personally, I am more comfortable with the original voices and a subtitle, to keep the film as close as possible to its original vision.