Paprika hurt my brain, overloaded my senses, and was so unrelenting in stunning imagery and ideas that I barely grasped the plot, but can't wait to return to find out what I missed.

Paprika is rightly praised for the ingenious way it imagines a dream world, and I think that leads to my favorite aspect of the film - even in a world that doesn't obey physical laws, every single item in it, from pieces of confetti to towering robots, all have a sense of weight to them. Even when the items are imaginary, everything in Paprika gives the illusion of gravity (sometimes exaggerated) and heft. Even when Paprika is riding a cloud, there is a real expectation that if…

"It was a truth that came from fiction."

As an old favorite of mine and an easy contender for my top 10 most watched, I was incredibly blessed to see Paprika back on the big screen thanks to the wonderful Brattle Theater (they were also showing Sorcerer, but the large group of friends we assembled couldn't be arsed into seeing two movies on a Saturday night).

My friends took me to see it back in 2006 when it came out, me with no idea what it was or how deeply I was about to fall in love. It proceeded to spend a great deal of time as my #1 favorite movie, until being ousted by Speed Racer and falling off…

Bursting with untapped imagination, flowing with limitless creativity & presenting its story in an unabashedly freewheeling manner, Paprika (also known as Papurika) is part fantasy, part sci-fi & part mystery film with a bewildering plot that never makes any sense yet it manages to provide a cinematic experience that's dazzling, audacious & unique at the same time.

Set in the near future, Paprika presents a world in which technology exists that allows users to see other people's dreams & is used by psychologists to help their patients by entering their dreams. Chaos ensues when the device is stolen & used by the thief to distract people with their own dreams even when they are awake, thus forcing the titular character to find the one responsible…

Part of Dastardly Difficult December: film nr.56

The fact that animation isn't a genre is something definitely proven by Paprika. It is a medium through which stories are told and in that sense they transcend genre and they simply become films. Paprika is a work of brilliant Science Fiction, with a dazzling plot matched only by its visuals.

Films that deal with dreams often tend to muddy the waters in their plots (I'm looking at you, Inception) and Paprika is not that different, but as confusing as it is, once you pick up where the film's going it is a great ride in which reality and dream blend seamlessly, but never losing sight of granting its audience resolution.

Where this…

2017-18 Letterboxd Season Challenge
Bonus Film #2
Week 6: October 9th-15th
No Studio Ghibli Week (#2)

A little late on this one, but really wanted to fit it in, especially after falling in love with Perfect Blue earlier this year. The last feature film by the late, great Satoshi Kon, Paprika is crazy, some might say literally mind-fucking. The colors and sounds are crazy and the "science" behind it all is even crazier. Kon seems to be big into repetition, as evidenced by this and the previously mentioned Perfect Blue, and I'd say it works well for both of the films but for different reasons. Alright, gotta stop comparing.

Paprika is wild, and can be a bit hard to follow…

Paprika is probably Satoshi Kon’s most famous movie and it’s not hard to see why it holds that position in the spotlight. It is filled with stunning and imaginative imagery that is intercut with some of the most inventive scene transitions one is likely to find in any kind of movie. Breathtaking as the animation no doubt is, though, Paprika’s narrative is a whole other matter. The fantastical plot is somewhat hard to follow and almost none of the characters are interesting enough or fleshed out in any significant way. Therefore, it’s hard to care about what is going on except on a surface level. Paprika is a triumph of animation and no one could (or would) dispute that its…