‎Paprika (2006) directed by Satoshi Kon • Reviews, film + cast • Letterboxd

Paprika

2006 ‘パプリカ’ Directed by Satoshi Kon

This is your brain on anime

When a machine that allows therapists to enter their patient's dreams is stolen, all hell breaks loose. Only a young female therapist can stop it: Paprika.

Megumi Hayashibara Tōru Furuya Kouichi Yamadera Katsunosuke Hori Toru Emori Daisuke Sakaguchi Mitsuo Iwata Rikako Aikawa Satoshi Kon Yasutaka Tsutsui Akio Otsuka

90 mins More details at IMDb TMDb Report this film

Popular reviews

Review by DirkH ★★★★½ 24

Me and Stevie G on a Sci Fi spree

Papurika = 8 letters
Inception = 9 letters

Difference = 1 letter
Conclusion= Papurika and Inception are one.

Papurika running time: 90 minutes
Inception running time: 148 minutes
90/148= 0.6

Kon= 3 letters
Nolan= 5 letters
3/5= 0.6

0.6/0.6= 1
Conclusion Papurika and Inception are one.

Release date Papurika: '06
Release date Inception: '10
6/10= 0.6

Satoshi Kon = 10 letters
Leonardo Dicaprio = 16 letters
10/16= 0.6

0.6/0.6= 1
Conclusion Papurika and Inception are one.

Definitive proof that Nolan is a plagiarising bastard.
Review by PTAbro ★★★★ 9

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…
Review by ScreeningNotes ★★★★★ 15

"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…
Review by DirkH ★★★★½ 19

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…
Review by CinemaClown ★★★★ 10

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…
Review by Jake Kwiatkowski ★★★½ 3

Welcome to Paprika, where everything is made up and the points don't matter.

Recent reviews

Review by Roehrio ★★★★

This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

Definitely the strangest movie i watched.
Great animation
Good soundtrack
Incredible imaginative
Great visuals
And thank god it is not ruined by ecchi, like 90% of all animes ever.

It took the movie to actually get me invested in it. I was kind off bored first. I want to watch the movie's visuals, but not for his story. AT FIRST
The Policeman's story is really amazing, while the main (?) story of the (wheel)chairman is not. It is not interesting and his motivation is just not there. He wants to walk again? Or rule the world? And the final battle (?) was really really strange. Why should a kid "eat" dreams?
The fat guy was so over the top. Why wasn't he just overweight? Did he really had to be the size of an Elefant?
Love story was good, really liked the main character's persona.
Review by Shoeless Joe Jackson ★★★★

I think I'll have more to say about this film on my second viewing. There was just so much happening. It's kinda the type of movie that's supposed to confuse you and keep you disoriented, and that was achieved. You're never sure what's a dream and what's real, until something magical walks towards you around the corner. The visuals are powerful and awesome on their own, but the story is clever and very well written with dialog getting surprisingly poetic in moments. It just didn't feel super smooth, but maybe that was the point.

And Inception.
Review by eugenny 3

Give credit where credit is due, Christopher
Review by Toycars ★★★★★ 1

"Are we dreaming?" Sums up this visual and stunning journey through Satoshi Kon's Paprika.

I consider me not having seen this earlier, one of the greatest crimes of humanity. I absolutely loved every aspect of this piece of art. Satoshi Kon has created convoluted exciting character arcs, that span between the different dream sequences. There was not a moment where i was bored. The soundtrack was very fitting, i felt completely immersed, trying to keep a hold of the different dreams, and their entanglement with one another.

My mind was blown and my heart was stolen by Paprika. 5/5.
Review by thanmye123 ★★★½

idk what just happen but it was pretty cool

Konakawa's character arc was quite beautiful.
Review by smiley ★★★★½

lively
Review by Andrew Beberman ★★★★½ 1

INCEPTION
Review by Adriii ★★★★

A Christopher Nolan le gusta esto.

Es el clímax del estilo narrativo de Satoshi Kon. Tiene la deconstrucción psicológica a través de la paranoia y el terror (y la personalidad disociativa) de Perfect Blue y la narrativa visual a base de edición, transiciones y metalenguaje de Millennium Actress. Es la cumbre de su obsesión con la mezcla de realidad y fantasía y es increíble que, apesar de cabalgar constantemente entre las dos y jugar con la duda, nunca se le va de las manos.

Qué prodigio se nos fue con Satoshi :(
Review by Doro Samson Valdez ★★★½

Si t'as trippé sur Inception, pis que t'aimes les animes, Paprika est ton nouveau film pref. L'intrigue tourne principalement autour du rêve en général, mais le vécu de chacun des personnages principaux affecte aussi énormément la direction du film. Ça donne un bon mélange de drame/suspense/psychose!
J'ai préféré Perfect Blue du même réalisateur, mais reste que le film est excellent.