Excellent but underrated film

n my opinion it was a great movie with some interesting elements, even though having some plot holes and the ending probably was just too messy and crammed together, but still fun to watch and not your casual movie that is similar to all other ones.

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

One of the singular most original animated films I have ever seen. The story is about an ex pop idol who wants to become a filmstar. On a social level, it deals with the obsession of the Japanese industry with violence and sexual exploitation, but what captivated me most was its use of dream sequences. Dream sequences, or various variations of those, are not exactly a new theme. However, in most cases, they do not follow the dream logic to the extreme. Often they reduce to the common world rationality on some level, or tend to clearly distinguish between reality and dreams. However, for me, Kon's film grew organically into a film where the reality smoothly becomes the illusion, as the protagonist falls increasingly into a nighmarish reality. In my opinion, it would be very interesting to have an analysis of the film from the perspective of technological revolution, that analyzes the world of Satoshi Kon's imagination as a product of the tech bubble. To my distinction, the film managed to overcome a story to become existential in nature; pertaining questions on the nature of reality and the distinction between fiction and fact. At its best, it stayed on the level of some of Borges' finest fictions and evoked questions regarding nature of the 'lost' reality in our present age.

An interesting analysis of the representation of personalities, of the difference between what you are and the way you are perceived. There's also an argument to be had about its concrete approach on women and their part in modern society. A great work by Satoshi Kon, specially in the atmosphere and pacing department. The plot-points are actually treated with the complexity they required.

"Perfect Blue" is a very, very dark anime...so don't let your kids watch it thinking it's like "Pokemon" or "Inuyasha"! It's also a confusing mind-bending sort of film...one that certainly is unique.When the anime begins, Mima is in an up and coming pre-packaged Japanese girl bands. However, her agent convinces her to leave this life and pursue a career in films. But this way to success is very dark and soul-crushing and soon they have her in a film featuring a rape, lots of violence and nudity. All the while, Mima struggles with herself. She hates what she's doing but in the world of female pop stars and starlets, she feels a sense of obligation and won't publicly question the folks looking after her career. Now at this point, the film gets weird...really, really weird. Mima seems to be losing her mind and some murders occur...and soon the viewer is confused and they might be seeing the world through the eyes of a lunatic...or a killer! What's it all mean? See the film and TRY to unravel it all...but don't be surprised if you still are questioning what it all means.This is a very clever film and its plot is deep and very strange...and I liked that. But be forewarned...the film shows some very sexually explicit and violent scenes...even by Japanese standards (the film features pubic hair...something very taboo in Japanese culture). Well done and worth seeing...but just don't let the kids see it or anyone who have been sexually abused as a few of the scenes just might be too intense.

Mima Kirigoe is a bouncy pop star whose profitability has almost been exhausted by the music industry; Mima's agent wants her to make the difficult transition into acting despite the protests of her manager, Rumi. Mima's fans from her pop career aren't happy about this change either, and tensions turn violently quickly. But who is committing these vicious acts?Satoshi Kon makes us question what we perceive publicly may not be what happens privately. He uses this dichotomy to criticise how people are run into the ground by the entertainment industry, privately these people are trading their dignity for fame, but to those on the outside, such as Mima's stalker, it all seems glamorous or even self- indulgent. Kon, however, doesn't just ridicule people who run the industry, but asks what type of person wants to enter this industry, and what does it take to succeed in it? And he believes it can only be the mentally unstable.This belief frames the film; Kon chooses to give the film a psychotic tone and feel, as an audience we are disconnected from it all. Kon uses editing to blur the boundaries of reality; in the scene where Mima first reads her stalkers blog, Kon jumps back and forth between the two slowly warping her stalker into Mima herself.The script also obscures the reality of the characters, if you look at that blog it does not just detail Mima's movements but her exact thoughts and feelings. These two characters seem to share a psychosis, and the constant repetition by Mima of saying "Who am I?" makes it obvious how Mima feels about herself. Yet I was left unsatisfied.The animation is the first thing I had a problem with, Kon draws the characters in a clichéd Anime manner. Mima for example is big breasted, and has large facial features. Kon also uses bold colours to distinguish the characters from the background; this felt like a budget constraint rather than a style choice. The backgrounds are lethargic as well, and this becomes apparent when the action is fast paced, especially in the climactic scene of the film where it becomes hard to understand how things are happening. This is highlighted even more by some of the interesting scenes, especially the scene in the bath.I wasn't worried about the characters either, now I know this is intentional, but when you consider that the film is trying to unravel a mystery it is hard to care about that when those effected by it are unlikable. Mima is annoying airhead, her manager is weak and self-absorbed, her agent is sleazy, and her stalker is just weird. Adding more scenes like the one in the bath would have made me feel more engaged, the run time is only 85 minutes so this wouldn't have slow things down and added depth.Kon took a huge risk in picking such a complex topic for his debut film but it feels like an incomplete artistic vision.