Review: Paprika (2006) · 4:58am Oct 11th, 2015

In what proved to be his last feature before his tragic death of pancreatic cancer at a mere 46 years old, Satoshi Kon's final film shows that he was still on a meteoric rise, and truly one of the singular talents in anime, and cinema in general.

Taking a mind bending trip that blurs the lines between dreams and reality in a delightfully imaginative way, Paprika in many ways marks a return to Kon's roots, as he once more uses the cinematic medium to create complex psychological character studies while combining them with elements of genre entertainment, and also commentating on how media and popular culture (especially the cinematic arts) effect our lives. As always, Kon's editing is mind bending, and he uses the excuse of dreams to bend the rules of what goes for editing and storytelling beyond that which could be achieved in live action. At the same time, he doesn't skimp on character, providing a cast of characters that are interesting, from the uptight Atsuko Chiba, an almost Spock level emotionally cut off psychologist, who uses the revolutionary device 'DC Mini' to peer into the dreams of her patients while using the cheerful alter ego of Paprika. One of her patients is the detective Toshimi Konakawa, who is haunted by a recurring dream that refuses to resolve itself. Alongside Chiba is her friend and fellow scientist Kōsaku Tokita, an obese, lovable child at heart scientist who invented the DC Mini. When a 'collective dream', basically a 'super-nightmare' composed of dozens of dreams rolled into one, begins to hijack former patients of the DC Mini, it's up to Chiba, Tokita and Konakawa to investigate and stop the dreams before they destroy reality.

The ensuing investigation not only manages to hold your attention, but since it's using the dreams to not only tell its story, but also explore it's characters. Without going into too much detail (spoiling it ruins the fun), it's sufficient to say that Kon manages to develop his characters well, from the main to the supporting, and make them relatable and likable, and this is helped by a top tier voice cast in the English Dub, which I watched.

Cindy Robinson does a great job playing the contrast between straitlaced Chiba and wild and fancy free Paprika, and Paul St. Peter does an equally good job as Konakawa as well. All the voice acting is top notch, and they all do an excellent job at embodying their characters.

The animation, once more by Madhouse, is absolutely beautiful, combining traditional 2D hand drawn animation with 3D computer animation in an almost seamless manner. The visual language of the film is also beautiful, managing to keep the dreams fluid and varied without loosing the audience, although rewatches are recommended in order to catch the nuances of the narrative and foreshadows.

Lastly, due to the film dealing with technology being used to study dreams, one must mention that Paprika and Inception both share similarities. Nolan has admitted to using Paprika as inspiration for his own film, but personally, I feel that Paprika has more 'fun' with how the dreams are warped and bent around. Here, the dreams are wildly unconventional and wild, where's in Inception, the dreams become rather straightforward and almost mundane.

So yes, suffice to say that Paprika is a wonderfully imaginative film, and it's a true tragedy that Kon was unable to create more films before his passing. In many ways, this feels like a step towards a new level of film making and story telling for him, but alas, it was not to be.

5 out of 5 stars.

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