Dir: Satoshi Kon
Starring: Megumi Hayashibara, Akio Ohtsuka, Katsunosuke Hori
Synopsis: A machine that allows psychologists to view and enter the dreams of their patients is stolen, and the divide between reality and the dream world begins to tear itself apart. Paprika, the dream-world alter-ego of one of the machine's developers can stop the two worlds coming together.
Verdict: Japanese animation is known for being weird, and Paprika is no exception. It really is one of those films that you can tell while watching it that the writers and animators just let their imaginations run riot.
The story itself is easy enough to understand and follow, with the use of classic blurring the definitions between dream and reality - "am I awake or still dreaming?" - being used to great effect, especially when the idea of dreams is developed to incorporate something similar to wireless internet that is prominent in our daily lives. It is the interlink of the dreams, and their intrusion on the waking world that make this film stand out.
It is noteworthy that Christopher Nolan cites this film as an influence to the 2010 film Inception, a fact which is easy to see. But, where Inception goes into the sharing of dreams to effect ideas and/or steal them, Paprika focuses on what happens when the creations of a twisted mind, like those studied by therapists, is used as a weapon on the mass population.
The end result differs greatly from the 'structure' of the dream in Inception to the surreal, mesmerising and often quite scary side of dreams (the recurrence of the china-faced Japanese doll is most probably going to torment my sleep tonight).
The animation is as you'd expect from an anime, beautifully detailed and colourful, with some fantastic effects used to create a melting corridor and a city seen from above adding to the feel of the environment. When coupled with typical jaunty music that turns sinister at a moments notice (like two ways of singing 'Ring O' Roses' can by happy and terrifying), the film is successful in being more than a little bit trippy.
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