paprika – futhering the “I like surreal movies” trend

Continuing with my trend of writing about trippy movies, Satoshi Kon’s most recent film Paprika (2006) was released on DVD a few days ago. I just saw it, and it’s still fresh in my mind, images repeating and rolling around. I think my brain exploded several times, in a fast and very positive way, watching it. The basic premise is that a new device – the DC-mini – has been developed to allow therapists to enter the dreams of their patients. However, this device is misused, causing dreams to be interchanged and become reality. Standing between reality and dreams is Chiba Atsuko, a researcher who becomes her alter-ego, Paprika – the 18-year-old redhead – once she enters the dream world.

Visually, it sums up why animation should be far more respected than it is: anything can and will happen here, and it can happen far more convincingly and seemlessly than if it was live action using the same budget. One of the things I thought was brilliant about it was how well Kon blended the “real” world and the “dream” world. The dream world, with its phantasmagoric images, is colourful and vibrant, contrasted with the dull real world. Another brilliant point: there is no such thing as a dream sequence, as such, because of this blending. Dreams spill over onto reality; reality spills back over onto dreams. Even when there is a certain degree of separation between dream and real, conscious and unconscious, the film still blends the two. Dreams are made tangible through technology; they can be entered and recorded. They are treated as if they are realer than reality. I think the film plays with this to an extreme level: maybe Kon is commenting on the point that technology is further encasing us in a dream world, one it is becoming increasingly harder to awaken from.

One of the film’s central messages is that consciousness can truly be set free only in dreams – for better or for worse – and everything about the film reflects this. Beyond the visual imagery, the soundtrack, composed by Susumu Hirasawa, drives this idea home. Hirasawa, an electronic musician, fills out the dream world with his audio, a soring and pulsating score. (He also offers samples of his music for online free.) Go listen – this is the ending theme of the film.

susumu hirasawa – the girl in byakkoya

I must see more Satoshi Kon.