Paprika (2006 film)

Paprika
Directed by	Satoshi Kon
Produced by	Masao Takiyama Jungo Maruta
Written by	Seishi Minakami Satoshi Kon
Starring	Megumi Hayashibara Akio Ōtsuka Kōichi Yamadera Tōru Furuya Toru Emori
Music by	Susumu Hirasawa
Editing by	Takeshi Seyama
Distributed by	Sony Pictures Entertainment
Release date(s)	September 2, 2006 November 25, 2006 (wide) December 6, 2006 May 25, 2007 June 15, 2007 August 10, 2007 September 3, 2007
Running time	90 minutes
Country	Japan
Language	Japanese
Official website
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

Paprika (パプリカ, Papurika^?) is a Japanese animated science fiction film, based on Yasutaka Tsutsui's 1993 novel Paprika, about a female research psychologist involved in a project to develop a device that will permit therapists to help patients by entering their dreams. The film was directed by Satoshi Kon, animated by Madhouse Studios and produced and distributed by Sony Pictures Entertainment. The music was composed by Susumu Hirasawa, who also composed the soundtrack for Kon's award-winning film, Millennium Actress, and equally lauded television series, Paranoia Agent. Its world premiere took place at the 63rd Venice International Film Festival on September 2, 2006.^[1][2] It also competed at the 19th Tokyo International Film Festival from October 21—29, 2006 as the opening screening for the 2006 TIFF Animation CG Festival.^[3]. It was also shown at the 2007 National Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington, DC, as the closing film of the Anime Marathon at the Freer Gallery of the Smithsonian, and at the 2007 Greater Philadelphia Cherry Blossom Festival. It was also a part of the 44th New York Film Festival, playing on October 7, 2006. Furthermore, it played at the Sarasota Film Festival on April 21, 2007, in Sarasota, Florida. Additionally it was shown at the 39th International Film Festival in Auckland, New Zealand on July 22, 2007 and will be shown as the festival travels around New Zealand. It saw theatrical releases on November 25, 2006 in Japan and May 25 2007 in the United States.^[4]

Plot

In the very near future, a revolutionary new psychotherapy treatment called PT has been invented. A device called the "DC Mini" allows the user to view people's dreams, exploring their unconscious thoughts. The head of the team working on this treatment, Doctor Atsuko Chiba, begins using the machine illegally to help psychiatric patients outside the research facility, using her alter-ego "Paprika", a persona she assumes in the dream world. The movie opens with Paprika counseling Detective Konakawa Toshimi, who is victimized by a recurring dream, the incompleteness of which is a great source of personal anxiety for him. This type of counseling session is not officially sanctioned, so Doctor Atsuko Chiba and her associates must be cautious that word does not leak out to the press regarding the nature of the DC Mini and the existence of Paprika. Her closest ally is Doctor Kōsaku Tokita, a morbidly obese child-at-heart and the inventor of the DC Mini. Unfortunately, before the government can pass a law authorizing the use of the device, three of the prototypes are stolen. Because of their unfinished nature, the DC Minis can allow anyone to enter another person's dreams, giving the culprit an opportunity to get away with all sorts of malicious deeds. Almost immediately, the chief of the department, Doctor Toratarō Shima, goes on a nonsensical tirade and defenestrates himself out of the building, nearly killing himself.

The parade is a recurring image in the film.

Upon examining Shima's dream (which consists of a lively parade of inanimate objects, instrument-playing animals, and various cultural icons), Tokita recognizes his assistant, Kei Himuro, which confirms their suspicion that the theft was an inside job. After two other scientists fall victim to the DC Mini, the Chairman of the company, who was against the project to begin with, bans the use of the device completely. This fails to hinder the crazed parade, which manages to claim Tokita and intrude Konakawa's dream. Paprika and Shima take matters into their own hands, and find that Himuro is only an empty shell. Tracing the "roots" that controlled him, Paprika confronts the Chairman, who claims that he is in fact the "protector of the dreamworld", guarding this last haven against the inhumane horrors of reality and technology. Again, she is chased by the Chairman but also finds out that the researcher, Doctor Morio Osanai, agreed to give the Chairman his body and become the Chairman's lackey as long as he got to have equal powers over his own dreams. Chiba/Paprika is eventually captured by the pair after an exhausting chase. Paprika wakes, pinned to a table by pins in a room surrounded by pinned butterflies, of which she is one. There, Osanai admits his love for Chiba, and attempts to peel away her Paprika disguise. However, he is interrupted by the Chairman, whose head sprouts on his shoulder (the two share Osanai's body, housing the Chairmans spirit). As the two argue over Chiba's fate, Konakawa bursts through the wall from his cinema dream, snatching the naked Chiba away from the bickering antagonists. After a chase through Konakawa's cinema dream, Osanai attempts to flee from Konakawa's homicide dream. It is there that Konakawa realizes that his recurring nightmare and anxiety result from his guilt that he never finished the film he was making with a friend. He decides to finish the film and shoot the escaping Osanai. This kills Osanai and supposedly the Chairman in one fell swoop. All seems well. Chiba, believing the dream is finally over, runs through the research facility with Shima only to find that dreams and reality have merged. Amidst the chaos, Tokita, in the form of a giant robot, eats Chiba and prepares to do the same for Paprika, but is thwarted in his efforts by two bartenders from Paprika's website. A ghostly apparition of Chiba appears and reveals that she has in fact been in love with Tokita this whole time and has simply been repressing these emotions. She comes to terms with her own repressed desires, reconciles herself with that part of her that is Paprika, and is thus reborn in the dream world. The Chairman, in the form of a dark colossus, reveals his twisted dreams of omnipotence, and threatens to darken the world with his delusions. Realizing that everything has its opposite, Paprika returns to Tokita, throwing herself into his body. A ghostly apparition of a baby emerges from the robotic shell, like a womb. Sucking in the wind, the child grows until she sucks up the Chairman himself, becoming a full grown beautiful combination of both Chiba and Paprika. In this new form, she is able to consume the Chairman's dream form and end the nightmare he created. In the final scene, Chiba sits at Tokita's bedside. Konakawa and Shima leave the two as Chiba puts her hand in Tokita's. As Konakawa and Shima walk down the street, Shima asks if Konakawa ever figured out the meaning to all this. Konakawa, turning to his reflection and seeing the figure of his film friend, realizes that he in fact became the character from their original film, the cop. Konakawa visits the bar-website one last time, and the bartenders give him a message from Paprika: "Atsuko will change her surname to Tokita... and I suggest watching the movie Children's Dreams." The film ends as Konakawa purchases a ticket for the movie.

Cast

Reception

On the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, 81% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 81 reviews.^[5] On Metacritic, the film had an average score of 81 out of 100, based on 26 reviews.^[6] In the review in Japanese newspaper Daily Yomiuri, reviewer Andrez Bergen wrote: "The film rates as the most mesmerizing animation long-player since Miyazaki's Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi (Spirited Away) five years ago, and Kon exhibits an equally playful willingness to pitchfork the texture of the more dramatic moments. Am I gushing yet? Add to this some stunning background art, peerless integration of 2-D and 3-D animation, and some wonderful character designs by Studio Ghibli regular Masashi Ando. But it's obvious that Kon's forte is in the surreal interaction of reality and dreams - which often drift into nightmares." ^[7] Paprika was also the only anime film that was "expected to compete" for the 79th Academy Award for Best Animated Feature (but was not nominated).^[8] Sony had organized a limited theatrical release specifically to make the film eligible for consideration.^[9] The Anime News Network gave the film a perfect review of A+ in every category.^[10] The American DVD and Blu-ray Discs came out on November 27, 2007. It will not receive an HD DVD release due to the format being the rival of publisher Sony.

See also

• Paprika Original Soundtrack

References

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

Paprika

• Paprika official U.S. website
• Official page at Sony Pictures Japan
• Paprika at the Internet Movie Database
• Paprika at Rotten Tomatoes
• Paprika at Metacritic
• Paprika at Box Office Mojo
• Paprika at All Movie Guide
• Paprika (anime) at Anime News Network's Encyclopedia