I went to see Kon Satoshi's "Paprika" last weekend. So far I think this is one good movie, as one can expect from this talented director. Need spice for your imagination?, you may want to try Paprika.



Storywise/ Writing - I think Paprika goes to the most surrealistic film Satoshi ever made talking about dreams and people who try to use science and technology to study/manipulate dreams, so be expecting something very weird. One thing I felt about the writing of Paprika, it's still light for a moral/psychological play like this, but it's still good. If you don't like psychological or surreal stuffs, then this movie isn't for you (because you'd probably felt like wasting money) , but I still recommend because of following factors.

Direction/ Art direction - If you've watched most of his previous pieces, one would knows that his movies aren't only about stories. It's his artistic directing skill that made them so gorgeous. Art direction in Paprika is superb! I'd say I put this movie at the same level as "Sennen Joyu" (Milennium Actress) for art direction.

Animations - Do I have to say anything, ones who love animation would know that Satoshi's productions are very beautiful and compelling, these go to Paprika as well.

Musics - Only thing I could say about the music of Paprika is "Brilliant", Hirasawa Susumu's music works for this movie just left me speechless, beautiful melodies but strong compositions and very emotional, inspiring music I'd say. If you love the music from Sennen Joyu or Moso Dairinin (Paranoia Agent), you'd definitely love this movie's scores. The track "Nigeru Mono" really helped building up the opening sequences of this movie like what "Chiyoko (Mode 1)" did to the opening of Sennen Joyu. (Talking about "Art of introduction", The combination of Satoshi's vision and Susumu's musics never failed me even for once!)

(My) Conclusion - I'm not a movie critic/reviewer, I don't know how would they judge a piece like this. But for me I always took everything that counts into my consideration before concluding everything. Paprika still have some way to go compared to Satoshi's older masterpieces as the story itself seems a bit short (for me) and may be confusing for a person who's not used to this kind of surreal style. (It also made us debate about some part of the actings as I didn't see any problem while my buddies felt some parts didn't make sense or clear enough) but taking every other factors like direction, animation and music work into account, Paprika is a movie, well I'd say an art piece, worth spending your money on.

Score -
Overall Paprika is better than Tokyo Godfather in many respective aspects. It's art direction and atmosphere are competitive with Sennen Joyu, but the whole experience still couldn't make it to the level of "Sennen Joyu" and "Perfect Blue" (Which I gave 5 stars for each), but whether or not you like it may have to depend on your own taste and preference

 

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