Must-Watch Film: Paprika (2006) | An Essential Addition to Your Movie List – Top

There really isn’t anything in cinema that goes about the subject of dreams quite like Satoshi Kon’s unforgettable 2006 masterpiece Paprika. Based on the 1993 science fiction novel by Yasutaka Tsutsui, the film would prove to be the last for the young Kon, who died just four years later at the age of 46. Satoshi Kon had helmed such masterpieces as Tokyo Godfathers, Perfect Blue, and the TV series Paranoia Agent. He would direct one last project in 2008, a one-minute short film that appeared on television, and then he was gone.

It’s impossible for me personally to watch Paprika and not mourn the loss of a complex and brilliant artist like Kon.

Paprika is the story of a scientist and dream detective named Atsuko Chiba and her dream alter ego Paprika investigating the theft of a device that allows someone to enter another person’s dreams. Seems like such an invention would be more trouble than it’s worth, but I guess the curiosity of scientists and inventors is relentless. For good or ill.

The concept of invading a friend or even stranger’s dream is fascinating, and it’s wonderful to see Paprika, whose screenplay adaptation from the novel was handled by Kon and Seishi Minakami (who also worked on Paranoia Agent) explore this idea on every front. Visually, Paprika is breathtaking, presenting real world possibilities and constructs being dismantled physically and even philosophically by this infernal machine. It challenges our perception of reality, while also moving seamlessly as disconcerting entertainment. The attention to compelling characters, particularly Atsuko, only heightens our awareness of how bizarre the proceedings are getting.

Paprika was a movie I was fortunate to see at an anime convention in 2007. I wish I could see it on an even bigger screen than the one we had in the hotel’s ballroom. It’s worth watching the film in any form, but the scale and intensity of this story, particularly when we’re moving rapidly between dreams and varying concepts of reality, works best with the largest screen you can find. Animation is the perfect idea of a fluid medium in which to tell this story, which features a number of characters who move you beyond just the one in the title.

In Paprika we meet brave, exasperating, and surprising human beings, empathizing sometimes with their weaknesses and confusion. Detective Toshimi Konakawa and Doctor Kōsaku Tokita in particular weave their anxieties and dreams into the world of the film, adding further depth to a viewing experience that at times really does feel like we’re moving through a different realm entirely from what we know. Reality doesn’t feel quite the same after seeing Paprika for the first time.

Animation deserves better recognition. This is particularly true in the west, which tends to limit the medium to a vehicle for exclusively children. There are plenty of excellent animated films for kids out there, but more mature films as vibrant and intoxicating as Paprika prove that animation can do literally anything for any conceivable audience.

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