or: What is really going on?
One word to sum it up: Twisted.
At my young age of 15, I felt as if I were a little too old to watch my first anime movie. But there's a time for everything, and I am glad that I have now expanded my range of films even more. Perfect Blue probably isn't the best example of what anime really is, as I hear that this was one of the first films of its type to break barriers and introduce violence and sex into the genre, but to be honest, its a great example of plain anime. Not to mention it has a cool bathtub scene which was taken by another popular movie two years later, Requiem for a Dream...
Mima was a pop idol, worshipped by the masses until fashion dictated otherwise. In order to salvage her career, she is advised to drop music and pursue acting. A soap opera role is offered but Mima’s character is less clean cut than desired. Regardless, she agrees and events take a turn for the worse. She begins to feel reality slip, that her life is not her own. She discovers (imagines) her identical twin, a mirror image that hasn’t given up singing. Internet sites appear describing every intimate detail of her life and a figure stalks her from the shadows. Her friends and associates are threatened (and killed) as Mima descends into a dangerous world of paranoid delusion. She fears for her life and must unravel fact from illusion in order to stay alive.
Perfect Blue is one huge head fuck. And when I say that, I mean, you will sit there wondering what the hell is going on. I'll be honest with ya, I didn't entirely make ends meet or get the whole story, but what I did get out of it was amazing. The way it twists and turns fantasy and reality and warps it into something which results in madness is incredible. Its a movie which was made as if Alfred Hitchcock were to make an anime. The tension is suspenseful, as are the murders thrown in. To add to that, there is the really good look at the line between being yourself and being in a different role, which was further explored in another Aronofsky film, Black Swan. Nevertheless, Perfect Blue stands on it's own as a twisted psychological mindflip that is never done with frying your brain.
I must thank my long time reader Cherokee for pointing me towards this film!
THE VERDICT: Ever suspenseful and always twisting the story, Perfect Blue is one movie that isn't to be taken lightly.
8/10
Definitely worth the wait for the review, really like the last line "Perfect Blue stands on it's own as a twisted psychological mindflip that is never done with frying your brain." and thanks for noting me, that's really nice of you, and didn't expect that at all!
ReplyDeleteDon't worry about not getting the whole thing, I still have a feeling that Me-Mania is a figment of Mima's imagination and was in fact Rumi all along, but hey ho, that's probably going way to into it, but then again, the last line is so fucking creepy it's a sending your shiver down your spine dealio and makes me think it was probably all some kind of figment of someones imagination anyway!
On the note of the anime, I usually never comment on when films are animated, because most of the time, it just doesn't seem to be a factor for the film, so I agree with you about Perfect Blue not being a good example of 'anime' per se. (Which has reverted back into shitty territory once again.)
Of course I had to note you! Jeez, you've only been like, my best reader :)
ReplyDeleteMe-Mania, I believe, was a figment of Mima's imagination. I mean, he just popped up, and it was kinda like, what is he doing there? He didn't seem to fit, but having him there was good.
It was such a cool film, though!
I guess my crazy commenting had to get through sometime xD I felt at first kind of like a creeper just randomly posting comments on your blog, but I feel much more comfortable commenting away now xD Man, I really need to set my film zine blog up whenever I have actually made the damn thing. You've inspired to make me want to have a blog about film (well, for the zine, but you know what I mean,) and that is a hard feat to achieve, so well done! That means another pointless blog is going to be made about the movies. Damn, I wish I could cook or something, I'd make a cooking blog then.
ReplyDeleteGlad someone else agrees about Me-Mania with me, and again, I'm happy you watched it, and futher more, enjoyed it.
Haha, it sure did! You should so set up your film zine blog, blogging is fun! And I've inspired you? Nawww, now I feel all happy! Gosh, there are a lot of movie blogs, but trust me, they all get noticed in one way or another. There's such a great community going on in the movie blog world! Haha, you could always do a Julie & Julia-esque blog, you never know!
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