For my money, Satoshi Kon is one of the greatest directors working in animation today. While Hayao Miyazaki is indisputably the king when it comes to family films from Japan, Satoshi Kon's work is uniquely aimed at a more mature audience while being similarly timeless and gorgeous. Perfect Blue, Millennium Actress and Toyko Godfathers have all been singular works of art set in entirely different worlds (and if you have missed any of these films, they are all highly recommended). Kon returns with the horror/sci-fi project Paprika, and it appears to be every bit as stylized as its predecessors.
Paprika centers around a 29-year-old research psychotherapist named Dr. Atsuko Chiba. She's a psychotherapist with an alter-ego - a stunning 18-year-old dream detective called Paprika. Paprika can go into people's dreams and work from the inside to help them discover sources of stress, anxiety and neurosis.
One of Atsuko's collegues has invented a revolutionary device. Known as the DC-Mini, it has the chance to revolutionize their field. On the other hand, there is also the possibility that if it falls into ill-intended hands, the user could destroy dreamers by killing their personalities while they are sleeping. So naturally, one of the prototypes of the device is stolen. If the machine isn't found quickly, the government might simply decide to keep the DC-Mini from being used even in legitimate research.
Soon, researchers at Atsuko's lab are going mad. They live in a waking dream where they are haunted by a doll. Atsuko knows that whoever has the stray machine aims to destroy minds. She must find a way to stop them. (Kim Hollis/BOP)
Vital statistics for Paprika |
| Main Cast |
Megumi Hayashibara, Tôru Furuya, Kôichi Yamadera |
| Supporting Cast |
Katsunosuke Hori, Toru Emori, Akio Ôtsuka, Hideyuki Tanaka, Satomi Koorogi, Daisuke Sakaguchi, Mitsuo Iwata, Rikako Aikawa, Shinichirô Ôta, Satoshi Kon, Yasutaka Tsutsui |
| Director |
Satoshi Kon |
| Screenwriter |
Seishi Minakami, Satoshi Kon |
| Distributor |
Sony Pictures Classics |
| Trailer |
Click Here for Trailer
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| Official Site |
http://www.sonyclassics.com/paprika |
| Screen Count |
2 |
| Awards |
Awards page for Paprika
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Talent in red has entry in The Big Picture |
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