film: paprika

imdb said:

When a machine that allows therapists to enter their patient's dreams is stolen, all hell breaks loose. Only a young female therapist can stop it: Paprika.

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link: paprika

saw this on saturday - i was very well prepared for it (i.e high as a kite) and it was excellent.

as you would expect, a lot of very trippy, somewhat disjointed dream-sequences. early on, i gave up trying to work out who's dream we were inhabiting (if any) and just let the wonderful animation and sound wash over me.

rate it.

alasdair

Paprika

I saw the trailer for this on tripzine it looks awsome Anyone else heard of this or actually seen it.I think i might get the full dvd off a private torrent site
Plot Summary: In the near future, a revolutionary new psychotherapy treatment called PT has been invented. Through a device called the "DC Mini" it is able to act as a "dream detective" to enter into people's dreams and explore their unconscious thoughts. Before the government can pass a bill authorizing the use of such advanced psychiatric technology, one of the prototypes is stolen, sending the research facility into an uproar. In the wrong hands, the potential misuse of the device could be devastating, allowing the user to completely annihilate a dreamer's personality while they are asleep. Renowned scientist, Dr. Atsuko Chiba, enters the dream world under her exotic alter-ego, code name "PAPRIKA," in an attempt to discover who is behind the plot to undermine the new invention.

lovely film, great animation, crazy story line

sadly i had to give up halfway through as i was tripping a bit too much and it was starting to spill out of the television set

shall definately be watching it all the way through in a less unstable state.

ill probley download it this week

Paprika was absolutely whack, I saw it twice in two days and both times my friends at first said "wtf" then later told me they wanted to go see it again. It's one to buy, it'll probably be even better tripping.

good movie. i'm glad to see anime moving in interesting directions again.

i was a little disappointed, to be honest. i did like it, but i thought the abundance of dream sequences with the toys, distracted away from the really cool idea of the story - which is about science and the ability to enter people's dreams at night to battle the source of their neuroses and anxieties.

i understand that the stuffed toy element is particularly relevant to japanese culture, and so it fits. but i don't know... there was just something about it that didn't quite work completely for me.

saw the trailer and some clips and it looks cool, then i heard the cheesy eurodance theme tune and am kind of put off...

So I'm currently taking an international film class and saw this movie on Friday night. Now, I'm supposed to analyze it but I'm not sure which way should I go. This is my first time watching this type of movie. I personally thought it was wack! but I don't think this is an educated response lol. Any ideas on how should I approach it?

Yawn.

Honestly the collision between the world of dreams and reality and we get this?

I felt the same way after I saw Ghost in the Shell. Disappointed. Others have done the world of dreaming, the imagery, the creative insanity of this state of mind with far greater eloquence.

If you want a truly stunning anime I recommend Mindgame. Beautiful Unique animation, great characters, hilarious sense of humor, and absolutely surreal with a winding beautiful plot. Granted I saw these two films back to back and Mindgame smacked the shit out of Paprika.

So fucking cliched though, giant toys on parade? People need to kick it up a notch in animation, you create a universe where ANYTHING can happen and all you have is a SLIGHTLY odd version of reality meets giant parading toys. I mean you are using a medium that is MADE for the fantastic and this is all you come up with. As I said, Yawn. Frankly the surreal is far too tame often times for me, maybe that has to due with the bizarreness tolerance of being engulfed in psychedelic art and culture a place where bizarre is the baseline.

Psychedelic Gleam said:

Others have done the world of dreaming, the imagery, the creative insanity of this state of mind with far greater eloquence.

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could you give us a few recommendations in that vein?

Psychedelic Gleam said:

So fucking cliched though, giant toys on parade? People need to kick it up a notch in animation, you create a universe where ANYTHING can happen and all you have is a SLIGHTLY odd version of reality meets giant parading toys. I mean you are using a medium that is MADE for the fantastic and this is all you come up with. As I said, Yawn. Frankly the surreal is far too tame often times for me, maybe that has to due with the bizarreness tolerance of being engulfed in psychedelic art and culture a place where bizarre is the baseline.

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it's easy to accuse others of a lack of imagination from the safety of the internet/sofa - what are you doing to address the 'problem'?

alasdair

alasdairm said:

could you give us a few recommendations in that vein?
it's easy to accuse others of a lack of imagination from the safety of the internet/sofa - what are you doing to address the 'problem'?

alasdair

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Sure. Not many films or books directly confront dreams but I have a few in mind that aesthetically I find to be quite similar.

Science of Sleep is one of my favorites that deals directly with dreams.

Hell Alice and Wonderland is pretty wonderful, especially the version by Švankmajer, a Czech filmmaker who makes wonderfully surreal and dreamlike films.

The films of the Brothers Quay are also wonderfully dreamy.

Check out the short "Cat Soup" by studio 4degrees, its surreal and wonderful, you may be able to find it on youtube, and for me is dreamlike and beautiful.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=mH5sacgeY5Q here is the first part, part two is linked in it.

The comic book Frank, as well as the series JIM, by Jim Woodring, are fantastically surreal and dreamy, beautiful and creative pen and ink work, mostly wordless journeys though landscapes, crumbling of reality, and shifting worlds.

The films of david lynch and cronenberg both evoke different "dream" experiences for me, the bubbling up of subconscious imagery and bizarre alternate realities.

Same with the above mentioned mindgame, though it doesn't addressing dreaming directly its very much a dreamlike/surreal film.

My complaint is this, given the blank slate of dreams, the absolute freedom of animation, and the infinite creative potential of animators I wonder why not push the collision of the two worlds even further, even more dramatic, and even more bizarre. Dreams are for me, at least the memorable ones, a collection of conscious and subconscious imagery, surprising, surreal, stunningly bizarre, but all operating under a specific "dream time logic", what i mean is they all "work" there is a cohesive force to them, that may not make sense after the dream is had. I feel that the creative potential of this state of mind is nearly limitless and felt that this film barely scratched the surface of this potential. I felt the same way after viewing the 2nd and 3rd matrix films, you have a virtual reality, where someone is able to bend and break the rules of the said reality, you have a collapsing and smearing of the lines between virtual and real, and what did the Wachowski(Sp?) brothers do? They only blew more shit up. I just have higher standards when it comes to tackling a state of mind I feel I am somewhat adept at and incredibly passionate about. A place that is constantly inspiring to me, and a place where the art which emerges should honor.

I did not dislike this film, I was only disappointed with the treatment of the source, a purely subjective viewpoint, one that I understand would not exist in someone who views dreams differently. Maybe the hype made me too excited.

I understand the "problem" or armchair criticisms but thats the nature of most art criticisms/reviews. You ask what I am doing to rectify this situation. Well I express myself through both visual art (some old pieces are uploaded to this site, though those are unfinished and older pieces) and writing, both of which borrow heavily from my dream experiences, especially my writing.

http://www.bluelight.ru/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=42152&cat=510
http://www.bluelight.ru/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=42149&cat=510
http://www.bluelight.ru/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=36611&cat=510

granted I lean more towards the psychedelic as I said my writing if far more dream oriented, but as a fan of Miiyazaki and such I find my self to have pretty high creative/magical/dreamy standards for the animated medium.

excellent response. thanks a lot.

alasdair

alasdairm said:

excellent response. thanks a lot.

alasdair

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Understatement of the year.

Psychedelic Gleam said:

Hell Alice and Wonderland is pretty wonderful, especially the version by Švankmajer, a Czech filmmaker who makes wonderfully surreal and dreamlike films.

The comic book Frank, as well as the series JIM, by Jim Woodring, are fantastically surreal and dreamy, beautiful and creative pen and ink work, mostly wordless journeys though landscapes, crumbling of reality, and shifting worlds.

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Finally found a Woodring and Svankmajer fan. Can't believe there's not more on this site. Great post. I linked to a video from the DVD "Visions of Frank" and the short that comes with "Alice," "Lightness/Dark/Lightness" in this post if anyone's interested.

Anime - Paprika

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY-mazing film.

IMDB Link

Three scientists at the Foundation for Psychiatric Research fail to secure a device they've invented, the D.C. Mini, which allows people to record and watch their dreams. A thief uses the device to enter people's minds, when awake, and distract them with their own dreams and those of others. Chaos ensues. The trio - Chiba, Tokita, and Shima - assisted by a police inspector and by a sprite named Paprika must try to identify the thief as they ward off the thief's attacks on their own psyches. Dreams, reality, and the movies merge, while characters question the limits of science and the wisdom of Big Brother.

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Watched it the other day in awe.
By the same crew that did "Perfect Blue" if you've caught that (also a very good film)

Ah, Perfect Blue. I didn't like it but I have to say this looks really good. On my list of ones to watch.

Thankyou for merging whoever did

Watched it with a friend again this evening and it's rare for me to appreciate watching a film as much the second time round, but kicked hiney all over again.