Percect Blue

Directed by Satoshi Kon (1997)

An epic psychological thriller, Perfect Blue keeps you uncomfortable and engaged for an hour and a half. I've never seen a movie that kept my heart racing the entire time like this before; I was genuinely tired after watching. The film contains quite graphic imagery at times, which does aid to the disconcerting feeling, but in general the surreal quality is ascribed by amazing art in the animation, abrupt cuts between scenes, and storytelling that makes it impossible to tell what is real and what's not. As our main character starts losing her grip on reality, the audience also becomes confused. The confusion successfully strays away from that in some movies in which you ask "what is even going on?", and instead totally grips the viewer with the terrifying insanity. 

I've read that Perfect Blue is one of the most important anime movies of all time, inspiring and influencing the genre still today, and I believe it. Its also evident that the film's influence has surpassed genre boundaries; Black Swan and Last Night in Soho are two movies that come to mind as seemingly borrowing important aspects from Perfect Blue. If you are ready to be extremely riled up, I certainly recommend this movie.

One more thing though: there is a scene in which a rape scene is filmed and, although we know the characters are acting, it is still very intense and possibly triggering.

(01/03/22)