I’ve long heard that Satoshi Kon’s Perfect Blue was a masterpiece of a psychological thriller. These days I’m more of a comfort food guy when it comes to my media. However, with the film being in theaters this week (or most of it; many movies seem to skip Thursday showings these days), I decided to give it a whirl. And I’m glad I did. Although it has a lot of rough content–although here it seems more honest than exploitative–it’s a lean, taut 80 minutes of psychological, arguably existential, horror.
As usual, I don’t want to give many details about the film, because if you’re going to see a really good film you might as well go in as fresh as possible. Obviously the trailer would be on YouTube for anyone who wants to look. Set in the early days of the Internet–I was shocked to be reminded that there was a time when I myself heard the phrase “world wide web” for the first time–the film’s social concerns are if anything more relevant today then at the time it was made.
It’s at times arty (but not too much) without ever seeming forced. Imagine a Brian DePalma movie with none of the smirking artificiality that distances many (including myself) from his work. If I had to pick one word to describe the film, it would be suffocating. It’s all too easy to empathize with the heroine here.
Rating 4 out of 4, or maybe a 9 out of 10 would be more appropriate. (How many perfect 10s are there?) And as a bonus, since it’s a subtitled anime film, you don’t get a lot of bored teens in the audience. The people that come to see films like this actually want to see the film, and thus you get the bonus joy of a respectful theatrical viewing.
