Perfect Blue

1998, Japan

Director: Satoshi Kon

Writing credits: Sadayuki Murai, Yoshikazu Takeuchi (novel)

Produced by: Hiroaki Inoue, Haruyo Kanesaku, Masao Maruyama, Yutaka Maseba

Starring the voices of: Junko Iwao, Rica Matsumoto, Shinpachi Tsuji, Masaaki Okura

Genre: Thriller, Animation

DVD Distributor: Manga Video, through Anchor Bay Entertainment

Rating: Rated R for animated sequences of violence and nudity, and for brief language.

Running Time: 81 minutes

Website: Buy it here.

When most people think of anime, they think of either giant robots fighting space monsters, or the guilty feeling they get from downloading four-minute clips of animated schoolgirls getting violated by slug monsters. Or maybe that’s just me. I’ve got problems. But nevertheless, if you’re looking for either of those things, Perfect Blue won’t have much to offer. However, if you happen to be a fan of suspense, graphic violence, and paranoia, and you’re all out of mid-period Brian De Palma movies, then you’ll find a lot to like here.

Perfect Blue presents neither a futuristic vision of techno-horror nor a candy-coated fantasy-land, thankfully avoiding the horrific imagery of Akira or the equally horrific cutesy creatures that populate the anime films of Hayao Miyazaki. Instead, it’s a taut psychological thriller about Mima Kirigoe, a bubble-gum pop princess who tries to move away from her pop-idol image of childhood innocence and on to the world of serious acting. Her serious roles, however, takes on an overtly sexual nature, so instead of baiting pederasts with upskirt glimpses in concert, she’s tempting regular perverts with filmed rape scenes and nude pictorials. This change in image incenses a crazed fan, who moves from creating an obsessive website to murder in a brutally violent heartbeat. People around Mima start dying, and she slowly begins to unravel, losing herself in paranoia and hallucination.

The script, based on a novel by Yoshikazu Takeuchi, is neither particularly inventive nor completely unpredictable, but it's still effectively tense. It borrows heavily from conventions previously explored by Alfred Hitchcock, but without his sense of English reserve, it hits a lot harder. Director Satoshi Kon exploits that meaner attitude, using a variety of visual techniques to pour vinegar into the wounds the jagged edges of the script opens in the viewer. That’s not to say that the film lacks in delicacy. On the contrary, there are nuances in the editing and imagery that present Mima’s descent into confusion artfully. It’s just that where other directors would respectfully look away, Kon stuffs an ice-pick into a body cavity and takes a close look at the goo that pours out.   And while what he sees in there may not be as interesting as the schoolgirls and the slug monsters, it’s certainly worth watching nonetheless.

The Perfect Blue DVD from Anchor Bay/Manga Video features several behind the scenes videos and interviews imaginatively presented in a menu simulating a fan website for Mima. But the best part of the DVD is the fact that it’s playable in both the English 5.1 soundtrack and the Japanese 5.1 with English subtitles, which allows the excellently creepy soundtrack to shine without the really bad English dubbing distracting from it.

Rating: 8 on 10

alkratina@comicbookbin.com