Paprika 2006
I am not usually a fan of anime, but after reading about Paprika I thought it would be worth the risk. Specifically some people claim that Christopher Nolan's Inception borrowed elements from Paprika. That certainly gives you an idea of what kind of trip this movie is. I was able to get a 4k digital version of the movie as a gift, but only with Japanese audio, so I had to read subtitles. That wasn't that bad because at least I could read some of the names. There aren't a huge number of characters, but I had a hard time keeping their names straight, especially because sometimes they use their first name and sometimes their last name and then sometimes their title like Chief or Chairman. I don't want to get too far into the plot except it revolves around a device that allows one person to have access to another person's dreams and such a device can be used for good (therapy) or bad. It gets pretty trippy and I'm not sure how much of it makes sense even within its own construct. So for most of the movie you are trying to figure out why things are happening and they throw a lot of stuff at you. It is neat to watch it play out and it took a lot of imagination to come up with all of it, but it is still overly confusing, though keeping you confused is part of what keeps it interesting.
Written: 19 Dec 2024