Forum - View topicThe Dreams of Satoshi Kon: Chapter II - Perfection
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Zac
ANN Executive Editor
 Posts: 7912 Location: Anime News Network Technodrome |
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Actually I had you confused with REDOG up there. Sorry, it's been a long day. And yeah of course me saying that comes across as hypocritical; everything I say generally gets taken as "this is the final word" because of my position here, even if that isn't what I intended. I said "enough" because the "psh not that great everyone look at me" posts were threatening to derail the conversation and turn what was supposed to be a pleasant discussion of Kon's work into more stupid-ass internet emotional slapfighting.
So your issue is that I didn't say "in my opinion that's obnoxious". I guess I see your point but when someone comes in and basically says "no this article is incorrect, this film is not good" and then continues to argue as though we're talking about facts and not utterly subjective, that's only serving to derail the discussion and turn the thread into "everyone argue with the aggressive contrarian" and will kill any halfway substantive discussion. It happens all the time here. As an admin I have to curb that behavior. Also, I'm a hypocrite about a lot of things, as are most people, because we're human beings, not robots programmed to have perfectly fair and perfectly consistent reactions to everything. C'est la vie. Anyway this isn't going to turn into the "argue with the mod" thread either so let's get back to discussing the film, please. |
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bob51
Posts: 17 |
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Well; Fair enough, true that the thread was derailing, so I guess leaving it at that sounds good.... this movie which I haven't watched actually.
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vapwaazu
 Posts: 115 Location: Sydney, Australia |
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Perfect Blue is my favourite Satoshi Kon film, and still one of my most favourite anime movies of all time
I got the vhs fansub back in the day plus bought both versions of the Australian dvd release. Was thinking of getting the japanese bluray, buuuut i think ill wait for either an American or Australian release (if it were to ever come out). |
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sonickid101
Posts: 132 |
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mod note - let's try not to get too emotional
ignoring now Perfect Blue is one of my favorite films, anime or not, Kon realy helped the argument that animation can be used for mature storytelling, and he only got better as a directer as time went on. I look forword to the next chapter |
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Gewürtztraminer
 Posts: 1028 Location: Texas - Its like whole other country. |
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Even fairly recently this was available streaming on Netflix, I just checked and it is no longer available for stream.
I always thought a live action Perfect Blue would not really be anything special. The animation, and the delusion sequences that it allowed to happen are what set it apart from a fairly typical suspense story. The extra layer of abstraction provided by animation, combined with realistic character designs helped me to suspend disbelief and 'buy' into the story easier than any of the films (Avatar, Inception, Appleseed, Vexille, etc.) that make heavy use of CGI. For CGI, it takes something of game length (20 to 40 or more hours) for me to make the same buy into the story being told. Perfect Blue is in my top ten of animated feature films. The thread over in the general anime discussion a year or so back titled Satoshi Kon has scarred me for life was also a hoot. Luckily, Manga had a big push with Best Buy on all their movies right before they lost the licenses, and I picked this up cheaply. |
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REDOG
Posts: 37 |
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Sorry if i annoyed you zack, i understand it is supossed to be a memorial, but i didn't got my steam out at the actual works of satoshi kon or kon himself, (i do like them), but on the exaggerated memorial:
You know what, lets not call them exagerrations, let's just call them unrealistic, wouldn't it was better to state "satoshi kon is one of the most important and acclaimed directors in the medium of anime, who brought to the medium an unforseen before direction attitude with films who look and feel like they are actually live action...", would you agree it is not accaptable to blashpheme a person memorial after his death but also not to soar skyhigh with unrealistic praises? I just thought a correct memorandum should be done with more humility and that's annoyed me, sorry! |
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Tempest
 I Run this place.ANN Publisher  Posts: 10470 Location: Do not message me for support. |
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Our writers have done nothing more (or less) than they always do (in editorial pieces). They have expressed their opinions and their appraisal of the opinions of others. Bamboo expressed her honest opinion of Perfect Blue, and her appraisal of how other critics and cinephiles felt about the movie (the opinions of anime fans certainly were not the basis of her statements). It's fine to disagree with her, but to say she should have offered less grand praise of the movie is synonymous with saying that she should have expressed a different opinion. You don't think PB near-instantly catapulted Kon to legendary status? That's fine. Bamboo does believe that, that's her honest opinion and that's what she wrote. Go ahead and tell us that you disagree, that you feel that Satoshi Kon is not a legendary director because... (ie: "the average American has never heard of him"). But to say that Bamboo was "exaggerating" and should have expressed a completely different opinion (the one you gave as an example) is plain insulting. (I'm aware that you later changed the term from "exagerration" (sic) to "unrealistic", but you continued to write as if you felt it was an exaggeration (a knowingly false statement that distorts the truth as opposed to contradicting it). If you really feel that her opinion was unrealistic, you should perhaps state why (see above example).) Last edited by Tempest on Tue Sep 07, 2010 10:29 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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AnimeMaine
Posts: 123 |
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I purchased Perfect Blue after I read Kon had died (it's available for $12.29). Although I enjoyed it, I prefer the more polished (not surprisingly) Millennium Actress and Paprika, which have similar blurring of reality and dreams. However, for a first film, Perfect Blue is very impressive in its cinematography; its "camera" angles, cuts, etc. The main problem I have with the film (other than its "unpolished" nature) is the creepiness factor. My niece loves Kon, but even though she's in college, I would feel strange even lending her the movie, let alone watching it with her.
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lem
 Posts: 734 Location: Land of trying to figure sht out |
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Thank you ANN, I appreciate the thought and care of the staff's writing here. Bamboo wrote:
I couldn't agree with you any more than I already do Bamboo. Excellent write up. After buying and watching so many shows over the years, including all of Mr. Kon's, I have yet to see anything like "Perfect Blue" If there is another one similar in scope and style, by all means, someone please share. I'd like to see it too. As disturbing and shocking as it was my first time watching, I have to say that at least 10 or more viewings later,"Perfect Blue" still kicks ass in the entertainment department for me. Just like any good album, I'll be revisiting it again, especially next August. I'm glad I have the dvd in my collection. Just recently, I ordered the blu-ray, so I can't wait to see it in a better format/with better sound. I like the way Mima's ambition and growth plays out. First impressions and how they can be misleading are really made the most of. That, and the way there can be more than meets the eye, and just how ugly people can get with their jealousy and obsessions. These kinda things are all a big part of the viewing "fun" here. Intentional, extensive use of reflection, and the scene within a scene, are everywhere - in a mirror, computer screen, train, car window, even a characters thoughts. The whole notion of seeing double is basically maxed out in this movie. And I love it. The music is also spot on. From the soothing vocal in "This Time" by Misa, and the catchy J-Pop of "Cham" to the creepy instrumental stuff throughout. I had to get the soundtrack. Anyway, there's a few seconds on screen of a guy with a pony tail and glasses, walking along, saying "three left, only three left" as he offers up flyers of Cham. Is this a young Satoshi Kon having fun with and within his own movie? much the way another certain and very famous Director use to do in his? |
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HiroNotHero
 Posts: 37 Location: Hawaii |
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Another good read.
I remember years ago when I watched Perfect Blue for the first time. At times, it seemed a bit confusing but was overall very good. Definitely one of those movies that makes you think. Maybe I'll watch it again(would be like my 4th or 5th time, I think?) sometime soon, since I haven't seen it in a while. |
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Fallen Wings
 Posts: 160 Location: Australia |
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Ah ha ha ... no wait. You're serious? Okay let us see this wait makes anime, anime. Animated, film, Japan What makes animated films, animated films. Animated, film, anywhere See how they are the same thing? Because they are. You can ask anyone with half a brain cell and they will give back the same answer. However the style, yes. There as always been a stigma on "Anime style" but as it is, if you say it isn't anime - you are referring it isn't an animated film from Japan. If you say it isn't anime style, then it isn't the stereotypical anime design. The word "style" kinda has to be behind it to mean that. Like a cartoon, means animation. Cartoon style, means the cartoon design. If that was her meaning, which I didn't think it was, then it was another slight slip up. Yes I knew what she was saying, but still doesn't mean that what she said couldn't have improvements to avoid confusion. That is why I SUGGESTED what else she could have said - because it isn't fair that I criticize her and not give any reassurance to what I mean. And like I said before. It wasn't a bad write up. It was good. I only had an issue with that. |
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gartholamundi
 Posts: 316 Location: Gainesville, FL |
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Exactly. I agree. I just rewatched this last week and enjoyed it even more than when I first saw it a couple years ago. Recently I watched the director's extras for Paprika and was blown away by the details -- in things like the raindrops on the windshield of the car merging together forming a visual symbol of the conversation of the characters in the car who are talking about dreams of people merging together forming larger dreams ... So when the stalker and Mima are fighting I was startled to pick up a detail that had personal resonance for me. There's a point where the stalker is stumbling past a desk with a lamp, and on the desk is a little framed illustration of a chambered nautilus. It passed so fast I had to rewind and frame-by-frame it. It's barely there, and almost always obscured by the stalker but it peeks out here and there. Plus, it's a shade of bright pink where nearly every other part of the screen is muted, shadowy dark blues and greys. Partly it jumped out at me because I worked in an office for three years where a nearly identical illustration of the interior of a nautilus was used as the office logo -- and was a logo because of the connection through literature & art (Oliver Wendell Holmes, etc) to a philosophical representation of the human condition: that we start out really small, and as we grow as people slowly, in a spiral fashion, build larger walled-off rooms around ourselves. Those walled-off rooms are taken to be the limits of our perception, of the personal world we carry with us. At the same time, there's a tiny hole in the center of each wall that leads back to the original "room", like the thread in the famous greek labyrinth. Perfect Blue isn't my favorite of his work, but it is really awesome. Regardless of whether the flash of the nautilus image was intended to be a symbol that winked and nodded at the human condition, there's no doubt in my mind that the story in typical Kon fashion is packed with enough detail and depth to be interesting for fans to pick over for many, many years to come. Great write-up, Bamboo! |
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