Review of Paprika (2006) by Spencer S — 21 Jun 2013

There is something so disturbing and yet definitely entertaining about a film that explores the human mind, and this film does so in the most extreme and interesting ways. Through the beauty and intrinsic evolution of anime, the world of dreams has never been fuller or more vibrant on screen, at least not since "Un Chienne Andalusia".

It feels so thick and odd throughout, mashing together the world of reality and that of the human mind. Fused together it's this strange ride through the sub-conscious that is both terrifyingly familiar and yet obtuse enough to be its own inane story.

There's a lot of crazy elements that coalesce into an intricate and yet palatable world that not only remains adult with its themes but childlike and nostalgic. Thrown between these inert dreams comes the story of a hostile takeover from a high up figure, taking on a group of scientists who are trying to understand and study what is happening in the world of dreams.

This dark and foreboding presence haunts the nightmares of a mashed dream that carries the psyches of multiple people, some possibly dead. The heroine of the film is a scientist working in the world of dreams, guised in the alter ego of Paprika, a red headed nymphet with a penchant for the absurd and a kind heart that speaks to a police chief.

Paprika as an entity is not like a mindful Tinkerbell, but works as a pseudonym for the scientist. She works more as a strange multiple personality than a moderate cyborg. Paprika as a character is fascinating, and her role in the film is extensively reaching out to the other characters either through their subverted subconscious or in real life.

The dreams are vivid, as well as the animation, and the story involves the same good versus bad narrative that dwells in most great films. This film is just so inventive and masterfully strange that it's something very other and yet powerfully recognizable.