Review of Paprika (2006) by Luke B — 21 Aug 2009

Really expected to like this. Perfect Blue was an absolute masterpiece and Paranoia Agent was fantastic at first. Unfortunately, this entire film is like the end of Paranoia Agent. It seems to say "The mind and dreams are unexplainable and random", fair enough, but that's no reason to make an unexplainable and random film.

I'm all for surreal cinema, Inland Empire was incredible. But that had pacing and a general sense of mystery. Paprika, once you get over the perfect animation, is nothing but visuals. The characters are very flat, the pacing is off, and the story just fades into nothingness.

I hope Kon can go back to using explorations of the mind as a tool and not the entire product.