Paprika Feels Like Somebody Broke Into a Dream and Forgot to Shut the Door
Anime Club
The setup
So Paprika is basically about this machine called the DC Mini, which allows psychologists to enter people's dreams and actually see what's going on inside their heads. Which sounds like a brilliant idea until, obviously, someone steals one and starts using it to invade people's dreams.
Our main character is Dr Atsuko Chiba, who's this very serious and professional scientist during the day, but she also has this alter ego called Paprika, who is basically her much more energetic and playful personality that she uses when she's entering people's dreams.
Then the DC Mini gets stolen and suddenly people's dreams start leaking into reality. People are seeing completely bizarre things, characters are appearing where they shouldn't be, and there's this absolutely mental parade of toys, appliances, dolls and basically anything else you can imagine marching through the streets.
At this point, Atsuko and the others are trying to figure out who's behind it all before the dream world completely takes over reality.
There's also Detective Konakawa, who's being troubled by this recurring dream that he can't seem to escape from. Paprika starts helping him work through it, and as the film goes on, we start to realise that there's more to his dream than just a random nightmare.
And that's where Paprika starts getting really interesting because it isn't just about someone messing around with people's dreams. It's also about identity, memories, fears and the line between what's real and what's happening inside your head.
The only problem is that Satoshi Kon doesn't exactly hold your hand through any of this. He'll show you something happening in the real world, then suddenly you're in a dream, then you're in somebody else's dream, then you're not entirely sure if you're awake anymore.
So by the end you're basically sitting there thinking, "I think I understand what's happening... but I'm not entirely sure."
And honestly, that's kind of the fun of Paprika.
Paprika is one of those anime films where the plot almost feels secondary to the experience of watching it. Directed by Satoshi Kon, the film throws you headfirst into a world where dreams and reality constantly overlap, and honestly, it is difficult to think of many anime that make better use of the medium.
So basically, Paprika is about this new piece of technology called the DC Mini, which allows people to enter other people's dreams. Sounds incredibly useful and completely harmless, right? Obviously not, because someone steals one of the devices and suddenly people start having their dreams invaded.
Our main character is Dr Atsuko Chiba, who's a serious, professional scientist during the day but secretly uses the dream world as Paprika, this much more energetic and playful version of herself. She uses the DC Mini to help people with their psychological problems, including Detective Konakawa, who's basically being haunted by a recurring dream that he can't seem to escape.
But once the DC Mini gets stolen, things start going completely off the rails. People's dreams begin leaking into reality, and suddenly you're getting this bizarre parade of toys, appliances, dolls and random objects marching through the streets. At this point the film basically goes, “Right, we're throwing logic out the window now.”
Atsuko and the others have to figure out who's behind everything before the dream world completely consumes reality. Along the way, Konakawa has to confront the reasons behind his own recurring dreams, while Atsuko has to deal with the increasingly blurred line between herself and Paprika.
And that's really what Paprika is about underneath all the madness: dreams, identity and the difference between what we think is real and what exists inside our heads.
The only problem is that Satoshi Kon tells you all of this while throwing about seventeen different visual ideas at you every five seconds, so by the end you're probably sitting there thinking, “I think I understand what happened… but I also feel like I just woke up from a fever dream.”
Positives
Incredible visual ideas, brilliant editing, unforgettable dream imagery, fantastic soundtrack, endlessly inventive.
Negatives
Can be confusing, fast pace, characters are less memorable than the concepts.
Verdict
Whenever I watch a Satoshi Kon film, I always remember an interview I saw with him where he talked about how, with anime, everything you see on screen is there for a reason. Every detail, every frame, every little thing has been deliberately put there, and I think you can really see that in his work.
That's probably one of the things I love most about Satoshi Kon. He doesn't just use animation to tell the story; he takes full advantage of the fact that he's making an animated film. There's always something happening, whether it's in the foreground, the background or just in the way he transitions from one scene into another.
Paprika is probably one of the best examples of that. You can pause the film at almost any point and there's something interesting to look at. He's basically utilising every part of the screen, and I absolutely love that about his films. Please watch this film.
