Perfect Blue (1997)

Perfect Blue (1997)

starring Junko Iwao, Rica Matsumoto, Shinpachi Tsuji

directed by Satoshi Kon

82 minutes

in Japanese with English subtitles

Mima Kirigoe (Junko Iwao) is urged by her manager to move on from being the lead singer of a girl grop to try a career in acting. She has doubts but follows her manager's advice. She gets a small part in a popular TV show, Double Bind. The small part eventually grows into a bigger part.

Mima starts to experience hallucinations. Her career in front of the camera gets blurred with her real life. Someone has set up a fan page on the internet. Who ever is running the web site seems to know lots of intimate details of her life.

Mima imagines that she has stalker. He looks just like a security guard from her last concert with the girl group. She thinks she seems him on the set of the Double Bind, numerous times. People from her professional life get murdered. The stalker eventually comes after Mima.

Thoughts

I believe that the version of this movie that I saw was the full or unrated version. I borrowed the DVD from the library. There were a few extras on the DVD including interviews with Junko Iwao (Mima) and director Satoshi Kon. 

This was a very confusing movie for me. Reality and fiction seem to blend on many occasions. It happens enough times that I have my doubts about what really happened over the course of the movie and at the end of the movie. Was there really a stalker? Mima seems sane at the end of the movie but is she?

I might see things in this movie that I missed the first time around if I watched it again. I'm not sure that I would find the key to understanding the movie.

The animation and visuals in this movie are crisp and clear. I wish that a little time was spent developing Mima as a character before her life was turned upside down and spun around.

Satoshi Kon's projects don't always connect with me. I think this one worked for me on some levels. I'm not sure what could make it better without changing it drastically. I like the ambiguity in the movie but it also keeps me from rating it higher.