CinemaClown
Blurring the lines between fantasy & reality, Satoshi Kon's feature film debut is a cleverly structured, expertly layered & rivetingly told psychological horror that's original, thrilling & suspenseful from start to finish and by intentionally playing with the viewers' perception, keeps them on the edge throughout its runtime.Set in contemporary Japan, Perfect Blue (also known as Pâfekuto burû) concerns a pop singer who retires from music to pursue an acting career. As she climbs the ladder of her new profession by making numerous sacrifices & compromises, she finds herself becoming more unstable and starts losing her sense of reality after being stalked by an obsessed fan.Directed by Satoshi Kon in what's his directorial debut, Perfect Blue is a terrific start to his filmmaking career. Crafted with a precision eye, the film scores high marks in both substance & style and is narrated with a razor sharp intensity that keeps its mystery alive & drama compelling at all times. It's often bewildering but everything falls in place once the final veil is lifted.Covering the themes of identity, perception, voyeurism & celeb fandom, the film was ahead of its time, for it resonates more strongly with today's internet culture & celeb obsession. The twists n turns are aplenty, the animation is slightly crude but it works in favour of the story. Characters are well-defined & aptly voiced while its escalating score further ratchets up its eeriness & sense of foreboding.On an overall scale, Perfect Blue is a masterly directed, skilfully scripted & finely animated example of its genre that commences Satoshi Kon's filmmaking journey on an extremely positive note. One of the best films of its year, one of the finest works of anime in existence, and a cerebral cinematic experience that grabs your attention from its opening moments & doesn't let go until the very end, Perfect Blue comes strongly recommended.
negatively-positive-girl
Plot twist, after plot twist, twisting time at every second. As in every Satoshi Kon film, time is warped, un-bended and bended again, but it is always engaging and fantastical to watch. Black Swan definitely seems to have been inspired by this, for it is simply perfect... blue. Still don't know why it's called that.
sme_no_densetsu
"Perfect Blue" is a 1997 anime about a young woman transitioning from a career as a pop idol to a new vocation as a serious actress. She finds that the metamorphosis is not an easy one when she tackles a sexually charged role that upsets her fans. One such fan appears to be stalking her, while her own doubts about this new direction take a toll on her psyche to the point that the line between fantasy & reality begins to become blurred.Produced on a miniscule budget of three million yen (approx. $25,000 in U.S. dollars), it must be admitted that the movie shows its limitations at times in the animation. That being said, while the visuals aren't exactly elaborate, they're consistently kept fresh with interesting directorial choices and dexterous editing that alternates between fantasy & reality with ease.The narrative is, to a certain degree, purposely difficult to follow, particularly as the movie progresses and the protagonist's state of mind begins to deteriorate. However, I found it to be adequately comprehensible on my first viewing. I wasn't entirely convinced by a late twist that seemed to come out of left field but I found that it made more sense on a second viewing.The story combines well-executed elements of the psychological thriller genre with a finale that ventures into more operatic territory reminiscent of Italian giallo. One or both of those approaches may not appeal to all viewers but I find that the movie's overall success as a psychological thriller may actually be overshadowed by its exceptional depth. This is a movie that's filled to the brim with astute observations on perception, idol worship and the nature of reality.This, I feel, is what elevates "Perfect Blue" above most anime movies (and most live action movies, too, for that matter). While it's unlikely to appeal to everyone, if you're looking for a smart and effective psychological thriller then "Perfect Blue" is well worth your time, regardless of any preconceived notions that you may have about anime. Sadly, the director (Satoshi Kon) succumbed to cancer at the young age of 46 but not before producing four distinctive anime films, of which this may be the finest.
lewiskendell
I usually pride myself on figuring out the twist or ending of a thriller long before it's formally revealed, but I'm proud to say that Perfect Blue kept me in the dark right up until it was ready to divulge its secrets. Anyone who likes anime and is looking for a good mystery will fall right in love with Perfect Blue.It's difficult to give much of a sense of what the film is about with spoiling the plot. But essentially, its about a Japanese pop singer named Mima who leaves her musical group and decides to become an actress. She's not entirely happy about the things that she's forced to deal with in her new career, and she starts experiencing odd hallucinations as people around her start to die in brutal ways. This is definitely an intense movie, and some of the scenes are very violent. It's nothing that a fan of action anime hasn't been exposed to before, but it bares mentioning anyway.I thought the pacing was a little slow at the beginning, but this pays off well once the story gets going, so maybe that's not too big of a deal. The art style leans toward realism in a very pleasing way that aids in telling such a serious story. I'm sure that there are not very many serious anime fans that haven't seen Perfect Blue, and with good reason. It's an excellent thriller that surpasses many of the live-action movies in the genre that I've seen recently.
AD
