Perfect Blue
Japanuary 2025 #1: Satoshi Kon
In 1997 Satoshi Kon was able to understand almost instantly the innate horror of fame for women in the digital age. Mima is pushed relentlessly past her limits in her new career as an actress and with each act she strays further from the public’s idealized version of her. As an idol and as an actress, she is being bred for mass consumption and each step towards this exposure pushes Mima deeper into depersonalization. Mima now exists in this voyeuristic space between these two personas. Satoshi Kon illustrates this through some of the most visually striking and effective sequences I've seen in film. The surrealism in Perfect Blue is disorientating and entirely immersive. Fiction and reality are framed objectively through Mima’s perspective which balancing the horror and empathy in the film’s tone. I feel like I’ve been waiting for the perfect moment to watch this film and I’m glad I finally just did it. Perfect Blue is 82 minutes and was Satoshi Kon’s first film and yet it is so dense and remarkably polished. I am excited to watch this again and to continue watching Satoshi Kon’s filmography. His work has left such an impact on me already.