Perfect Blue

The plot was incredibly unique and entertaining, honestly it kept me more stimulated than any movie I’ve seen in a very long time. The amount of twists was innumerable, but didn’t feel off-putting or as thought it were trying too hard. The characters were very well-written and had a lot of psychological depth to them, I wish Rumi could have had a bit more focus, but I understand that it could have ruined the reveal at the end. Nevertheless, what we did receive about her character was very interesting, she desperately tries to live vicariously through Mima to the point where she literally becomes her in her mind. She wants to finally live her dream as a pop star so badly she creates an alternate personality and steals the identity of her friend and client. Mima is by far the most important character and therefore has a great deal to say about her. She also struggles with reality and genuinely sees Rumi as herself sometimes. Her identity crisis had already started with her leap from idol to actress and what she had to do to get there, so when Rumi dresses and acts exactly like her, it’s furthered. I think the pacing was fantastic. I assumed it would be rushed when I saw the film was only an hour and twenty minutes, but it did a wonderful job keeping the mystery and emotion intact. The world building was also admirable, the switches between reality and dreams were jarring, yet also seamless. The speech and attitudes of her fellow actors seem pretty realistic, switching in and out of character and being rather self-centered. I think it does well pointing out major flaws in the industry. Speaking of which, the themes were spectacular, I already discussed their complaints with the film industry, but there is so much more. The movie mostly focuses on identity and reality, these concepts are proven to be much more fragile than they may seem. A combination of small things, Rumi’s mimicry, Mima’s reputation change, the story of the show she’s acting in, distort her reality to its breaking point. She begins to doubt who she is, which one is the real her, and everything seems like a dream. As much as I love Satoshi Kon’s works, I don’t love the animation as much as I do his other films. The backgrounds were masterfully drawn, but most of the time the characters looked very sloppy. This had absolutely no effect on the quality of the film however. This movie genuinely made me question my own reality, it really frightened me. They did a wonderful job building immerse tension and confusion without alienating the audience. This movie is so unique in so many ways, it is incredibly intense and used very graphic imagery to shock the audience while still maintaining a very strong plot. The twist at the end was truly unexpected but still made logically sense. The dialogue wasn’t really any too impactful, but certainly was pretty good. I think it did quite well adding humor and also connecting reality to Mima’s show. It did help reveal a lot about the plot, but just was overall a bit underwhelming. Overall, this was an amazing film. It really was wonderful from start to finish and was a great quick watch that will stay with me significantly longer than its runtime.  Plot - 10 Characters - 9 Pacing - 10 Worldbuilding - 10 Themes - 10 Animation or Cinematography - 8 Emotional Impact - 10 Uniqueness - 10 Dialogue - 7 Overall Enjoyment - 10 Total: 94%