Perfect Blue

Went into this completely blind. Nothing could have prepared me for how weird and unsettling this movie is. I thought it would be a simple story, maybe coming-of-age or the like. Instead, it felt like the ground kept shifting under me every few minutes. The transitions and pacing were the things that stood out the most. The way scenes cut too fast or linger too long or jump around with no warning made me feel like I was losing my own sense of what was happening. It was uncomfortable. The nonlinearity made everything feel like a blur. There were moments where I paused and asked myself if I missed something or if the movie was messing with me on purpose. The dissociation throughout was really powerful. You can see Mima slowly splitting from herself, not because she wants to but because everyone else is pulling different versions of her in different directions. Her managers. The fans. The media. Especially the way the industry sexualizes her. It made me feel uneasy watching it because it felt real and raw. There is this constant pressure on her to be palatable or desirable or shocking or whatever sells. And every time she goes along with it you can see another piece of her fall away. Then there is Rumi who has her own dissociation happening. Watching her cling to this idea of the perfect idol version of Mima was honestly freaky. There were times I could not tell who was imagining what or which version of Mima was supposed to be real. The movie never gives you anything solid. It wants you confused. It wants you lost with them. I was pretty lost ngl. The whole thing is just uncomfortable in a very deliberate way. The pacing. The distorted mirrors. The jumps between scenes. The confusion of what is acting and what is happening in real life. I kept expecting a moment where everything would settle and the movie would explain itself. It never really does. It just lets you feel the chaos. I finished the film feeling rattled. Not scared but just kind of shaken. Perfect Blue is one of those movies where the style and the story are the same thing. You feel what the character feels because the film traps you in the same disorienting headspace. I went in blind and walked away with way more thoughts and questions than I expected. Perfect Blue is a lot but in an incredibly brilliant way.