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Perfect
Blue
(1997) |
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Perfect Blue is an extraordinary animated feature from the Manga stable which is quite removed from their usual kind of stuff. This feature is an intriguing psycho thriller with a clever interweaving plot where reality and fiction merge to disconcerting effect.
The story revolves around entertainer Mima's evolution from teen pop idol to serious screen actress and the horrific effects that this decision has. Mima's decision to drop her role as a bimbette Spice Girl type thing for a step up the ladder of stardom as an actress disillusions many of her fans because the pristine, goody two shoes image that she had built up with her fans is shattered by her appearance in a film where she plays a cheap bar dancer who is raped by drunken customers in a particularly lurid and gratuitous scene that seems to last an eternity. There is no way the particular scene would have passed the censor had it not been animated. Anyway, at least one of her devoted fans displays a seriously deranged edge as people around Mima start suffering supposedly in response to her move from pure, chaste pop icon to debauched, dirty movie two bit piece of flesh. There is a murderous stalker intent on reviving the pure Mima and destroying the new one who also runs a website which seems to know the most intimate detail of Mima's life, her every move and even her thoughts. Also stalking Mima is her own conscience which is constantly cajoling her and mocking her for making a hasty decision. The director manages to create an intriguing maze where suddenly we lapse from reality to beyond and back seamlessly. The film is fast paced and shocking for its violence as well as the graphic nature of the rape scene which seems to go on for ever. There is real terror though, heightened by the twisted strains and groans of the soundtrack when Mima descends into her paranoid world where some demented, murderous stalker is out to cleanse her spirit for having been soiled by acting in "unsuitable"material. Just when you think you think it's all over and the killer revealed, a shock and a half is waiting just around the corner. The animation is rich, but not in a Disney style of perfection. The editing holds the key and the director shows immense creativity in what was his first feature. The film is fairly frightening in parts and very interestingly constructed with a twist that you never spotted coming. The quote on the cover of the Disc says something to the effect that if Alfred Hitchcock had ever made an animated feature, it would have been something like this. Perhaps so, but certainly with far less blood and certainly without that rape scene. Perfect Blue is an intriguing psychological shocker well worth a look at, and you don't have to be a Manga fan to be able to enjoy it.
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