Satoshi is one of those directors who seemed to do no wrong. You could make a bingo card of tropes and themes from one of their movies and fill out the whole thing with any of their other works. At little more than a glance, Paprika seems to fit that role; a gifted and independent but somewhat mentally disturbed woman in Tokyo ends up being dragged into a surreal and somewhat horrific series of events with chase scenes, stabbing and a rather odd conclusion.
The story itself also starts out somewhat generic. Paprika beings her story exploring the dreams of an obsessed detective, in a sequence that simultaneously has little to do with the main story while also serving as a great introduction to it. The concept of exploring dreams may feel old by this point, but Paprika was actually the groundwork that paved the way for movies like Inception to come. However while Inception focuses on a dramatic story and action-heavy scenes, Paprika uses its medium to its benefit. The visuals capture and interpret the aesthetic of dreams in a manner that would be impractical, arduous and awkward to replicate in live actions. Unprompted switches between scenes, nonsensical morphing of characters and distortion of objects and surroundings can blur the line between dream and reality while also keeping them separate in a way that Satoshi’s previous work, Perfect Blue never could.
From this point the story branches out into several parts. The doctors behind the DC Mini (the invention that allows them to enter their patients’ dreams) discovers that one of its engineers has stolen a copy and is using it to wreak havoc throughout Tokyo. The investigation of the theft leads to a much larger scheme that gets Paprika and the detective’s dreams caught up in the chaos, eventually leading to the reveal of who and what Paprika is. In addition to this, there are multiple subplots involving the detective, trying to find the meaning behind his dreams, the hospital’s chairman trying to shut them down due to his opposition of invading dreams, and an executive doctor’s obsession with finding Paprika. What makes this all shocking is that this movie is shorter than the average feature film, with a run-time of only 1 and a half hours. All of these stories are crammed into 90 minutes and yet none of it feels superfluous. Even amounts of character development are spread among the cast, and each separate story has an influence on the third act.
With Satoshi Kon’s untimely death in 2010, his fifth work Dreaming Machine (which itself is referenced at the end of Paprika) never made it to theaters, making Paprika his swan song. With the amount of love and care put into every frame, it shows. Every member of the cast plays their role well, all the stories intertwine in the third act, leaving nothing unfinished and no plot point or aspect inconsistent. The visuals are unique, bizarre and beautiful and the soundtrack captures the feeling perfectly with a collection of songs that vary but also share the same base. I may be heavily biased but this is easily Satoshi’s best work and is the closest thing I've experienced to what can be described as a masterpiece. It would be a disservice to not experience this movie at least once.
