Novel, Movie: Paprika is based off of the novel of the same name by Yasutaka Tsutsui, which was serialized in the Japanese women's magazine Marie Claire in 1993.
The movie itself came out in Japanese theatres in November of 2006, and was animated by Studio Madhouse (famous for Death Note and Paranoia Agent, another one of Satoshi Kon's works) and directed by Satoshi Kon (famous for Paranoia Agent and Tokyo Godfathers). It received a limited run in theatres Stateside in May of 2007 courtesy of Sony Pictures, and was released on DVD in November of 2007.
Story: The story revolves around a device called the DC Mini, which allows psychiatrists access into their patient's dreams, which gives them a glimpse into the patient's unconscious mind and helps treatment. One of these devices is stolen, and the researchers who worked on the project soon find themselves unable to tell the difference between reality and their dreams, which start blurring into one. Atsuko Chiba, one of the head developers of the device, uses her alternate ego, Paprika, to dive into their dreams and try to uncover the mystery of who's screwing with them.
In case you couldn't tell, this is classic Kon, in that it hits on being unable to tell the difference between dreams and reality, and damn, does this come through amazingly in this story. There are points in the movie in which you are unable to tell whether you're still in the dreamworld, or in the waking world. And the things you find in the dreamworld are several kinds of bizarre and symbolic, which is also classic Kon.
Kon actually admits to being a big fan of the novel, as it's one of his major influences; Tsutsui was impressed by his work on Millenium Actress and approached him about an adaptation. So this was something of a match made in heaven. As for faithfulness ot the original novel, those who have read it (I haven't) say that Kon's adaptation is a lot less technical, and Tsutsui has expressed his approval, so I don't think there should be any worries there.
One of the neat little touches at the end of the movie is that in the cinema in the final scene, there are movie posters for his last three major film works (Perfect Blue, Millenium Actress, and Tokyo Godfathers), and the fourth and final poster could well be a promotion for the new film he's working on (he has yet to release any details on the project).
Art: The art for this is absofuckinglutely beautiful and bizarre. The only way you can get an accurate sense of this is to look at the screenshots that I've included below, from the parade and a dream sequence, in that order, as I'm really unable to accurately describe the artwork in words:
Studio Madhouse has pulled it off yet again.
Music: Kon teams up with Susumu Hirasawa again for this, and the resulting music is amazingly haunting and beautiful as ever. I'm a particularly big fan of the music used for the recurring parade sequence, and the ED's fairly awesome, too.
Seiyuu: Megumi Hayashibara (famous for her roles as Faye Valentine in Cowboy Bebop and Rei Ayanami in Evangelion) plays the role of Paprika, and Satoshi Kon actually cameos in a small role. And all the other seiyuu do an excellent job in their roles, so no issues here, as always.
Dub: N/A, didn't see it.
Length: Perfect, though it drags a bit at times. Paprika clocks in at about two hours; any shorter, and it couldn't have developed things properly, and longer, and it would've gotten tedious.
Overall: Kon at his finest. This and Paranoia Agent are the two works of his that everyone should at least see once in their life.
Story: 9/10
Art: 10/10
Music: 9/10
Seiyuu: 8/10
Length: 8/10
Overall: 44/50; 88% (B )
