Profile of a Director: Hayao Miyazaki

Earlier this month, Hayao Miyazaki took the stage at the Venice Film Festival after the screening of his latest film The Wind Rises(2013) to announce his retirement. Miyazaki is no stranger to retirements; he was in a semi-retirement after Princess Mononoke(1997) but then returned with wonderful and his most successful film, Spirited Away(2001) then back into retirement only to resurface in 2004. However this time he says he is serious. Only time will tell us if he is but if at all he is, that is indeed a sad news, especially for someone like me who has always been in love with his films and Studio Ghibli for many years. Miyazaki is one of the most well-known and respected directors in the world of animation and has left his unmistakable print on the medium in more than three decades of his career as a director. I am taking this opportunity to look back on his career, in the usual style of these posts, with the help of every film he has directed. Let me make few things clear first; this is a profile of a ‘Director’. So I am only looking at the films he directed and I am looking at only his feature films. I would’ve loved to include his shorts as well as they are just as wonderful but I just couldn’t get hold of all of them. With that, let’s get right into it.

The Castle of Cagliostro(1979): Miyazaki had been working in various departments of an animated studio for almost two decades. He even had directed episodes of couple of TV serials but this marks the first time he put on the director’s cap for a feature film. Coincidentally, this was the last of his films I saw. As a film, there is nothing quite wrong with it per say. This is actually quite a decent film; albeit a little amateurish in both story as well as in animation. It’s just that it is such an odd-man-out from Miyazaki’s filmography. Every film he did since then contains many very specific things that everyone now kind of expects from any Miyazaki film, or any Ghibli film in general, and Cagliostro is void of every single one of them. These traits definitely make his films richer in context and more layered and the lack of them doesn’t necessarily imply inferiority but it is kind of distracting, especially when you know the director so well. Grade: B.

Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind(1984): Success of this film made way for creation of Studio Ghibli next year. Even though this wasn’t under studio’s banner, it fits perfectly into that cannon. We have Nausicaa, a young, dynamic female protagonist that loves everything in the world she lives in and as bad the things get, has a confidence that it can still be saved and does everything she can to save it. We have Kushana, an antagonist to start with but with redeeming qualities and Asbel, Nausicaa’s male counterpart who helps her in getting the things right. Story is strongly influenced by Japanese philosophy and motifs like commercial greed and their disastrous effects on the environment play very important part in it. It can be very warm and fuzzy when needed but also gets very dark as the things get worse. In a way, it was a test case for everything we know Studio Ghibli for now as all these features play very important part in every single film he directed and help form their own identity. And it works so wonderfully well even after almost 30 years. Grade: A

Laputa: Castle in the Sky(1986): In 1985, along with fellow animator Isao Takahata(who later went on to direct wonderful and heart wrenching Grave of the Fireflies(1988)) and producer Yasuyoshi Tokuma, he started his own animation production company, Studio Ghibli. Castle in the Sky became the first film produced under that banner. If you ask me to pick a film to introduce someone to Miyazaki and Ghibli, I will pick this one. It is very sweet, easy to get into and unlike some other films, is not too dark or violent but still leaves you with a great message. There is something wonderful about Sheeta and Pazu and their friendship that always warms my heart. In a typical Miyazaki fashion, these are kids wise beyond their years but they haven’t lost their innocence. And that iron robot at the end is just the cherry on the top. As a matter of fact, this is my favourite film Miyazaki directed. One of the motifs of his films has always been morally ambiguous antagonist with various redeeming qualities. This is one of the only two films of Miyazaki to have a clear villainous character; other being The Castle of Cagliostro. Grade: A

My Neighbour Totoro(1988): Many of his other films might have been bigger critical or financial successes but I don’t think you can find a more beloved or popular character than Totoro in this film. Most of his characters are inspired by the Japanese philosophy. Totoro, however, is created completely from his own imagination and is based on his own childhood experiences. Miyazaki also created Cat bus for this movie which I am quite sure is more popular than some of his movies. Another character that I dearly love is Mei; she is just the cutest little thing you will ever see. Unfortunately, I don’t have the highest opinion of the film in general as I think it gets a little too sweet after a while but I am eagerly waiting for an opportunity to introduce this film to my 4-year old niece. However I will agree that the darkness of this film is deceptive, very well hidden under all the cuteness and can point to more serious themes if you want to look at it that way. Grade: B+

Kiki’s Delivery Service(1989): Another film that can serve as a good entry point for Ghibli newbie’s is this coming-of-age story of a young girl about developing her confidence but is little lighter and less ambitious than Laputa. However let me tell you that of his ‘lighter works’(Totoro, Kiki, Ponyo and maybe even Porco Rosso), I like Kiki the most. In yet another typical Miyazaki way, plot of his film itself is principle point of attraction – a 13-year-old girl has to leave her house and spend one year away as a mandatory part of her witch training before becoming a full-fledged witch. That just gets me instantly interested and I haven’t even mentioned Jiji yet. If not for last 15-20 minutes of this movie; where I think it loses its focus a little in an attempt to give Kiki one final, big task before she can pass her test; I really like this film. Miyazaki’s father was the director of Miyazaki Airplanes which produced rudders for the fighter planes during World War II. Miyazaki seems to have developed quite a fascination for aviation since his early years as it features quite prominently, in some form or the other, in many of his films including Kiki flying on her broom. Grade: B+

Porco Rosso(1992): Miyazaki also wrote every single one of the films he directed and in many cases also created Manga strips for them. Porco Rosso is one such film. In many ways, even this is quite a deviation from what we have come to expect from Miyazaki movies. Even though Fio can fit as a typical Miyazaki heroine, protagonist of this film is not a young female – Fio - but an adult male – Porco , a WWI pilot in 1930’s Italy transformed into an anthropomorphic pig who now works as a bounty hunter. It also lacks the usual environmentalist tone of his films and is more about the code of honour. Once again, it is the final few minutes of this movie – the duel between Porco and Curtis – that diminish my overall opinion of it. Grade: B-

Princess Mononoke(1997): This film has a distinction of introducing Miyazaki to the western world. I don’t belong to that world anymore but it was my introduction to him and to Ghibli as well; a start of love affair that has lasted since. I haven’t even mentioned the best thing about Miyazaki’s films that make them dearer to me than many other modern animated movies and that is they are traditionally animated. Even though this was the first film that Miyazaki used some kind of CGI for, he is believed to have drawn 80,000 drawings for this film himself. There is something about those drawings that makes them so much more relatable and personal and I love that way more than CGI. Mononoke is no doubt a great film with amazing characters and wonderful message; a natural double feature with Nausicaa but it is also much darker, more violent(one aspect of anime films that I am not most fond of though I will have more to say about it a little later). It also is the first animated film to win the Japanese Academy Awards and was the highest grossing film ever in Japan then. Grade: A-

Spirited Away(2001): I watched both Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away in pretty quick succession back in 2010 and that 1-2 punch quite literally knocked me. I really hoped to re-watch both before this post as I haven’t seen them since but unfortunately, couldn’t fit it in. To tell you the truth, I don’t remember every single detail of either of the film but I definitely remember liking this one better than the former. The fact that I can remember this way more than Mononoke even after watching both in quick succession also supports my claim. I am usually an advocate of making a little denser, intelligent kids film and majority of Miyazaki’s films are perfect example and off course, the hand-drawn animations in it make them more likable to me. Phenomenal financial success of this film also indicated that even people are ready to embrace them. Spirited Away not only promptly became the highest grossing Japanese film then and is his most financially successful film to date but went ahead and also became first anime film ever to win an Oscar for the best animated film. Grade: A

Howl’s Moving Castle(2004): Miyazaki came out of his second semi-retirement after the original director of this film, Mamoru Hosoda, passed away suddenly to make most violent movie from his filmography but also earned his second nomination for the Best Animated Film of the year. I have noticed it on various occasions that, mainly in anime movies, I am turned off by excessively violence because most of them tend to lose their focus once all the fighting ensues. Maybe it’s my Ghibli-toned sensitivities that play major part in it but many people consider Akira(1988) as one of the best anime movies ever and I really couldn’t get into that movie. Same thing happened with Paprika(2006) when things start getting stranger and stranger. I will say that Howl wasn’t that bad an experience but I wasn’t much emamoured by all the destruction in it either. Grade: B

Ponyo(2008): After Porco and Cagliostro, this is Miyazaki's third film with Male lead. This is my least favourite of all his films and unfortunately not because one of them had to be. I actually found it to be quite childish, something I never thought I will say about a Miyazaki film. I liked Sosuke enough and his house on the cliff was amazing but I really couldn't get into it once the effects of Ponyo's metamorphosis start materializing. It goes without saying that I am really excited for The Wind Rises(2013) but I am happy that he is directing it because I really don't want his last film to be my least favourite film. I really hope I like it too. Grade: C

Previous Profiles:
David Fincher
Quentin Tarantino
Paul Thomas Anderson
Wes Anderson
Billy Wilder
Christopher Nolan

Sidney Lumet
Martin Scorsese

Woody Allen

Wrapping It Up: October

This month of Halloween came with a lot of scares cinematic as well as realistic in the form of Hurricane Sandy hitting the east coast of United States. This whole atmosphere was so infectious that even I, someone who doesn't really see eye-to-eye with Horror genre, tried to assimilate in with a small personal marathon. On a completely different note for many reasons, this month feels like month of confessions. As you go through the post below, you will realize that I admitted so many things that probably some of you will black-list me for being THAT guy. Let us see how that goes?

Since I started rating movies last month in my reviews, I thought of re-arranging this post as well. So, from this month I am going to club movies based on their ratings.

October

City of God(2002)(Rewatch): There are very few movies that are as well acted as this one and as I said it here, I have never seen anyone from the whole cast before or after ever again. In my opinion, it is one of the most well acted, well directed, well shot - actually there is absolutely nothing wrong with it. There. I said it.


 



Boogie Nights(1997): I will write about in my next post, Director's piece on PTA but it is one of those movies that makes you want to know How in Hell did he make this movie ? To me it's biggest success is for a movie about porn industry, it isn't a porn itself but for every second in it you know it is about it. I believe that is a very fine line and either way you go, it would have suffered but PTA being PTA kept his balance to perfection. And it works like a wonder but that last shot. I really did not need to see that.

Paths of Glory(1957): I have said it time and again that I am not a traditional Kubrick fan (Confession No. 1). I believe that he made his films weird, acerbic just because he could, there is no real reason to it. But my observation is older Kubrick is more acceptable to me. Well, there are exceptions but mostly. Paths of Glory asserted my belief. It's sharp, it's critical but never cynic. Technical brilliance was always there with Kubrick anyways.

Fargo(1996)(Rewatch): Let me come very clean first (No.2). This is not the first time I am watching Fargo and best part it I did not care about it at all on my first watch, I have no idea why. In my defense, it was long back at the very start of my movie-geek phase. But when I saw it second time I thouroughly LOVED that movie. Most of the Coen Brother trademarks like its tragic plot, all the humour sprinkled in it and off course so many great actors really captivated me this time. BTW, does anyone else feel like there are way too many "Oh Yeah"s in it ?

Shadow of a Doubt(1943): Sometimes it's good to go back to old Hitchcock, you see. Never a bad idea. This one was actually much better than I anticipated. He built up the story so well that even after knowing who is the criminal, circumstances make you question your own judgement until the very end. Ending came very suddenly and didn't really made any impact on me but his build-up up to that ending was phenomenal.

Saw(2004): If you have seen this post, you would know why I am not big on horror as well( No. 3 already). There are very few Horror movies that I feel are worth it and I was so happy that Saw was. Even here, I was never really scared(I went to bed right after and actually over-slept a little) but it grabbed my attention from the word Go! and kept me riveted. It's clever, it's gritty and maybe horror pundits may not think so but for me, it's different.

Oslo, August 31(2012): I don't know much about Anders Danielsen Lie who plays the main character Anders in this and it seems that this is very early in his career but he was phenomenal. His face, his body language speaks so much more than he himself - an always welcome sign in any movie depicting addiction. He made me hate him with passion because only thing more pathetic than a junkie is relapsing junkie but I only mean it as a compliment to his acting. It really captures Anders' slow descent into his old habits subtly but very efficiently.

A Tale of Two Sisters(2003): I remember watching this movie many years ago when I was back at home, on TV. I think I did not see the whole thing because there is no way I won't remember this once I have seen it. To me, best kind of Horror movie is the one that manages to be creepy as well without using jump scares. By any definition possible, this goes into one of the best horror movies I have seen. Now I know that isn't saying much but you really should check it out. I guarantee you, it will be worth your time.

Argo(2012): Since it's release I have heard a lot of talk on Argo and its authenticity. I had no idea about this incidence until I heard of this movie. I have heard a lot of people talking about how many changes did Ben Affleck make from the original story but I don't know the original story. So, I didn't really mind. I know some wanted more politics in it or some kind of social commentary in it. I am fine with that too. So for me, it's only based on what I see on screen and it was fabulous. Definitely one of the best movies of the year.

Your Sister's Sister(2012): Are you surprised to see me rate this so high? I was too. But I really can't help it, it just was awesome. It was super weird, super straight forward and for the most part super awkward(I was like What the hell are you talking about?) but all the three leads won me over time and again. And Rosemarie DeWitt, can someone please at least campaign for her? I don't have a lot of money or else I would pay for that myself. She was amazing.

The Descent(2005): There were around 5 fellow bloggers I have seen talking about this movie this month. So, I checked it out as well and yup, they were right. It is Awesome !! It's intelligent, it's tense, it's bloody and I don't say this often - it is fXXXing scary(Next time I say movies don't scare me, remind me.) It sure isn't the most original story out there but with their group dynamics and Sarah's background story, it works so much better. I am real glad that I checked it out.

Perfect Blue(1997): After watching this movie, it is kind of obvious to see why Aronofsky was so impressed with this movie and inspired to base Black Swan(2010)'s look on it. I have never seen so dark and so rated animation movie in my life. I however like the way it ended. I like that it ended very neatly and didn't go anywhere bizarre. Overall quality of animations could have been better though.

Cabin in The Woods(2012): Let me try and make sense of what I want to say. At the start of the year when this movie was released, everyone said that this is a game-changer movie. I really believe that to be true. I loved the twist that makes it a game-changer and I also enjoyed the movie overall. But despite of it, I am still giving it a mediocre rating. If it wasn't for the ending, I certainly would have rated it a little higher but it dropped half a star the minute they brought GOD into it.

Looper(2012): I can not shake-off the feeling of being a little under-whelmed by it. Maybe it was the excessive praise it received from almost everyone went to see it. It isn't a bad movie at all, it's rather good but looking at everyone going gaga over it, I was expecting something more which I don't think it was. Full review here which also marks first ever back-to-back New Release reviews I did with The Master(2012) review.

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy(2011): Reason I wanted to see this movie this month was it apparently featured on the cover of '1001 Movies - 2012 Edition'. As and when I watch it again, which I will because this movie demands it, I might elevate this rating. But right now, I have more questions than answers about this movie. There are so many things that I don't understand right now that it's kinda frustrating. It was aces in the acting department though and probably Harry Potter series is the only other place I have seen so many British actors together.

Poltergeist(1982): I came to this for my Horror Festival with very high recommendations. Almost everyone said that of all the horror classics, it is one of the 'must watch's. I found a lot to like about it but then there were some problems too. Let us just say that while I enjoyed while watching it, there is a good chance I did not like it just as much as most of you did. More here. 

Prometheus(2012): I may have shouted "GO TO YOUR LEFT or Right, you Dumb Woman! How can you not see that shape" at the end but not being a big fan of either Alien(1979) or Blade Runner(1982)(another confession, you see), I really didn't expect to like it at all. However despite some of it's flaws, I liked it much more than I thought I would. Having little less expectations always works.

On the Road(2012): Whenever I see a movie based on a book that I have already read, I can never help but compare it with the book and more often than not, that turns out to be an undoing for the movie. Walter Salles' adaptation of Jack Kerouac's probably one of the most read books of the last century, suffers from the same problem. I thought there was a lot to like in this movie; Salles even managed to get few expressions out of Kristen Stewart but in never reaches that madness, that zing you feel while reading book. It feels like he is holding something back where if at all that book is about something, it is about giving yourself completely and unquestionably.


 





21 Jump Street(2012): There is nothing new or different or fresh about this. This is exactly like, I don't even how many, typical teenage comedy movie made out there. Not that I was expecting anything different from it either. But even then, it made me laugh on more than one occasion and it gets credit for that. And Jonah Hill. He is like Born to do such roles, you know.

His Girl Friday(1940): It's Official. I DO NOT like Cary Grant doing comedies and I like this guy (Yup, I told you). Granted, I have seen only two, this and Arsenic and Old Lace(1941) (I actually remember screaming at the screen while watching this one) but I hated him in both. Rosalind Russell kept this one together for me, she was so much better but give me Cary Grant in a Drama. There were flashes of brilliance but it ended in me beating my forehead. Not For Me.

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel(2012): John Madden must have watched a lot of Hindi movies, crappy ones at that while preparing for this movie because this is like every possible bad, contrived, cliched thing that can happen in a typical Bollywood 'Masala Movie' put together in one, just instead of a hunk and damsel in distress, we have all the elderly people. It did have its moments especially with Maggie Smith, I won't deny that but it waned off really quickly.

From Russia, With Love(1963): I have seen few Bond movies as a kid. But the problem is, except Casino Royale(2006) and those with Pierce Brosnon, I really don't remember anything at all. Seeing that some of them are on Instant, I thought of giving them a go before Skyfall(2012). This one felt a little too '60s to me(Did you observe their satellite phones? They were bigger than my laptop). The part where Bond was being an agent held up quite well for me but part where he was suave, ladies man - not so much. Even some of their accents were really distracting, especially Colonel Klebb.

Little Shop of Horrors(1986): From whatever I had heard about this, even before watching this, I knew that this is kind of movie that will not work for everyone. Even though I have been meaning to watch this, I knew that if you could buy into it, you will like it. If not, there is a very good chance you will hate it. I was right and no, I didn't but into it much. It had its moments that I could appreciate and even enjoy but overall, too weird, too campy, too musical-y. A little too much almost everything. Another proof '80s is not for me(Is that too much information ?).

 





The Day of the Jackal(1973): Based on Frederick Forsyth book, it is pretty much run of the mill story for him. Looking at the plot, I thought it might be a good mystery with a genuine possibility of being something great and it did have rather slow but intriguing start but then it wavered. It makes too many assumptions to overlook them, jumps from A to B with no real connection between them and finally that killer slips out of their hands so many times that I actually wanted him to succeed just to get it over with.

Paprika(2006): To put it simply, one of the worst animes I have seen. Almost for the complete of its runtime, I pretty much had no idea what was happening. It was something that might have looked really great on paper or in someone's mind but while putting it on screen, it was a complete mess. Beautiful mess but a mess. Maybe it was a little too much for its own good.

Halloween(1978): Another Confession Time. Halloween is exactly the kind of a movie that made Horror my least favourite genre. It is very much 'by the book' horror which I find least bit scary, very formulaic, predictable and on the verge stupid. Only concession i am ready to give it is I don't know if there was a movie like this made before it. So, in a way it might have influenced the whole bunch of horror movies made since. Influential, probably yes. Good, Good God No.

Total Count:26. 25 First Time Watches and 1 Re-watches .

2012 YTD Count

Total Count: 273. 256 First Time Watches and 17 Re-watches.

So, with the end of the year approaching now, we are getting a horde of Oscar contenders in coming weeks. It's really exciting to see that almost every single week from now, we will have at least one movie hitting the theaters that might as well be the big hitter in the award season. Even I have shifted my gears in to 2012 mode now(what I mean by that is I am watching more and more 2012 movies now). I have already seen a dozen this month. I expect that it will continue in the next 2-3 months to come, might even go up a little. I have also started to keep a little track of awards prediction now that they will start to make some sense. It will be the first time that I will go into the award season with a little preparation myself rather than always catching up with them, like I had to last year. Personally, at around the halfway mark of the year, I decided to aim for 300 movies in a year. I still have two more months to go but looking at the current speed, I think I will reach their safely.

Happy Halloween Everyone !! And make sure you wish Large Association of Movie Blogs(LAMB) that makes it possible for all movie bloggers like us to communicate with each other, Happy 5th today !! HAPPY BIRTHDAY LAMB !!

So, how was your month ? Did you see anything interesting ? What do you think of the movies I saw ? Any favorites ?

Introducing myself to non-Ghibli Anime

The Girl who Leapt Through Time(2006): Funny thing about this movie is, back when I was a novice into this whole anime genre, this was one of the first movies that were recommended to me and I am watching it after watching something like 20 animes including every movie Hayao Miyazaki directed(except his very first Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind(1984)). The Girl who Leapt Through Time is a story of Makoto, a regular teenager who is having a kind of bad day. She runs late for school, fails a surprise test, causes a minor accident in her cooking class. While on her way to drop some manuals, she passes through her science lab where she sees a strange object on floor. At the same time, she feels like someone else is in the room and while trying to see who, she falls on to that strange object. As she falls, she experiences a bunch of strange images flying past her. She gets up quickly but that someone is long gone. However on her way to her aunt's workplace after school, she gets in an accident with train that would have killed her certainly. But instead of dying, as she closes her eyes in anticipation of the accident, she finds herself safe distance away from it, watching the train past. When she tells her aunt about this, she says that Makoto experienced a time leap. She finds it hard to believe but when she successfully goes back a whole day that evening, she realizes her aunt was right. With this power at her hands, she uses it for something a typical teenager would - to ace the surprize test she failed last time, to make karaoke session longer and to get out of an awkward situation with one of her closest friends, Chiaki. When she talks to her aunt about this, she advices her to be careful the way she uses her powers and with many things that follow, Makoto soon also realizes that there is much more to time travel than she can understand. 

I saw this same week that I saw Looper(2012) and Twelve Monkeys(1995). I know, too much time travel for me. As for this one, I only have one problem and that is I didn't understand how did she get that last time leap after her counter went to 0? If there was any explanation to it, I missed it. Otherwise, it was delightful. If I didn't know better, I would bet that it is a Ghibli movie. You will find every trademark that Ghibli is known for in this movie. We have a female protagonist. She is young, innocent, exactly like any normal girl her age would be. We find her in extraordinary circumstances and she shows maturity beyond her years to get through it. It touches themes like love, longing, doing something for greater good and is shot beautifully and is aesthetically brilliant. Trademark Studio Ghibli movie. I knew there is a reason I liked it. :)

Rating(out of 5):

Millennium Actress(2001): First of the three Satoshi Kon movies I saw and probably favourite of all four. It's a story of an old actress, Chiyoko Fujiwara, leaving in a kinda exile for many years. Tachibana - One of her devotees finds out her where-abouts and convinces her to do one last interview for him. He also has a gift for her that he is excited to give her - A key but probably it is the most important thing to her and has been throughout her life. She lost that key many years ago just before she went into anonymity and looking at that back in her hand, it opens all the floodgates and she tells them the whole story of that key and her life. She tells them about how some painter gave her that key when she was just a teenager, how she accepted the acting offer despite her mother's opposition just because that movie will take her in Manchuria where this mystery man is supposed to be and then continued doing them just so as to keep looking for him. We see the complete story of her life told through brief excerpts from movies she did in her career as if they are relevant to the central story of her looking for this man. This approach of storytelling is probably the biggest highlight of this movie. Throughout the movie, Tachibana and his cameraman watch the whole story as if it is being played out right in front of them but none of the actual characters can see them. Tachibana being one of her biggest fans soon gets drawn into that world and assumes the role of Chiyoko's saviour as we go from one movie to others. After few repetitions of same scene is different setting, this part of the movie becomes rather ridiculous and formulaic. But there is also a small comic element with director so immersed in the story and his camera-man is rather uninterested.

Many years pass, she still hasn't found the guy she is looking for but she remains hopeful. Couple of times they come on cusp of actually meeting but fate eludes them every single time. There is an everlasting tint of sadness in the story but with the motifs of jealousy and betrayal introduced in the mix, story takes an interesting turn in last stage to the heart-breaking finish. There are two things that make Millennium Actress memorable to me, first it's editing which is something special as movie travels through lot of different eras in Japanese history and second is it's story. After Grave of the Fireflies(1988) which I rate as high as one of all-time favorites, this is another movie which tackles a story that we almost never see in an animated movie. It easily could have been a sprawling epic in live-action format. Instead, Satoshi Kon made such an heartfelt anime.

Rating(out of 5):

Perfect Blue(1997): So after I loved Millennium Actress, I went right into the second Satoshi Kon - Perfect Blue, movie that Arofonsky liked so much that he bought the rights of to base his Black Swan(2011). This time it's a story of pop-sensation Mima. It starts at her last concert where she declares her retirement from singing. He wants to take her shot in the acting career. When she comes home from it, she gets an anonymous fax message calling her traitor. Soon after, one of the fan letters she receives explodes; injuring someone on the set. She also finds out a site called Mima's Room, a fan-site where to her astonishment she stumbles on what is supposed to be her own diary. What really freaks her out is that diary contains so many details that no-one would know about her. Her acting career starts to take roots soon. Her agent gets the writer of the drama series she is working in to expand her role. Writer agrees but takes her role in drastically different direction by making her a rape victim. Even though she agrees to it, this would tarnish her image as a sweet, innocent pop idol probably beyond repair and may not go down as easily in her fan-base. In her diary on Mima's Room she reads that she or whoever is writing that diary blames writer of the series for this derogatory turn of events. To her Horror, that writer ends up dead the very next day and things just continue to go south from there.

It should be clear from the fact that Arofonsky based Black Swan on this but this is one of the darkest movies I have seen. It does a great job of showing her in two minds about if she did a right thing by quitting her singing career even though she keeps on telling herself that it was her choice, especially when all the craziness starts. I also think the ending wraps up the story very well. But, Ghibli has spoiled me. I didn't think the animations were as great as Ghibli. For last 15-20 minutes or so with multiple cuts in and out of reality, I had no idea what was happening. Also, not necessarily a dig against it but I have rarely seen as much as a kiss in an animated movie but there is SO much nudity in Perfect Blue, it's startling.

Rating(out of 5):

Paprika(2006): Some of you probably know that Inception(2010) is my favorite movie. I have heard a lot since I got into anime about how similar it is to Paprika and hence I have always been itching to check this out and see what the whole fuss is about. Last week I did and I swear, I had absolutely no Idea what the hell was going on in it. Here, I will usually write a little about what's the plot of the movie is at least in some detail but I really don't know what happened and that puts me at a loss as what to say. Something about DC Mini which can be used to enter your dreams being stolen and then dreams and some kind of carnival of weird looking toys and then dreams collapsing into reality and then something like two giant inflated dolls fighting and that's about it. If you have seen it and have understood anything more than this, please tell me. Please. I will forever be grateful to you. I am not even joking. Off course, it goes without saying that I did not like it as much as Inception, in fact even thinking about comparing the two is like a mortal sin for me. For first hour or so, I was really trying hard to understand what am I watching. Some of it, I did. Most of it, I didn't. After that I just gave up. It was just too much of an effort. I just sat there watching images come and go. From the three previous entries in the post, you must have guessed that I like anime movies. I always try and find something in them to praise about. But, unfortunately, I wasn't lucky this time. I am sure that as a concept, it must have looked great on paper and to its credit, I will also say that it LOOKED quite good on screen as well but as a movie while executing it on-screen, it failed miserably. Maybe they just overshot, went too overboard with their ambition. It went so over the top, there was so much to take in it that my brain almost fried and I don't mean it in a good way.

Rating(out of 5):