released 13 feb 05 / last mod 01 jun 07 / greg goebel / public domain
* At the beginning of Satoshi Kon's animated movie PERFECT BLUE, we meet Mima, a superstar member of a Japanese pop "idoru (idol)" trio, who has decided to give up her career in music and become a TV star. Not all of her fans are enthusiastic about this idea, and in fact someone out there seems to have gone off the deep end about it, because as she pursues her TV career she realizes that a string of vicious murders are drawing closer and closer around her.
That is as much as needs to be said about the plot of PERFECT BLUE, since it's a suspense flic and it's not proper to give too much away. One critic described it as "Disney meets Hitchcock", but other than being animated it has no relation to Disney, and I would have to judge it closer to Brian De Palma thrillers. Hitchcock was not big on overt violence, but PERFECT BLUE gets thoroughly graphic at times.
As a suspense thriller, it's watchable, but it's basically the old "insane fan stalker" story, with a twist that less saves it than shoves it over the top. The violence level is high -- there are scenes where my reaction was: "I didn't really need to see that!" -- and some segments, apparently where Mima has been drugged without her knowledge, are thoroughly confusing.
On the positive side, PERFECT BLUE is a meticulous production with superb and realistic artwork, and if the plot isn't all that inspiring it does get some mileage out of cultural elements, like the Barbie-doll style of a Japanese pop idol. Overall, PERFECT BLUE is a competent but not great movie, though it does give hint of the potential that Satoshi Kon has achieved in his later movies such as MILLENNIUM ACTRESS and TOKYO GODFATHERS. If you've seen these movies, you might want to pick up PERFECT BLUE just for completeness; if you haven't, I suggest you test-fly them first before trying PERFECT BLUE.