Week 2 of my director spotlight! Last week I covered Hosoda, Mamoru. This week is Kon, Satoshi.
Perfect Blue is our starting point. And what a start! While there are a few rough transitions, this movie brings the big guns when it comes to psychological thriller. The story uses the mind's many tricks to offer a unique, but familiar story. I've seen this story before, but the way it's shown to us. The artwork blends this story into a soup and then offers it back with full knowledge of the symbolism it imposes.
Truly a great film, if anyone has recommendations in the same psychological style, please let me know.
Millennium Actress follows up the fantastic thriller of PB. It's here that I began to understand how profound a loss Satoshi Kon's death was. Perfect Blue was a great film, but Kon's work on it clearly showed more in the art and cinematography. Here you truly see the all encompasing imagination of the man behind the scene's.
I wrote a whole bunch more about this that I ended up cutting... I just cant communicate how much I love this directors mind.
Tokyo Godfathers, Oh how I needed you. PB was an intense journey, but MA broke my mind. Luckily, Kon decided that he had firmly entrenched his reputation as a mind-bender. In TG, our director shows us that it's not stunning and insane visuals that kept us tied up in his last 2 movies. No, it was the characters. All three of our leading characters are fantastic. Full of life, anger, sorrow and hope, this group brings whats sure to be a yearly christmas touchstone for me.
It's sweet and endearing, and the characters are fresh. A nice cleanse of the mind and warming of the heart, after the first 2 entries.
Paprika! Sure fire proof that Kon had taken LSD in his life and that he used Tokyo Godfathers to prove a point. Yes, he could create distinct, well written characters. Yes he is fantastic at writing stories from a woman (or effeminate) viewpoint. We got that down? Great, now strap in and open up your mind vagina. (how terrible am I, right?) This movie was the only one on the list I had seen previously. It was probably in the first 4 or 5 animated movies I watched, and a significantly large reason why I watch this medium in the first place.
While this story isn't the clearest cut, or the most logical, it really brings the intensity of the moment to us. I've seen this movie atleast 5 times now, I still am amazed by it's pure unique feel. I cannot immagine how a story like this could be told in western media, Inception probably being the closest we'll see for a while. But the COLOR! Watching PB and MA and then rewatching this movie again was a real treat for me.
Overall, Satoshi Kon's mind was a unique gift to the world of anime. Where Hosoda has shown himself to be a fantastic, family movie maker. Kon has shown what anime can do when moved into the adult world. Perhaps there are others carrying on this torch, but when I want to show someone that Anime can be a serious medium, I can think of none other than Kon. If you haven't watched these 4 movies, please do so! Next week I will cover Shinkai, Makoto. Maker of 5cm/s, Children who chase lost voices, Garden of words, and Place promised in our early years.