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This week’s Staff Pick: Perfect Blue (1997)  Directed by: Satoshi Kon Written by: Sadayuki Murai, adapted for the screen from a novel by Yoshikazu Takeuchi Cinematography by: Hisao Shirai Edited by: Harutoshi Ogata IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0156887/ Summary: “A retired pop singer turned actress’ sense of reality is shaken when she is stalked by an obsessed fan and seemingly a ghost of her past.” This is an incredible film; I have seen it periodically over the last few years and truth be told I just watched this again today (snow day ftw). Perfect Blue is a riveting exploration of the screen, in all its forms: mirrors, frames, television screens, the frame of the film itself, etc. It’s similar to Cure (and released within a few months of it) in the way it explores ways of making sense of the senseless, turning to the violence of spectatorship and objectification as a way to potentially structure the cruelty of a burgeoning internet culture informed by fanzines. Apparatuses that control the woman at the center of the film extend their influence into an inescapable web that demoralizes and destroys the pop idol turned actress. The editing itself confuses the limits between our viewing and the viewing of the narrative spectators, flipping between modes of classical editing and frames outside the media without warning, which blurs the layers of performance to the point where the simple act of buying milk becomes fraught with tensions of voyeurism. It’s incredible and I love this movie!!!!! As a warning, there are some harrowing scenes of sexual violence and full-frontal nudity, in case you were gonna watch it on the family TV or something. It’s also like 75 minutes long, so why not check it out! Since I already watched it I have a bunch of screenshots (close to 50 which is wayyyy more than I ever take) and will post them as people check out the movie and talk about it. If you like Perfect Blue, Satoshi Kon’s entire (sadly brief) career will likely interest you, as they deal with similar themes of spectatorship and performance in a whole host of ways and styles. Since this is an anime film there’s a million and one ways to watch this movie online but very few ways to pay for it. There’s an out of print DVD from 2000 you can buy used and a Blu-Ray that’s available for the low low price of 200 dollars. Please check it out! --- From the Staff Picks Archives January 31st, 2017: Cure February 7th, 2017: Westfront 1918 February 14th, 2017: John Wick February 21st, 2017: Red Sorghum February 28th, 2017: God of Gamblers March 7th, 2017: The Autopsy of Jane Doe
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Mar 14, 2017 21:58
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It's been a few days so here's all the pics: https://imgur.com/a/cDNSm and tomorrow I'm going to write a little bit about the editing in some key moments
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Mar 19, 2017 01:05
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Its hard to pick a favorite shot in the film but I really love this:
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Mar 19, 2017 17:37
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The best part of this movie is the way it utilizes the most common shorthand techniques for unobtrusive narrative filmmaking (shot reverse shot, 180 deg rule, establishing shots etc) to actually disrupt the filmic space. All the scenes that are shot like that at the beginning only to reveal a few shots in that Mima is performing on a set, or you're watching a taped recording, or the 180 degree rule will be broken and you will see the predatory cameras are incredibly well done. Makes you hyper aware of the ways in which all narrative cinema is trying its hardest to trick you into believing the performance, and its especially cool coming from an animated film where breaches of the classic style like that are generally more tolerated (no one is watching animation and assuming a link to reality at all).
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Mar 19, 2017 21:20
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https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3814263 next movie, although Im going to continue posting periodically in this one probably. Especially if I watch some other Kon movies thinking about this shot again today...
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Mar 21, 2017 23:03
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Escobarbarian posted:Not seen this in a decade, note to self to bloody get on with it Paprika is my second fave behind this one, but I'm a fan of any film that explores the connection between films as expressions of human dreams
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Mar 23, 2017 01:10
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TV Zombie posted:What scene was stolen for Requiem for a Dream? This is the video I've seen before: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anlHmGA-Bvs but from what I understand the "rights were purchased" is a hoax. There's nothing really concrete I've ever seen that's corroborated it, and it came up again a lot when Black Swan came out and people were like "this is just Perfect Blue!!! Darren you HACK!!!!" without realizing it was way more Red Shoes than Perfect Blue and also a pretty neat movie in its own right.
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Mar 23, 2017 02:26
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