Although it's almost ten years old Satoshi Kon's Perfect Blue still stands up as a classic piece of adult anime (and by adult we mean it's a sophisticated piece of cinema in case you were thinking 'tentacle rape') and it's great that the Barbican are renewing some interest in it as part of their japanimation season which kicks off Tuesday:
Mimi’s decision to leave pop group “CHAM!” to become an actress is taken badly by her delusional on line stalker. Tempted to take on racier roles to further her career, Mimi is then traumatised by playing the part of a rape victim and becomes engulfed by spiralling paranoia. Satoshi Kon’s (Paranoia Agent) exhilarating thriller blurs the bounds of reality and fantasy in a menacing critique of popular culture – The colour of illusion is Perfect Blue…
This is the first event in a series exploring the relationship between Japanese animation and Western cinema and Helen McCarthy will be on hand to talk about the influences of Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo and David Fincher's Se7en on Perfect Blue.
Great stuff. Next month there's a screening of My Neighbour Totoro and a look at the influence that Studio Ghibli has had. March shows a rare screening of one of our favourite Japanese TV serials Samurai 7 - a sci fi update of Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai complete with a Toshiro Mifune inspired mech!
