Movie Review: Perfect Blue (1997)

Perfect Blue is a 1997 psychological thriller anime film directed by Satoshi Kon. The movie revolves around a pop singer named Mima Kirigoe who decides to shed her squeaky-clean image and become an actress, where she's made to participate in dark scenes and completely loses herself. I've very recently gotten into the world of anime. I'm going to start reviewing more anime on this blog as well as researching the form of entertainment more on my own. Perfect Blue was a movie I discovered through YouTube film critic Chris Stuckmann. Stuckmann loved the movie, but especially praised how effectively scary it was. I went into this movie with high expectations, however I was only satisfied on few levels. Perfect Blue is an excellent example of what happens when a director puts too much style over substance. This film had too much grit and intensity that it managed to neglect a good story. I do have a lot of positives though. Besides the top-notch animation style, this film has a very interesting concept. Can we let go of our past selves? Do our pasts come back to haunt us? Can we ever truly become somebody else? I think the film did a great job of executing those questions and really giving us a lot in the way of good editing and symbolism. That being said, this film really lacked a lot of story. The movie's story needed to be less reliant on violence and more so on what you don't see. The scene in which Mima hears the stalker breathing over the telephone is a fantastic example of that. Instead of making a really gritty film that shows you the scares and chills, how about we just get hints at them? The phone scene was one of my favorites because it exemplified how well mystery works in a film like this. As far as the self-destruction aspect, I was satisfied with it. Mima's past self coming back and haunting her (in one scene engaging in a knife fight) was really smart and this movie is brilliantly created. It's just that the story didn't have enough. The style took over and became confusing. Rotten tomatoes holds this film with a rating of 68% and reads: "Perfect Blue is overstylized, but it's core mystery is always compelling, as are the visual theatrics." That perfectly states how I feel about this movie. It's like how I now feel about American Psycho. When I first saw that movie, I thought it was great because of how it pushed what was considered acceptable. However, looking back on the film I realized just how lacking in plot the flick is. That's how I feel here. The movie isn't bad, it's just decent. Overall, Perfect Blue was a movie that lacked a lot of plot, had good style, but far too much of the latter which lead it to need a tad more of the former. 2.5 stars