Perfect Blue (1997)

Directed by Satoshi Kon. Starring (voices) Junko Iwao, Rica Matsumoto, Masaaki Ôkura, Yoku Shioya, Yôsuke Akimoto, Shinpachi Tsuji, Hideyuki Hori. [R]

A J-pop-starlet-turned-“serious”-actress is stalked by an obsessive fan furious over her career change and tarnished image, resulting in mental trauma, self-doubt, doppelgänger fantasies, and a few bloodied corpses. Unsettling, violent anime has the themes and images for penetrating psychological horror, but not the strategic construction; I was pulled into young Mima’s world and felt for her, but the timing and the stylish, yet too-often-static, animation didn’t generate much in the way of nail-biting tension. Its examinations of fame and voyeurism rarely cut through the surface, and its warped take on metaphysical dream states can be over-indulgent. Yet the world it creates is pitiless, untrustworthy, and downright disturbing at times—more sophisticated than exploitative, and when it comes to learning from classic suspensers, more innovative than derivative. Premiered in 1997 at Canada’s Fantasia Festival.

72/100