Perfect blue (1997) 🎤

 

   Do you guys remember black swam? Well, here’s a QUITE similar picture.

   パーフェクトブル (Perfect blue in English) is a violent fantasia that mixes the tension and compulsion of being “the greatest star” and “delusion”. This film, loaded with so much stress, reminds us that horror does not always have to do with despicable creatures: it demonstrates the power of the mind and what one is willing to do when one’s obsessed with success. Most time it shows our most miserable side.

Girl group: Yukiko, Mima Kirigoe, Rei (From left to right)

   Perfect blue follows Mima Kirigoe, a pop idol and former member of a girl group named “CHAM!”. Her dream job is and has always been being an actress, later on without noticing, this desire of starting an acting career led her to leave her music career behind. From that moment on, her life becomes a literal nightmare. 

   From playing a woman whose relative has been murdered to playing a woman who has been sexually abused, Mima found herself questioning if life is real and irresistibly feeling remorse about having taken that path. Everything gets even worse when a series of unfortunate events start happening on set, an inopportune stalker emerged from the fog, and a website called “Mima’s room” where secrets and details of her life are revealed is directly handed to her.

Mima's room Website

   Mima Kirigoe starts hallucinating and questioning herself to be the cause of the murders that have been happening lately. Is she the one to blame? If not, who is it then? Perhaps the stalker is doing this. Is it caused by an envious person with resentful feelings?

   Perfect blue is a wonderful, though realistic, portrayal of what show business is and what it means to be an idol. It inquires into those feelings and emotions when innocence is lost and how hard it is to break away from that filter. 

Rate: 4/5

⭐⭐⭐⭐

A Satoshi Kon masterpiece highly recommended