Adaptation Film Programme: Paprika (2006)

Figure 1: Movie Poster  [Still Image]

Paprika (2006) is a Japanese animation directed and co-written by Satoshi Kon. It was based on a novel written by Yasutaka Tsutsui in 1993, with the same name. Satoshi Kon was a Japanese director and a graduate from Musashino Art University. He started off as a Manga artist and went to be a director. In his short career, Kon has also made other award winning animation that includes Pafekuto Buru (1997) and Sennen joyû (2001). For Paprika, he has bagged several awards that includes Feature Film Award from Newport Beach film Festival and Public’s Choice Award from Montréal Festival of New Cinema. The success of Paprika came to the west and Christopher Nolan’s Inception (2010) was Hollywood’s version of this animation.

Paprika (2006) is an animation set in the near future where a team of therapists from the Foundation for Psychiatric Research developed a device called the D.C Mini. This device has the capability of recording and watching the dreams of the patients they were treating. However, when one member of the team betrayed the research, he had the control over everyone else’s dream. This creates a havoc as dreams bleeds into reality and making the line between the conscious and subconscious to be a blur.

At the start of the anime, it was confusing because you did not know if that was reality or dream. But as the film moves along, you will be able to distinguish between the two worlds with the existence of Paprika. The very stylistic animation was created using a popular Japanese animation technique called Limited Animation. It is a cost effective technique where parts of a frame are redrawn and the rest are recycled and modified to suit whatever is needed to be in motion. Because of this, the creative team behind Paprika had room for experimentation to do all the bizarre, warping effect and making the amazing morphing animation and dreamy visuals. Additionally, the vibrant colours in the film made it visually captivating to watch. If you love science, technology and understands the Japanese culture and art, Paprika is the film to watch as it brings the three elements together.

List of Illustration:

Figure 1 Paprika(2006) [Poster] at http://seller.be/Blu/Images/145.jpg (Accessed on 23 January 2015)