What the hell was that?
Kari and I finally got around to renting Paprika, and I kind of wish we had seen it on the big screen.
I don't know what the hell was going on, and I don't care. I don't think I needed to. I think the movie was just one of those things that can be awesome without having to be understood.
It was really, really good that I watched it now. I am stressed about work and severely needed to be kicked out of reality. Fantasy wasn't cutting it. I needed that special brand of surreal that is only manufactured overseas, in the land of the rising sun.
The only bummer is that I know, I know, that if I had seen that movie on the perfect, bright, balmy summer day, I would be walking out of the theater in a state of invincible euphoria. I know because when I imagine such a day, when I listen to the film's fabulous and bizarre score, I can taste that feeling. I can taste it, but it does not flood my mind and consume my being.
Pity.
I don't know what the hell was going on, and I don't care. I don't think I needed to. I think the movie was just one of those things that can be awesome without having to be understood.
It was really, really good that I watched it now. I am stressed about work and severely needed to be kicked out of reality. Fantasy wasn't cutting it. I needed that special brand of surreal that is only manufactured overseas, in the land of the rising sun.
The only bummer is that I know, I know, that if I had seen that movie on the perfect, bright, balmy summer day, I would be walking out of the theater in a state of invincible euphoria. I know because when I imagine such a day, when I listen to the film's fabulous and bizarre score, I can taste that feeling. I can taste it, but it does not flood my mind and consume my being.
Pity.
posted by Nate at 12:00 AM
4 Comments:
What the hell indeed. That movie wrecked my from the inside. More confusing than Casshern was. Really pretty, but I would be hard pressed to say that I liked it, because I got no pleasure from the narrative, if there was one. The characters were people I felt like I barely knew, this was its downfall I think.
But the colors and the crazy stuff... yeah wow.
Also not that into technopop so the soundtrack didn't do it for me as much either.
I actually didn't find Paprika to be all that confusing - though I must confess it's been many months since I saw it in the theater. I think part of this is because it never made any promises of coherence. It was actually the bits of cliched "sense" tacked in that irked me the most - having the boss as the big bad guy is something we've seen 1001 times before and, frankly, it never seems anything less than a sloppy cop-out to a narrative tangle. Of COURSE it's him - because who else (save a deity) would have the power/influence to execute all the stuff the hero(ine) is up against? Blah. Second, I hated the shoehorned romance at the end - not because I can't buy (and appreciate the ballsiness) of a beautiful woman going for an obese manchild, but this didn't even have the squirming red ball of flesh to unite the mismatched pair that Knocked Up does. Yes, the abrupt transition from a mother/child relationship to lover/lover may be Freudian-tastic, but what's the point of sticking a misshapen plastic bride and groom atop a heap of frogs, toys, and husks? THAT AIN'T NO WEDDIN' CAKE!
I was so bummed I missed Paprika's stint in the theaters. It's on my rental list from the library, though I have a feeling that I will watch the movie and have an experience similar to yours, knowing that it would have been *that* much better had I seen it in a multiplex. sigh.
This is utterly unrelated, but...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmpAx8Z5z40
Merry Belated Christmas!
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