The first time I watched PERFECT BLUE I was underwhelmed. I disliked what I perceived to be the 'supernatural' element of the movie. I watched it again several months later, intending to get rid of my DVD, and realised that I had missed the whole point of the film!
PERFECT BLUE is actually a very good, intelligent movie. Director, Satoshi Kon, was employed to make an exploitation flick using the original PERFECT BLUE novel as his source material. Kon disliked the script the studio provided and, when he asked how rigidly he had to stick to the plot, was told that he had to keep three elements of the story: a singing idol, a stalker and horror. Using these elements he and writer Sadayuki Murai created what is effectively a coming-of-age story about a young woman leaving one stage of her life and entering another.
The plot can seem contrived and the ending is a little silly (though it is quite meaningful when looking at the film as a story about growing up). Also the animation is not too great -this was only a straight to video feature, after all. However, if you can get past these problems, this is a very enjoyable movie.
7/10
PERFECT BLUE is actually a very good, intelligent movie. Director, Satoshi Kon, was employed to make an exploitation flick using the original PERFECT BLUE novel as his source material. Kon disliked the script the studio provided and, when he asked how rigidly he had to stick to the plot, was told that he had to keep three elements of the story: a singing idol, a stalker and horror. Using these elements he and writer Sadayuki Murai created what is effectively a coming-of-age story about a young woman leaving one stage of her life and entering another.
The plot can seem contrived and the ending is a little silly (though it is quite meaningful when looking at the film as a story about growing up). Also the animation is not too great -this was only a straight to video feature, after all. However, if you can get past these problems, this is a very enjoyable movie.
7/10