Perfect Blue 4K 1997 Ultra HD 2160p

The star of the modest author of Japanese manga Satoshi Kon lit up in 1997, when he made his film debut with the anime “Perfect Blue”, the script of which was a free adaptation of Yoshikazu Tekuchi's work of the same name. The plot revolves around a minor pop singer Mimi Kirigoe, who, not without a producer's treatment, decides to step up and become an actress. Such a coup causes displeasure of her fans, and from that time on her life begins to get strange - from mysterious faxes and dead fish to exploding envelopes and murders of colleagues.

To better understand the movie, it's worth imagining what status pop music performers have in the Land of the Rising Sun. Unlike in the Western world, the term “star” is not used for pop singers there; instead, the much stronger “idol” is used. With great adoration comes great responsibility, for Japanese pop idols, however insignificant, must be an example of integrity for all. Mimi's story is an odyssey through the world of the modern entertainment industry, in which human destinies are put to the test in the crosshairs of TV and photo cameras, surrounded by microphones, letters and phone calls. So, being on the third role in a popular series, “just a singer” is forced to start with one line per episode, and in order to name lines in the script became more, only talent is not enough, you have to cross certain moral boundaries. And once that step is taken, there's no turning back, you can't take lecherous girls back into pop idols. Cohn argues that show business is a continuous chain of choices, moral dilemmas and dirty tricks, and their piling up sometimes leads to unpredictable subconscious games.

It's no secret that “Perfect Blue” was intended to be a movie. Such anamnesis did not go unnoticed, and many scenes of the picture are solved by non-animated means, especially the montage and views of Tokyo at night. The first part of the short film is visually and narratively quite traditional, and the second part is filled with what would later be called Satoshi's signature style. Japanese debut anticipated the release of “Requiem for a Dream” and “Black Swan” by Darren Aronofsky and resonated with David Lynch's “Highway to Nowhere” released in the same year. The director masterfully balances on the border between reality and illusion, and if at first it is possible to catch it, then closer to the denouement it is unreal not to get confused in a continuous lace of dreams, mirror reflections, splits and false endings. Starting with a melodramatic story of a smarmy provincial girl, the picture gradually transforms into a sharp psychological thriller with inclusions of true Japanese cruelty.

Despite a rather clear ending and quite tangible catharsis, the movie does not save the viewer from the temptation to reconsider and interpret the events in a completely different light. This property, coupled with the eternally topical subject matter, will only contribute to the fact that the picture eventually gained classic status and expanded its influence far beyond the anime and manga loyal audience. It is also interesting that “True Sadness” can be considered one of the first pictures in the world, devoted to the problems of the World Wide Web and anticipating its importance for the society of the future. For example, an anonymous blogger describes the career and life of computer-uneducated Mimi with astonishing detail, in fact creating her second self, which soon comes into conflict with her present self. Satoshi Kon and the author of the original manga may be the first in world cinema to think so seriously about the problems of online identity and to subtly capture the line that, even after 15 years, the multimillion-strong army of Internet otaku still can't quite grasp.