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Don't look now, but...
5 years ago
General
PARANOIA AGENT directed by Satoshi Kon (Funimation Blu-ray)
https://www.amazon.com/Paranoia-Agent-Blu-ray-Michael-McConnohie/dp/B08JF5FHJN/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3HZ08NSOHKC1U&dchild=1&keywords=paranoia+agent&qid=1609042761&s=movies-tv&sprefix=parano%2Caps%2C219&sr=1-1
Satoshi Kon (1963-2010) is not an easy filmmaker to pigeonhole. The adult mystery/thriller PERFECT BLUE (1997), the hallucinatory romance MILLENIUM ACTRESS (2001), the Christmas comedy TOKYO GODFATHERS (2003) -- Kon was not an artist who liked to repeat himself. The TV series PARANOIA AGENT (2004) at first seems like a return to the mystery/thriller genre, but as the story wades deeper into science fiction/horror territory, with an ensemble cast whose members are neither completely reliable nor completely sympathetic, there's something going on here that's not easy to grasp.
I'm sure PARANOIA AGENT is more than just a compulsively watchable puzzle that Kon gave his audience to solve, but what's it really about? Everyone's guilty of something, and acting out of necessity, but at a terrible moral and psychological cost. Ordinary people, from all walks of life, do appalling things, and convince themselves they're not to blame, and slowly, blamelessly, usher in their own destruction...but what about that grinning, homicidal kid with the baseball bat?
The violence is more stylized and less graphic than that in PERFECT BLUE, but PARANOIA AGENT does have some nudity and a brief sex scene between an ugly man and a prostitute. The ending, while powerful, raises as many questions as it answers, and the whole series depicts urban Japan as a time bomb on the verge of exploding, which it does in the apocalyptic climax. Please don't "understand" it too quickly.
https://www.amazon.com/Paranoia-Agent-Blu-ray-Michael-McConnohie/dp/B08JF5FHJN/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3HZ08NSOHKC1U&dchild=1&keywords=paranoia+agent&qid=1609042761&s=movies-tv&sprefix=parano%2Caps%2C219&sr=1-1
Satoshi Kon (1963-2010) is not an easy filmmaker to pigeonhole. The adult mystery/thriller PERFECT BLUE (1997), the hallucinatory romance MILLENIUM ACTRESS (2001), the Christmas comedy TOKYO GODFATHERS (2003) -- Kon was not an artist who liked to repeat himself. The TV series PARANOIA AGENT (2004) at first seems like a return to the mystery/thriller genre, but as the story wades deeper into science fiction/horror territory, with an ensemble cast whose members are neither completely reliable nor completely sympathetic, there's something going on here that's not easy to grasp.
I'm sure PARANOIA AGENT is more than just a compulsively watchable puzzle that Kon gave his audience to solve, but what's it really about? Everyone's guilty of something, and acting out of necessity, but at a terrible moral and psychological cost. Ordinary people, from all walks of life, do appalling things, and convince themselves they're not to blame, and slowly, blamelessly, usher in their own destruction...but what about that grinning, homicidal kid with the baseball bat?
The violence is more stylized and less graphic than that in PERFECT BLUE, but PARANOIA AGENT does have some nudity and a brief sex scene between an ugly man and a prostitute. The ending, while powerful, raises as many questions as it answers, and the whole series depicts urban Japan as a time bomb on the verge of exploding, which it does in the apocalyptic climax. Please don't "understand" it too quickly.
Toho
~tohofuhai
I miss him so much. ended up rewatching Tokyo Godfathers this christmas
roochak
~roochak
OP
You too? Yeah, my hubby and I are making that movie a holiday tradition.
monitorlizard
~monitorlizard
Oh my. I love "Perfect Blue" and "Millennium Actress" but didn't know about the television show...I'll have to check that out!
roochak
~roochak
OP
I haven't yet seen Kon's final completed film, "Paprika" (2006), which (according to some critics) was a major influence on Christopher Nolan's "Inception" (2010).
monitorlizard
~monitorlizard
That was him too? Oh, man. I had no idea!
Wakboth
~wakboth
Paranoia Agent is hell of an anime. Your warning about understanding it too quickly is fitting!
roochak
~roochak
OP
Watching it for the first time is like being hit in the face, and then wanting to come back for more.
