Film
What's on at the cinema plus reviews of the latest movie and DVD releases
Bookmark this pagePerfect Blue (1997)
Director: Satoshi Kon
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
Based on a novel by Yoshikazu Tekeuchi, this unusual animé follows Polanski's Repulsion into some fairly grown-up areas: the vulnerability of one's sense of self, the flimsiness of a public persona, the price to be paid for female complicity with male fantasies. Mima, lead singer with a teen-idol group which has had its statutory 15 minutes, as usual submits to her manager's instructions by going solo and taking a 'bad girl' role in a TV soap. But then she finds her private diary posted on the Internet, imagines herself stalked by a slasher movie monster and is harassed by her own shadow double, a malign version of her popstar self. The old Diaboliques question arises: is she 'merely' cracking up, or is someone really out to get her? The denouement isn't very surprising or enlightening, but at its best this works as both a critique of Japan's pop culture system and an effective woman-in-peril psycho-thriller. (The animation director was Hideki Hamazu.Author: TR
Most popular on this site
Top Stories
Review: Penélope Cruz more raunchy than ever in 'Nine'
Dave Calhoun reports on Rob Marshall's Oscar-touted musical with Daniel Day-Lewis playing a troubled director
Time Out's 101 Films of the Decade
Ten years, thousands of movies and millions of dollars in international box office, and it all boils down to this
Jim Jarmusch on 'The Limits of Control'
Jim Jarmusch has followed ‘Broken Flowers’ with an esoteric crime mystery. Dave Calhoun speaks to him from his New York office
Richard Linklater on 'Me and Orson Welles'
Dave Calhoun meets the 49-year-old, Houston-born filmmaker Richard Linklater to discuss his new comedy
Our verdict on Peter Jackson's The Lovely Bones
Peter Jackson ends a triumphant decade with a sentimental misfire with this lush Alice Sebold adaptation
On the set of Ken Loach's 'Route Irish'
Dave Calhoun meets Ken Loach on the set of his forthcoming Iraq war movie
Is 'Paranormal Activity' the new 'Blair Witch'?
How does a film go from DIY experiment to box-office smash? 'Paranormal Activity' director Oren Peli explains
A gateway to all things 'New Moon'
In anticipation of 'The Twilight Saga: New Moon', Time Out is offering the chance to pick up a limited edition pack with three exclusive magazines and a free poster.
The films that deserve a TV spin-off
With Roland Emmerich suggesting he'd like to make a '2012' TV spin-off, we propose some more movie-to-TV serialisations
Time Out's 50 greatest animated films with commentary by Terry Gilliam
In celebration of the release of Pixar's 'Up' and Wes Anderson's 'Fantastic Mr Fox', read our rundown of fifty classic feature length animations
What do you think?
Post your review now