Perfect Blue

Directed by Satoshi Kon, Perfect Blue is the story of 21-year-old pop star Mima Kirigoe, who is the lead singer in the all-girl band Cham. Heeding advice from her agent to get out of the business before her fame runs out, she decides to become an actress. Like many of the instant pop celebrities before her, Mima finds it hard to be taken seriously and is forced to change her image in order to be cast in larger roles. In her first big feature she plays a stripper who is raped and sets off on a wild killing spree. A disturbed fan, who also runs her Web site, refuses to accept that his favorite pop star is changing her persona and is obsessed with keeping Mima the innocent young starlet that he has fallen in love with. After several of the people associated with casting her in smutty roles are murdered, Mima becomes plagued with disturbing hallucinations and is stalked by the deranged Webmaster who somehow knows too many details of her personal life. Mima eventually can no longer discern fantasy from reality and becomes paralyzed by her inability to associate the events around her with increasingly disturbing visions.

The film is inundated with frightening and sordid imagery. I would definitely categorize it as a horror film complete with vicious stabbings, a naive female victim being stalked and hunted, and a staged rape scene that is downright chilling. Don't be fooled into taking your kids to see this one just because they like Power Rangers. This one will be rated R and deservedly so.

The main problem is that too much of the dialogue seems canned and sappy. The translation makes Mima seem almost dumb as she is confronted with a chain of events that she does nothing to cope with. She comes off as nothing more than a ditsy child even as those close to her are dying and she begins to lose her mind.

If you're in the mood for something dark and twisted this is the right film for you. Otherwise spare yourself the trouble of having to sit through what is a crude film that will be hard for most audiences to swallow.

Am I Blue?