Paprika and Reality

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Paprika, directed by Satoshi Kon, seems to take reality and then mess with every little aspect of it as much as it can. It is such a trippy movie that it can be even overwhelming at some points because it is so far from how we perceive the world that we can't even wrap our heads around whats happening. Some might find the movie jarring but I felt the way they go about it is intriguing and mixed with the gorgeous animation its hard to take your eyes off of it. It's all about phycology and the formats of dreams. This in someways almost makes the movie relatable to the viewer because everyone has experienced dreams and seen how nonlinear they can be. It really is true to the feeling of a dream which nonsensical things are happening but they somehow also make sense at the time. At the same time it also gives us a visual of someone having a complete mental breakdown and losing touch with reality. It's almost as if it wants us as the viewers to be able to connect that feeling to our own lives and connect our experiences in reality to the unreality of this story. It's not just a movie trying to trip you out and give you wild visuals (while it still does that), it also seeks to give us a narrative about the human mind and the roundabout ways the subconscious works. Watching this movie was really refreshing to me because it's amazing to see media that seeks to give such a deep dive into our minds and what it can do while also showing an amazing and compelling story that makes us want to keep watching.

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