Perfect Blue
A psychological thriller written by Yoshikazu Takeuchi and directed by Satoshi Kon. Rex Entertainment took on this movie when they saw a 90 minute live action video project of it. It was awarded the Public prize for 'Best Asian Film' when it was released in 1997.
The main character, Mima Kirigoe is a 21 year old retired pop singer turned actress who just got a bit role as a killer in a television series in which she garners attention for. On the way she attracts an obsessed fan who wants her to return to singing, and discovers a website that describes every intimate detail of her life, to the littlest things like, a reason why she brushed her teeth or something.
Currently as the costar of a psycho drama that portrays her as having multiple personalities, the line between reality and imaginary become thin in her own real life. She becomes obsessed with reading the homepage that is called Mima's Room just to find out what she did that day and has blackouts of what happened. She starts becoming confused and bewildered at who this person can actually be, if it is really her writing this homepage. Violent murders take place that mirror those in the television psycho drama that she stars in and is faced by the apparent ghost of her former self.
Perfect Blue, not being a giant action thriller with teeny bopping girls shooting guns and robots having battles is very different and far from the sci-fi end of the spectrum. It stands out because it holds its own as a psychological thriller that has a calm mood throughout and gradually reaches its intense climax revealing a surprise that makes the watcher finally understand what's going on since they have been dragged into what Mima has been going through. Complete confusion about what's real, and what's not. Another great thing about this movie is it's score, the music goes along with every scene and the operatic music that accompanies every intense scene just heightens its effect, remember without music, a scary movie just doesn't seem as scary.
Perfect Blue follows Polanski's Repulsion as a study of the self, yet has the thriller mood set by the best of Brian De Palma and Dario Argento. It is a great movie if you want something to make you think and be entertained at the same time.