Perfect Blue

This 1997 debut anime feature from Satoshi Kon, one of the most accomplished anime filmmakers of the past two decades, is an adult psycho-thriller that uses the freedom of animation to blur the lines between objective and subjective perspectives. Mima is a singer who leaves her squeaky-clean pop idol image to become an actress in a violent TV series, a career move that angers her fans. Full of self-doubt and tormented by humiliating compromises, she is also plagued by an obsessive stalker in her waking life and an accusing alter ego in her dreams. Kon, adapting a novel by Yoshikazu Takeuchi, shows viewers the world from Mima’s schizophrenic perspective: days blur, dreams cross over into the waking world, and the TV show blends into her real life until she can’t separate the ghosts from the real-life stalkers, even as her co-workers are being brutally slain around her. The scenes of sexual assault border on lurid exploitation, but otherwise this is a smart, stylish thriller with a provocative psychological dimension that serves up a savvy portrait of celebrity in the digital age. Kon went on to make the acclaimed animated features Millennium Actress (2001), Tokyo Godfathers (2003), and the heady Paprika (2006) before his untimely death in 2010 at the age of 46. Presented in a dual-language DVD/Blu-ray Combo edition, unrated and suitable for adult audiences, extras include an archival lecture by Kon, interviews with Japanese and English voice casts, and a music video. Recommended. (S. Axmaker)