Mima Kirigoe, the lead singer of the fictional J-pop group "CHAM!". decides to leave the band to become an actress. Her first project is a crime drama series, Double Bind. Some of her fans are upset by her change in career, including a stalker known as Me-Mania. Shortly after leaving CHAM!, Mima receives an anonymous fax calling her a traitor. She also finds a website, after a fan talks about it in a letter to her, called "Mima's Room", which features public diary entries that seem to be written by her. The entries are written in great detail and there is no way any one could know those things about her. She brings tells her manager, an ex-pop star Rumi Hidaka, about the site and she advises Mima to ignore it.
On the set of Double Bind, Mima gets a bigger part, after originally only having a few lines here and there. However, the producers decide to cast her as a rape victim in a strip club. Rumi warns Mima that is will damage her reputation and image, but Mima accepts the part. The scene traumatizes her and she starts becomes unable to distinguish reality for her work on set.
Several people who are involved in creating the scene are murdered. Mima finds evidence that makes her a suspect and her increasing mental instability makes her doubt her own innocence. It turns out that the diarist of "Mima's Room" is delusional and very manipulative. The fax diarist and the serial killer, who believes herself to be a Mima who is forever young and graceful, has made a scapegoat of stalker Me-Mania.
Mima knocks Me-Mania unconscious with a hammer in self defese when he attempts to rape her and she then runs to Rumi. Later back at her apartment, Mima tries to call Mr. Tadokoro but he has also been murdered, along with Me-Mania. Then Mima is approched by Rumi who is in a replica of Mima's CHAM! costume and starts to sing Mima's songs. Rumi is the one writing "Mima's Room" and believes that she is the real Mima. She says that Mima is ruining her image and that she must be killed. Mima runs away from her after Rumi stabs her with an ice pick. She then wounds Rumi with broken glass right before she is almost run over by a truck. Rumi remains delusional, thinking she is Mima, and is institutionalized. Mima has grown from her experiences and has moved on with her life with new found independence and confidence.
This movie is a trip. The whole time you wonder is that real, part of the tv show or in her head. Even when the movie is over you'll be wondering what was real what was not. Mima even starts to question what is real and what is fake.
The fact that this movie was made in 1997 is crazy. This was right before the dot com boom. It was a time before every one had a computer. And the whole fake celebrity or character profile wasn't even a thing yet. This is easily a movie or news story that I can see happening in 2015. And, now it's even easier to be so rapped up in your fantasy world that you made up. The virtual reality world is just be coming more and more real every day.
The whole idea of pop idols in Japan have a persona that they must keep up. Many of them are band from dating or even hanging out with men. Once they reach a certain age they must "graduate" from the group. This also happens to young children actors here in the US. One example is when Daniel Radcliffe, Harry Potter, took on an other role that required him to be naked. Many people were outraged stating "How could Harry Potter do that". They took his character and put it on to the actor who are two different people. But, people see them as the same person. Which they are not.
Perfect Blue also questions how much of your self do you have to give up to become a star, to become famous. Mima gives up her life as a pop star to do something else. She has to act in a scene she doesn't want to do so her career will move forward. She is torn up by it, but she does it to become an actress.
I recomend this movie, but be warned there is boobs, blood and then it starts to get crazy. You will want to watch it again after the credit start to roll and you'll be saying to your self "what the...I need to see that again".
Next week I'll be doing Summer War.
The fact that this movie was made in 1997 is crazy. This was right before the dot com boom. It was a time before every one had a computer. And the whole fake celebrity or character profile wasn't even a thing yet. This is easily a movie or news story that I can see happening in 2015. And, now it's even easier to be so rapped up in your fantasy world that you made up. The virtual reality world is just be coming more and more real every day.
The whole idea of pop idols in Japan have a persona that they must keep up. Many of them are band from dating or even hanging out with men. Once they reach a certain age they must "graduate" from the group. This also happens to young children actors here in the US. One example is when Daniel Radcliffe, Harry Potter, took on an other role that required him to be naked. Many people were outraged stating "How could Harry Potter do that". They took his character and put it on to the actor who are two different people. But, people see them as the same person. Which they are not.
Perfect Blue also questions how much of your self do you have to give up to become a star, to become famous. Mima gives up her life as a pop star to do something else. She has to act in a scene she doesn't want to do so her career will move forward. She is torn up by it, but she does it to become an actress.I recomend this movie, but be warned there is boobs, blood and then it starts to get crazy. You will want to watch it again after the credit start to roll and you'll be saying to your self "what the...I need to see that again".
Next week I'll be doing Summer War.
~^.^
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