Paprika - etc

Paprika was just a very very entertaining film. A bit like anything Satoshi Kon made, one's never sure whether reality or dream don't intersect. Perhaps not how I conceive the universe, but it's great to inject some mysticism into your life.

Sometimes came across as the episode of an anime ("The adventures of Paprika, the secret agent of your dreams"), but the storyline certainly had the body of a full-length feature worth premiering and being part of the official competition at the Venice Biennale (of course, I'm sure it helps to be backed by Sony Pictures). The movie was a Canadian premiere at the Nouveau Cinema festival. Crowd was perhaps a bit less fanboy/girl than I'd expect, and a bit general cinephiles with eclectic tastes. You really had to look hard to know that this movie was going to be shown, b/c there's no mention of it in any of the news items on the fest that I've read. I suppose that it's simply b/c it isn't Fantasia.

(Probably noteworthy that Megumi Hayashibara does the main character of the movie...)