Perfect Blue
1997
***
Director: Satoshi Kon
Cast: Junko Iwao, Rica Matsumoto, Shinpachi Tsuji, Masaaki Okura, Yōsuke Akimoto, Yoku Shioya, Hideyuki Hori, Emi Shinohara, Masashi Ebara, Kiyoyuki Yanada
Mima is a teenage pop star who wants to pursue acting. While she only gets small demeaning roles, people close to her are getting murdered, and Mima begins to lose her grip on reality. Satoshi Kon's highly rated grown-up anime has either dated badly or it wasn't any good to begin with. The film's mentally fragile female protagonist influenced Darren Aronofsky's Black Swan, but the sexually exploitative story and gratuitous animated nudity leave a bad aftertaste. Based on Yoshikazu Takeuchi's novel Perfect Blue: Complete Metamorphosis.
