Film · 2006
Paprika
パプリカ
A device designed to let therapists enter patients' dreams is stolen. Dr Atsuko Chiba investigates through Paprika, her dream persona, as waking life becomes difficult to distinguish from fantasy. Satoshi Kon turns the investigation into a succession of shifting rooms, bodies and images whose rules can change without warning.
The stolen DC Mini is one of just four prototypes, taken before the government has authorised its use in therapy. Its inventor, Dr Tokita, is Chiba's colleague. The theft puts an unfinished treatment into somebody else's hands, with the danger of destroying a sleeping person's mind alongside the promise of understanding it.
Detective Konakawa comes to Paprika as a patient, troubled by recurring dreams and an unsolved case. His nightmares borrow the settings of movies, including a circus and a chase. The investigator has to accept guidance through his own imagination, giving Paprika someone to help as well as a thief to pursue.
Standalone film · Approx. 90 min · one film
Standalone 2006 animated film directed by Satoshi Kon.
