Paprika - Parade scene. (Dir. Kon, 2006.)

Even with the completed storyboards, I just can't think of any animation director that can complete the movie. His vision for animation was just so unique. He did things with the medium that I still can't fathom possible even after having seen his movies multiple times.

We lost a generational talent when Satoshi Kon passed away. Truly we were only just starting to see what he could accomplish. https://youtu.be/oz49vQwSoTE?si=jZE9q5X9sZ0sU8VM https://youtu.be/2XGYr9_BiEU?si=YFIp4M70ZPXfUQLw

Whoops lol. It's still a great film and I don't think your experience with it will be bad. Some of the buildup to this point may hit a little bit less than before. But then again, maybe knowing what's coming will help prepare you to understanding it more deeply. It's the sort of film that still feels fresh on a repeat viewing.

If it makes you feel better the intro is equally magical with a different song <3 Fantastic film you gotta check it out.

Good god, this is some of the most dystopian shit I’ve seen and it’s footage from almost 35 years ago.

dystopian and interesting. In contrast to today, the 1990s were hopeful, and Operation Desert Storm was a huge undertaking and even bigger success. The biggest army truly flexing on the world and destroying Saddam's Iraq. As opposed to today, it's just all dystopian, and the new war in the Middle East is being done by con men and fools with no plan, and hence it's going like it is.

Well, yes. It's surrealism at it's finest. And so if you're unaware of the buildup you're robbing yourself of seeing it in the proper context. If you've seen the parade scene, and then start watching the movie, when the first hints of it start to show up you're going to think "Oh I know where this is going. I wonder when we see the full parade," and I think you're supposed to be thinking something more like "Whoa what is that? What's going on?" There is the extra layer of meaning to it as well, which does make the whole thing even more confusing, of course. The parade is, at least in part, a lot of the societal ills that plague Japan bubbling up through the collective dreams of that society. For example, the opening with the salary-men diving off the building like synchronized swimmers is a direct and obvious reference to the suicide epidemic of Japanese salary-men. The young women in school-girl outfits with screens as heads lifting their skirts and older Japanese men looking up them is another relatively clear reference and satirization of Japanese societies' collective interest in young women (school girls) and the commodification of sexual youth, along with how many people in Japan only had a relationship with sexuality as a whole through screens (and this was before widespread smartphones, he was satirizing renting video tapes and DVDs, I can't imagine what Kon would have thought about p*** on smartphones and even VR p***). If you're unaware of the issues in Japanese society that Kon was specifically satirizing with the various parts of the parade, you're going to miss that deeper contexual level, yes. It is going to be confusing weirdness. BUT it's a brilliant scene because the confusing weirdness does come across as the point. That first layer of visual spectacle and confusing weirdness fits the whole "dreams" thing. It is enjoyable just as visual art first. And to really start to get all of that, I think you need to watch the rest of the movie first, before seeing the culmination of it all in the full parade sequence. God I f****** love that movie.

The satire and symbolism is apparent even without seeing the rest of the movie. The only thing you're really missing out on is the anticipation of the parade and the context for what it's supposed to literally be within the story. Like you don't need to know anything about who paprika is or what the dream machine is to understand this scene is clearly a reflection of modern japanese culture. In that sense it is a bit of a spoiler. I don't think most people - certainly not I - expected the satire since the rest of the movie was (on a superficial level) a pretty straightforward if surrealist science fiction thriller. This scene recontextualizes a *lot* of what you had already seen up to this point and makes rewatches more enjoyable. that said the movie is like 20 years old. anyone wanting to avoid spoilers can just practice the self restraint necessary to not watch the clip if they don't want to.

White collar workers turning into instruments symbolizing people wanting to live for their passion, other businessmen climbing to the top, mothers turning into symbols of abundence, as in having children for social benefits - the list goes on.

I always thought that the men flew away, and then I realized that they didn't.

Cool I guess I'm directing my comment more at anyone who sees this post/my comment and isn't familiar with the work. If you already know it then my advice would be little help !

That’s wild because everytime I watch it I understand a little more. Revisiting after my first panic attack helped me to understand the cop’s therapy journey a bit more.

I'd argue that Nolan did something refreshing with dreams by having a grounded presentation instead of leaning into the surreal possibilities the way TV and movies have been doing for decades.

That’s insane, the wobbling looks CGI — wow

I love hand-drawn animation but yes, it's incredibly time-consuming. For reference, they finished recording the audio and voice-acting for *The Rescuers* in 1974, then released it after animating in 1977.

Wait until you hear about most of anime pre-2010s.

Inception is a LOT closer to the comic [The Dream of a Lifetime](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dream_of_a_Lifetime). They're basically doing exactly the same concept in the intro, and from interviews, it sounds like it was the original plan for the whole movie. They claim they changed it because heist movies aren't emotional enough, but it could theoretically also be because of this comic doing it first.

Inception is a blockbuster movie while Paprika is art