Leeds International Film Festival

I had the pleasure of watching Paprika during its UK premiere at the Leeds International Film Festival.

I must start by saying that I am already a fan of Satoshi Kon's work. Films like Millennium Actress and Tokyo Godfather are amongst my favourites in any medium, not just anime.

I sometimes feel that much of his work could just as easily have been performed in live action features as anime, but this isn't the case with Paprika. One of the main aspects of this story is the way in which the dream world intrudes on the real world, and how it is sometimes difficult to tell the difference between the two - until something totally bizarre appears. Many of the images just wouldn't work in any form except anime.

While the story itself follows an investigation into the theft of three devices that enable users to drop into people's dreams, the movie is also a homage to both films and television. In dreams we see everything from Tarzan to Monkey, and film posters to several previous Satoshi Kon films.

To summarise, the film was very well received and should appeal to both anime and non-anime fans. Chris Fell, the director of the film festival reported that after its first screening Paprika had scored a higher audience score than any other film since he had been involved with the festival. You can't get much more of a recommendation than that.

Unfortunately I doubt that Paprika will get much distribution at UK cinemas, so if you do get a chance to see this film you should jump at the chance. Otherwise we will all just have to wait for a DVD release.