Perfect Blue is a 1997 anime film directed by Satoshi Kon (also known for Paprika). The film follows a retired musician who becomes an actress, and in the process, loses her grip on reality. A critically acclaimed psychological thriller, the film focuses on identity, voyeurism, and performance – particularly that of modern pop idols.
I initially heard about this film after seeing many parallels drawn between Perfect Blue and Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan, and was under the impression that the latter was inspired by the anime. However, upon further research I have found that Aronofsky denied this while acknowledging the similarities. Still, I am curious to see how Perfect Blue could have served as a jumping off point for the more recent film – as I do enjoy Black Swan – and am also interested to see how it translates as an anime. Given the similarities between the two films, I am also intrigued by the limits of both live action and animation, and what one makes possible that the other cannot achieve.
Perfect Blue is showing as part of the State Theater’s Late Night series on Friday, October 21 at 9:30pm.
On Tuesday, a free advance screening of the film “Bros” was showing at the State Theater! As soon as I saw the trailer for this movie I was intrigued. A tropey gay rom com? Set in NYC? Billy Eichner?? I went in expecting a good time and this movie delivered.
This movie knew what it was trying to be and made it obvious from the start. A movie for the masses, that could portray a romance beween two white cis gay men with levity and humor while acknowledging the history of gay trauma that precedes it. So often, queer cinema centers stories of queer oppression, grief, and crisis. These stories are important, but where is the room for joy and lightheartedness? To me, this film was trying to say: “Despite the weight of this trauma, we have joy, too! We have sweet and ordinary and non-history-making moments too! Let’s revel in it!”
And so it does: this film is laugh-out-loud funny. There were very few moments, sitting in the darkened theater, that I did not have a ridiculous grin on my face. Eichner, who readers may know from his role as Craig Middlebrooks in the television sitcom Parks and Recreation, both wrote and starred in this movie. He nails his role as Bobby, a stubborn and endearing podcaster who is opening the first LGBTQ+ museum in NYC. His comedy is whip-smart, meta, full of delightful irony. His chemistry with Aaron (played by Luke Macfarlane), a “gym bro” lawyer with commitment issues, is electric and real. This film includes some of the most realistic portrayals of romantic intimacy I’ve ever seen. Yes there are charged, steamy moments, but there’s also a healthy amount of awkwardness and silly hijinks. Sometimes you just want to have a pillow fight!
Bros is also a movie that is very self-aware of itself. It celebrates its significance – after all it’s an adult-oriented LGBTQ+ movie produced by a mainstream film studio, and it features an openly queer principal cast. However, it also constantly references its own shortcomings. This movie knows that it is only representing a small slice of queer identity (namely that belonging to cis white men), that it is leaving countless other stories out of the picture. When it celebrates pieces of important queer history, it simultaneously pays homage to the progress that the world still needs to make for the LGBTQ+ community. About being the first openly gay man to write and star in a romantic comedy for a major Hollywood studio, Billy Eichner said:
This kind of movie is definitely late in making its way into the world, but I think it’s better late than never.
TL;DR – I would highly recommend catching Bros while it’s still showing at the State Theater. It is fresh and funny and put a big ol’ smile on my face throughout.
Compartment No. 6, a film by Finnish director Juho Kuosmanen was the kind of film that really makes you forget you’re sitting in a theater. The majority of the film consists of two travelers sharing a cabin on a sleeper train, heading from Moscow to Murmansk, Russia. Laura is a Finnish academic coping with the inevitable dissolution of her relationship while Lyokha is a Russian working-class man headed to make some money in the mines at their destination. Laura is conversely headed to see a set of petroglyphs as a historic endeavor, a trip that her sort-of-but-not-quite ex-partner dropped out from.
It feels a little tired to follow the arc of “they can’t stand each other” to “they have a snow ball fight, giggling and red-nosed,” but there’s a sense of sincerity to this film that is impossible to shake. This could very well be due to the fact that I’m not familiar with Eastern European culture and the lived realities of these places, but the setting felt as though it was constructed with a careful and affectionate eye.
The train as a center of activity and plot development was fantastic. In such a small space there seems to be an entire world constructed, as the two characters venture throughout various locations within the train. This kind of claustrophobia also lends itself to an accelerated intimacy, both in terms of the visual framing of the characters and the actual plot.
I’m still trying to decide how I feel about the ending of this film. I suppose I really mean the final act, as I’m wondering if it was entirely necessary. This section leaves the train and thus shifts contexts in a way that, yes, wraps everything up, but doesn’t quite align with the rhythm of the rest of the film. I think I also would have liked more ambiguity to the way their relationship ends, but at the same time I can’t be mad that this part of the movie finished the story off in a satisfying and sweet way.
At the end of the day, though, this film consists of every beat you hope to hit when travelling: interesting and frequent new characters, a feeling of imminent change, and an understanding that everything is so bittersweetly temporary. This movie is well worth a watch, and is sure to remain in viewers’ minds as we all wait for our next train to catch.
Now showing at the Michigan Theater, Compartment No. 6 is an award-winning film that is, at its core, a character study. The trailer seems excellent, offering a great visual vocabulary for the dreary train cabin and the building action leading us there. In addition to this, the plot device of two strangers getting to know each other through external forces, like a shared train car, is sure to offer an in-depth understanding of both these characters and their shared dynamic.
Spending some time in a theater is always a go-to for me when the weather gets as underwhelming as it is now. Grab a student ticket and check it out!
I admire short films because their shortness does not represent the depth of the message they carry but only shows the limitation to the time they are allowed to trap the audience’s attention. Due to these resources, they have to be clever in picking what to show and tell. This will mean that the audience will be on a quick, dramatic ride. The five films, although very different in the subject of the emotion they are telling, shared the common theme of pain and fear. It could be pain from a man having to ‘turn off’ his wife after her brain death(On my mind), fear of being imprisoned by machines that run the jurisdiction system without the flexibility to correct a mistake(Please hold), the pain of not having ‘a normal’ body and being laughed at(The dress), racism and violence conducted under it that comes without warning(The Long Goodbye), or the pain of a girl who dreamt of continuing her studies in the city where she was kidnapped to a rural village to do an unwanted marriage under the village and family’s approval(Ala Kachuu). They are communicated concisely and strongly, resembling a roller coaster with five peaks.
On My Mind – Great connection between scenes to make a complete story. The interesting buildup keeps the audience curious and engage during the first half.
Please Hold – The exemplary model of criticism toward the status quo. Intelligently designed reference to current digital society’s dehumanization of operations (we all have the experience of being frustrated by the neverending loop of ARS that does not have the option I want) and digital advertisements that nag you to spend money on options, and the necessity to have money even to fix something that went wrong. A thriller that has amazing communication: it was really easy to connect to the horrors and frustrations of the protagonist. However, I think the real horror was not the mechanic voices. The ones who saw this will remember the scene where the human attorney exclaimed ‘not again!’ before ending the $1000 call in a few seconds-will this mean that the protagonist was not the first wrongly accused? Why was the system not discarded after the continued horror of sentencing 40+ years to innocent men?
The Dress – A deep sorrow told of an unfamiliar world.
The Long Goodbye – The bewildering transition from a peaceful family home to a scene of murder and violence told the emotion of horror very well, but the part that was very unique to this movie came at the very end by a monologue from one of the characters. The rage, sorrow, and desperation break through the fourth wall with the character speaking directly at the audience. The poetic, POWERFUL monologue; it can also be found on the main actor, Riz Ahmed’s youtube channel.
Ala Kachuu – I wondered why the protagonist did not throw a fight against her kidnappers after she was forced into marriage, and then I fully realized the horror of the situation. The dread of being someplace where she knows not where, where everyone is acting kindly but on the watch for her escape, being abandoned by her family, and having no one to trust is just horrible. To seat in a theater may make the rebellion look easier, but in her situation, she did not know whether the people will attack her depending on how she reacted. The message at the very end saying that this kind of kidnap is being continued in the world was dreadful. This movie did a great job of emotionally converting the dreadfulness of such situations.
Shorts TV annually released oscar nominated short films. This year’s nominations are:
On My Mind (Martin Strange-Hansen and Kim Magnusson / Denmark)
Please Hold ( K.D. Dávila and Levin Menekse / USA)
The Dress (Tadeusz Łysiak and Maciej Ślesicki / Poland)
The Long Goodbye (Aneil Karia and Riz Ahmed / UK/Netherlands)
Ala Kachuu – Take and Run (Maria Brendle and Nadine Lüchinger/ Kyrgyzstan/Switzerland)
Ranging from 12-38 minutes, they all seem to tell strong stories within a short time span. Click here for trailers.
Among the movies, the synopsis of ‘Please Hold’ was especially interesting. It’s based in the future in a mysterious jail controlled by the ‘computed bureaucracy of the privatized American justice system‘. The trailer of ‘The Long Goodbye’ also intrigued my interest as well – the irony between bright, cheerful rap music as the background and something serious and dangerous seems to be happening to the characters made me wonder what’s going on.
Again, U of M students can get a ticket to the Oscar-nominated shorts series free if they use the Passport to the Arts before March 22th. The movie is playing on the 19th and 22nd at the Michigan theater. Please refer to the webpage of Arts at Michigan for further information on where to find the ticket / how to use them.
