Talk:Paprika (2006 film)

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Morbidly obese?[edit]

"Her closest ally is Doctor Kōsaku Tokita, a morbidly obese child-at-heart genius and the inventor of the DC Mini."

I don't think the person who wrote this understands what 'morbidly obese' means, because the character in question certainly is not. 209.203.70.25 (talk) 16:53, 3 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

... You seriously wouldn't consider Tokita to be morbidly obese? Because he kind of is. Sincerely, Thrashmeister [ U | T | C ] 01:54, 10 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
@ Trashmeister: if you look up what morbid means you will realize that he is portrayed as extremely obsessively obese but not as morbid. Maybe you confused obsessively obese with morbidly obese? I have changed it into obsessively obese, as morbidly obese doesn't make any sense. --Hoerth (talk) 22:25, 7 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]
He absolutely is morbidly obese and there is no such thing as obsessively obese. I have corrected this. BillyTFried (talk) 02:35, 12 September 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Development information[edit]

This was taken from the special feature "Tsutsui and Kon's Paprika" from the DVD. I believe this can be used in a potential development section of the article.

  • YASUTAKA TSUTSUI: I stated that Paprika is the culmination of what I consider to be entertainment. And I also think that it's my finest work to date.
  • SATOSHI KON: I could've made the movie very true to the original... but that's not my style.
  • YASUTAKA TSUTSUI: I felt that the core concepts of my story were very solid, so I wasn't worried about how loosely it was adapted.
  • SATOSHI KON: I started with the images. Then I decided that the story would exist to give meaning to those images.
  • NARRATOR: Yasutaka Tsutsui, author. Satoshi Kon, director. Two different versions of Paprika.

====

  • YASUTAKA TSUTSUI: This work is the summation of my career in terms of both entertainment and psychoanalysis.
  • NARRATOR: The novel which Paprika was based on was written by Yasutaka Tsutsui, the master of the avant-garde novel. It was published in installments in a Japanese magazine for women in 1991. It was the final work to be published before Tsutsui stunned the literary world by declaring that he would quit writing.
  • YASUTAKA TSUTSUI: I wanted to do a story that would incorporate my knowledge of psychoanalysis. But while it was being published, I always worried about how many people would actually read it. I subsequently got an offer to publish a serial in a newspaper. So I went on sabbatical for six months or so. Meanwhile, people kept asking when the second half would be published. I was very happy to learn that people had read and enjoyed my story.
  • NARRATOR: The novel version of Paprika is filled with imaginative dream scenes. To create these ephemeral images, Tsutsui employed a certain technique.
  • YASUTAKA TSUTSUI: This is entertainment. So I had to have a clear structure and a concise plot before I started writing. However, the hard part was how to go about creating the details. I needed to use my dreams to create vivid images. Since my dreams were the lone source for these images, it took some time to collect enough usable material. In that sense, I had a hard time.
  • NARRATOR: Tsutsui created the story using his own dreams. Many film adaption offers came in. Tsutsui was very keen on this idea. However, the imaginative dream sequences proved difficult to execute. A proposal for a live-action film went nowhere.
  • YASUTAKA TSUTSUI: In the final stage of development, cost became the issue that shut the project down. I knew that a big budget would be required for a movie like this. But I really believed that it would happen. So I was very disappointed when I heard of their decision.
  • NARRATOR: Then, at the end of 2003, he met Satoshi Kon during an event sponsored by an anime magazine.
  • YASUTAKA TSUTSUI: I really wanted to make a movie based on this story. So I asked him if he would be interested.
  • SATOSHI KON: I was surprised. In 1998, I was looking for a project to take on. I actually considered Paprika even though I thought that it would be tough to adapt. A few years later, the author asks me about adapting it into a film. It had to be destiny. That's what I told myself, anyway.
  • NARRATOR: This was the moment when the film adaption of Paprika took off.

====

  • NARRATOR: In August of 2004, Kon visited Taiwan to attend a screening of his previous film Tokyo Godfathers. After seeing the audience's enthusiastic reaction, he tells us how he felt.
  • SATOSHI KON: It's very encouraging. I've only finished roughly a third of my next script. But they've compelled me to start working on it once I get home.
  • NARRATOR: Paprika, the novel, is brimming with surreal imagery. How was Kon going to capture these visuals? It's the November after Kon returns to Japan. He is desperately trying to finish the script. Paprika's script has three parts: the beginning, a middle and an end. In today's conference, they are discussing the end of the movie, including the climax. The discussion is heating up. Kon starts to work on the storyboards, although the script is not finished. Usually, he starts the storyboards once the script is completed. However, in order to make his visualizations a reality, he had to approach the process in this way. However, the risk of creating storyboards for a script without an ending is undeniable.
  • SATOSHI KON: When you know the ending, you tend to force everything else in the story to suit the climax. I usually end up making the majority of the story rather plain and safe so that I can have it support the ending without complicating things. I decided to try a different method for this project.
  • NARRATOR: This new approach that Kon embarked upon was also a reflection of his feelings towards the original material.
  • SATOSHI KON: I really love this novel. That's why I chose this project. Remaining rigidly true to the novel is pointless because the novel will always be superior. It is very hard to convey the feeling that one gets from reading Mister Tsutsui's words. It's tough to recreate it visually. So, what I want to do is to invoke the atmosphere of a dream while also creating a functional plot that will be able to stand on its own as entertainment. Otherwise, the movie will be a failure.
  • NARRATOR: On the other hand, this approach places a heavy burden upon Kon. He must juggle multiple tasks simultaneously. He is drawing storyboards and checking the concept art while finishing the script. It's January of 2005. The script has finally been completed.
  • GUY: How many pages?
  • SATOSHI KON: Seventy or so. It was supposed to be finished by the end of this past year, but I didn't have time to read it. So I just read it and gave it the greenlight. Now I have a good overall grasp of what we're trying to do with Paprika. So now I just have to finish the storyboards. Who knows when that'll happen.
  • NARRATOR: Kon is very famous for creating detailed storyboards. Kon is focusing on how to visualize imaginative dream sequences. So he's employed an unconventional system to create his storyboards this time around. He draws an image while keeping the next scene in mind. That way, he can make every image connected to both the previous and subsequent scenes.
  • SATOSHI KON: Somethimes, a deadline will help me squeeze a good idea out of my brain. Sometimes, a casual scribble will turn into something useful. Other times, I'll find meaning in a sketch I made after I reexamine it.
  • NARRATOR: That's why there are images in the movie that do not exist in the script. The opening scene is a good example. In the script, the story starts with a scene set in a circus tent. The movie starts with a clown, who drives a small car out of the darkness.
  • SATOSHI KON: I came up with the idea while creating the storyboards. I just had to use it. The story is about how your subconscious affects your dreams. I wanted something in this first scene to symbolize that the darkness is your subconscious and from it, something minor emerges. Then something big emerges from the minor thing which represents the whole movie. The script originally started without these two first cuts. I didn't like it that way, so I added these in. This is why it takes me so long to finish the script and the product turned out to be longer than I expected. If I had thrown away all the spontaneous ideas and allowed the schedule to dictate the entire creative process, the result would be boring. I knew that. I must say I do not employ every single idea that pops up in my mind. But when my instinct tells me, "This is good", I will follow my instinct.
  • NARRATOR: Kon is very happy to discuss his creative process. However, this process would cause much delay. Half of a year has passed, and it is now July. Kon is still working on the storybards. At this point, he has finished just about 60 percent of the storyboards. He has only visualized a bit more than half of the movie.
  • SATOSHI KON: I know that I have spent too much time on this, but I can't change the process now. That's not how I do things. Since the creators don't know how the movie ends, I'm hoping that the audience won't be able to figure it out either. The whole process is tiring me out, though.
  • NARRATOR: Today he is constructing a scene where Atsuko and Shima have a conversation in a car while it's raining outside. Once again, he builds the story by connecting the images.
  • SATOSHI KON: There is a line that says that a dream is eating up another dream. This scene is simple. You can just crosscut between the two people, and it would work. If you actually draw it out, the situation looks like this. You shoot here, and then over here. Looking at my sketch, the raindrops on the windshield grabbed my attention. I started thinking about how they would slide down the windshield. As a raindrop slides down the windshield, it merges with other droplets, and eventually, it becomes a stream. This is exactly what the characters are describing when they say that the dreams come together to form something larger. Now I've got a great idea of how to visualize the theory mentioned in their conversation. I just have to use it. I took a cab home yesterday after having some drinks at the bar and I was thinking about the scene. It had stopped raining, but some raindrops were still on the windshield. It was just like the scene. As I stared at the glass, I kept thinking: "I have to use that idea".
  • NARRATOR: Kon explains how he created such a storyboard.
  • SATOSHI KON: I call this process "Hoodlum emulation". I know, it sounds ridiculous. In the realm of animation, I don't like people who try and push some technique they've just learned in your face. It's low-class, like a hoodlum. Within me, there's Hoodlum Kon and Satoshi Kon. Satoshi is the more mature of the two, and within that mature framework is where Hoodlum Kon operates. It's similar to the relationship of Atsuko and Paprika, so I think that I could identify with those characters more easily. Consequently, I could relate to the film better. This time around, I wanted to go with my hoodlum instincts. I didn't want to try and show off or anything lame like that. I just wanted to run with the ideas that I had thought up. I wanted to try them out. If it doesn't work, it's the hoodlum's fault, but Satoshi Kon is there for the equilibrium. He'll say "Hold up" or "Just go with it", depending on the situation. It's like the gas pedal and the brake pedal that you have on a car. They coexist.
  • NARRATOR: Tsutsui patiently waited until he had a cache of dreams from which he could develop a story. Kon created images and came up with a story to give those images meaning. The storyboards he drew while trying to visualize a dream were completed with 1,046 shots and 614 pages. It took him a year and a half to finish. This is how Tsutsui's novel started its rebirth as a film.
  • SATOSHI KON: I thought it would be quicker than this, but I guess not. I'm disappointed in myself.

====

  • NARRATOR: March of 2006. Today, the voice recording process is underway. Even during this process, if someone had an idea, Kon would consider using it. For example, in this scene (the circus). Originally, the people running in this scene were not assigned voices. However, an impromptu idea resulted in having the voice of Konakawa. New ideas even evolved after the voices were actually recorded.
  • SATOSHI KON: Voice recording is not fun if you do it by the book. When surprising new ideas emerge, this whole process becomes more interesting.
  • NARRATOR: Today, Kon looks nervous. That's because the author, Tsutsui, is sitting in on the session. Tsutsui was there to voice the waiter in a bar called the Radio Club.
  • SATOSHI KON: Is this the first time you've been involved with voice recording?
  • YASUTAKA TSUTSUI: I have recorded my voice before, but never for an anime. In the novel, Kuga is a big guy. He kind of looks like a Buddha. But he is a smallish guy in the movie. In my mind, he had a low and rumbling voice, but that kind of voice may not fit well for the movie version of this character.
  • SATOSHI KON: Exactly. He is more so a character who is oblivious and a bit happy-go-lucky.
  • GUY: Shall we do this?
  • SATOSHI KON: Indeed.
  • NARRATOR: Kon is also a voice actor today. He plays a bartender. He's nervous, but Kon still directs Tsutsui's acting. Tsutsui's acting is pretty good. His session goes smoothly. This is the first time Tsutsui is seeing the movie. Kon is nervous about the author's opinion.
  • SATOSHI KON: We've sent him the storyboards and other materials. However, the film is still very different from the story described in the novel. I'm sure he knows that the movie won't be the same as the original novel, but still I'm nervous about his reaction.
  • YASUTAKA TSUTSUI: Can I listen to the parade music?
  • NARRATOR: Tsutsui was not passive. He made some requests.
  • YASUTAKA TSUTSUI: I like it.
  • SATOSHI KON: I highlighted the wood instruments.
  • YASUTAKA TSUTSUI: Sounds good. It's a success.
  • GUY: What do you think?
  • YASUTAKA TSUTSUI: I like it. The story is very simplified in the movie. I think that it makes the story more forceful. My biggest concern was the music. But I just listened to it and thought that it was great. I'm the one who asked him to make this movie. I know that he's doing to do a great job. I've left everything up to him. If someone whom I didn't know had said that they wanted to make my book into an anime film, I probably would've turned them down. This is a work of great importance to me.
  • NARRATOR: So said Tsutsui. One could sense how much faith he has in the director, Satoshi Kon.
  • GUY: Are you going back to work?
  • SATOSHI KON: Yes, I've got to work. After the dubbing session, I have to work on the artwork. I wish I could work on it after everything else is complete.
  • NARRATOR: At this point, Kon is working on the voice recording and the picture at the same time. The goal is within sight. For the past few days, Kon and his staff have been working late into the night. Kon's Paprika focuses on the visualization of one's dreams. Because of their hard work, the film is nearing completion. Animators and background artists are finishing up their jobs one after the other. In the meantime, Kon has been staying late every day working on his computer.
  • SATOSHI KON: It's lonely, of course. But this is always how it is. When people leave, the tension that built up in the workplace that was permeating the air, it tends to disperse. It's lonely. You know it's inevitable, but it's hard not to notice it. I still have a long way to go.

====

  • NARRATOR: August of 2006. Kon is beaming from the applause he receives from the packed theater in Venice, Italy. Paprika was included for official competition in the 63rd Venice Film Festival. This film was so popular that its tickets were sold out within an hour. Kon was interviewed more than 60 times just in two days. Since then, his film was invited by several film festivals around the world. At the Tokyo International Film Festival held in October, Kon and Tsutsui walked down the red carpet together. As Kon said, he followed his instincts and let the reckless hoodlum withing take the reins in creating Paprika. It was exactly what Tsutsui wanted.
  • YASUTAKA TSUTSUI: If he didn't do as he pleased, I don't think that this story would've taken advantage of the anime format. Regurgitating the novel is boring. I'm glad that he felt free to do as he saw fit. Because he let his imagination run wild, it has become a visually stunning film with colors everywhere. As I previously stated, Paprika is the culmination of what I consider to be entertainment. In those terms, I think it's my finest work. In terms of entertainment. Now that it's been visually recreated, I'm convinced that it is the best piece of entertainment that I've produced.
  • NARRATOR: November of 2006. It's the day Paprika opens in Japan. Tickets were sold out. Many people watched from the standing area. We found Kon autographing movie pamphlets in the theater lobby.
  • SATOSHI KON: I feel bad for the people who had to stand. This is the least I can do. I heard that the show had sold out, so to show my appreciation, I've brought some gifts with me.
  • NARRATOR: After his speech, Kon had this to say:
  • SATOSHI KON: Although I started with an original source, I really started this movie from scratch. We have to take a book and make it into a 90-minute film. The animators, the sound staff and everyone involved in production did a wonderful job. Without their efforts, this movie would not exist. Even if we were only missing one person, the results would have changed. In that sense, everybody had a hand in shaping this film. Seeing the audience's faces and watching them fill every seat to the point where people had to stand... that was a relief.
  • NARRATOR: Yasutaka Tsutsui. Satoshi Kon. It has been three years since their fateful meeting. Kon aimed to transformed Tsutsui's unique literary style into a visual medium by letting his imagination run wild. How does he assess the job that he did?
  • SATOSHI KON: Paprika, the novel, is rich in visual detail. But it's still literature. I think that there was indeed a purpose in transforming the work into a visual experience. However, I think that transforming it into a visual format is only one of many possibilities. There is no right or wrong answer. I just did what I thought would be enjoyable.

Cat's Tuxedo (talk) 22:03, 28 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Inception[edit]

Sorry, 220, but you can't say Nolan 'stole' his ideas from this film, because the source doesn't say it. Info has been incorporated into the article in a NPOV fashion by me here. Nice try. Geoff B (talk) 09:48, 3 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Also being inspired by something and stealing aren't the same thing. I've seen both movies and while Inception does show signs of being influenced by Paprika the story is very different.--82.32.211.192 (talk) 02:22, 23 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I've removed the reference to Paprika "inspiring" Inception. The reference used goes to one blog post (on a different topic) that links to another article in French, that simply implies that Paprika might have had an influence on Inception, but doesn't itself offer a source. I think it's likely that Nolan has never even seen the Paprika (particularly as when it came out he would have been heavily into preparing The Dark Knight), and this is merely an urban myth that's been picked up by various bloggers. Unless someone can find a direct quote from Nolan 'fessing up to the influence I reckon keep it out. Verlaine76 (talk) 15:47, 18 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Error[edit]

The list cited by the text "while Terry Gilliam included it in his top 50 animated film list" was not compiled by Gilliam, he merely commented on a few of the entries. The list seems unremarkable, but I'm not comfortable deleting anything. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.248.44.53 (talk) 02:17, 10 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Concerns about the reception section[edit]

I have removed mentioning of the top critics in the Reception section per the relevant guidelines at Wikipedia:Review aggregators#Limitations, as well as the relevant detailed debates at Wikipedia_talk:Manual_of_Style/Film/Archive_8#Rotten_Tomatoes. Also, I am seriously concerned about the wordings whether we should use either "received a positive reception" or "received positive reviews" in the introductory sentence, since it is a recapitulation of all reviews & review aggregators. We also try not to use "critically acclaimed" anymore, as the wording is non-neutral per the previous discussion over at Wikipedia_talk:WikiProject_Film/Archive_39#Neutral_language_in_critical_reception. Rather than getting involved in an edit war (which is forbidden), I am taking the WP:BRD route and am taking the discussion here to see if anyone can please voices their opinions on this matter here in an orderly fashion. Thanks, Darth Sjones23 (talk - contributions) 19:27, 1 April 2012 (UTC)[reply]

GA Push[edit]

All right. I am planning to help get this article up to GA status. Here are some of the things we need to do.

  • Plot section - looks good, but may need to be trimmed to about 400-700 words per WP:FILMPLOT.
  • Lead section - needs to be expanded to at least 3-4 paragraphs.
  • Music section - needs to be created.
  • Production section - may need to be created.
  • Reception - looks good to me, but might need to have Japanese box office figures.
  • Miscellaneous - we may need to copyedit the whole thing to death.

All are welcome to assist in this process. Any other suggestions would be very much appreciated. Thanks, Darth Sjones23 (talk - contributions) 00:40, 2 April 2012 (UTC)[reply]

External links modified[edit]

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Higher resolution banner[edit]

Hi folks,

What's the policy for updating the movie banner with a higher resolution image? There are other sites with higher-resolution versions freely accessible (not sure about the licensing though). Would those count as fair use? Here's an example: https://www.filmaffinity.com/us/film292688.html

A higher resolution version would allow readers to be able to read the fine print on the banner.

Cheers,

~andersonvom

@Andersonvom: Hi, there are basically two sets of policies for images used in English Wikipedia (enwiki).
I would recommend reading through both enwiki's & Common's policies & guidelines.
Note that one of according to WP:FILESIZE, a non-free fair use image must be as low-resolution as possible consistent with its fair-use rationale, to prevent use of Wikipedia's copy as a substitute for the original work. This latter point means that even if you cannot find a free image, you still cannot upload a high resolution image of a copyrighted image. You can find a formula for determining the proper resolution for non-free fair use images at https://web.archive.org/web/20160202074403/http://tools.wmflabs.org/image-resize-calc/
So, after all that, I will add that it is unlikely that you will find a freely available image from Paprika as all images from the film are likely to be under copyright. Peaceray (talk) 05:56, 9 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]
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