Paprika, based on a serialized novel by Yasutaka Tsutsui, isn't a movie that's meant to be understood so much as simply experienced--or maybe dreamed.
Paprika(パプリカ)
✭ ✭ ✭ ✭ Read critic reviews
Japan · 2006
Rated R · 1h 30m
Director Satoshi Kon
Starring Megumi Hayashibara, Tōru Furuya, Kouichi Yamadera, Katsunosuke Hori
Genre Animation, Drama, Mystery, Science Fiction, Thriller
Add to Watchlist
Please login to add films to your watchlist.
DC Mini is a machine made to allow therapists to enter their patients' dreams to better understand them. Seems helpful enough. Until it falls into the wrong hands. Now it's up to Paprika to figure out who is using the machine for evil - and stop them.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
Paprika ain't no kiddie 'toon, even if its thumpin' techno-pop and bubble-gum thrills have the same splashy palette as an episode of "Pokémon" or "Dragon Ball Z."
It happens to be one of the most wildly (and disturbingly) inventive animated films I've seen.
The brilliant Paprika, directed by Satoshi Kon--a masterly example of Japanese anime, intended for adults--is partly hand drawn, and features multiple areas of visual activity layered at different distances from the picture plane.
I can't claim to have followed the story line of Paprika any better than I did "Pirates of the Caribbean," but this mind-blowing, adult animated adventure from Japan is half the length and maybe five times as much fun.
TV Guide Magazine by Maitland McDonagh
It's a great place to visit, even if you wouldn't want to live there.
The New York Times by Manohla Dargis
A gorgeous riot of future-shock ideas and brightly animated imagery, the doors of perception never close.
Rolling Stone by Peter Travers
Fiercely provocative, Paprika shames Hollywood’s use of animation as a kiddie pacifier.
The Hollywood Reporter by Richard James Havis
It is an intelligently written piece that only falters during the finale.
Users who liked this film also liked
Akira
(AKIRA
)
Neo-Tokyo is about to E.X.P.L.O.D.E.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Japan • 1988
- Director Takashi Nakamura
- Cast Mitsuo Iwata, Nozomu Sasaki, Mami Koyama, Tesshou Genda, Hiroshi Ohtake, Kōichi Kitamura
- Genre Science Fiction, Animation
- Available on Crunchyroll, Crunchyroll Amazon Channel, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video
Ghost in the Shell
(GHOST IN THE SHELL/攻殻機動隊
)
A group of cybernetically enhanced cops are called into a stop a biohacking threat.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Japan, United Kingdom • 1995
- Director Mamoru Oshii
- Cast Atsuko Tanaka, Akio Otsuka, Iemasa Kayumi, Kouichi Yamadera, Yutaka Nakano, Tesshou Genda
- Genre Action, Animation, Science Fiction
- Available on Amazon Prime Video, Amazon Prime Video with Ads, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube, AMC on Demand, Tubi TV, Pluto TV, Hoopla, Plex, Plex Channel
Perfect Blue
(パーフェクトブルー)
A retired pop singer starts to lose her hold on reality when she is stalked by an obsessive fan.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Japan • 1998
- Director Satoshi Kon
- Cast Junko Iwao, Rica Matsumoto, Shinpachi Tsuji, Masaaki Ōkura, Yōsuke Akimoto, Yoku Shioya
- Genre Animation, Thriller
- Available on Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube
Cowboy Bebop
(カウボーイビバップ)
Amid rising crime rates across the solar system in 2071, bounty hunters, or "cowboys," chase criminals in exchange for rewards.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Japan • 1998
- Creator Hajime Yatate
- Cast Koichi Yamadera, Unsho Ishizuka, Megumi Hayashibara, Aoi Tada
- Genre Action & Adventure, Animation, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Western
- Available on No streaming locations found.
Cowboy Bebop: The Movie
(カウボーイビバップ 天国の扉)
The crew of the spaceship Bebop must stop a terrorist from destroying the human population of Mars.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Japan, United States • 2001
- Director Shinichiro Watanabe
- Cast Kouichi Yamadera, Unsho Ishizuka, Aoi Tada, Ai Kobayashi, Megumi Hayashibara
- Genre Action, Animation, Science Fiction
- Available on No streaming locations found.
The Place Promised in Our Early Days
(雲のむこう、約束の場所)
Against all odds, a promise will be kept.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Japan • 2004
- Director Makoto Shinkai
- Cast Hidetaka Yoshioka, Masato Hagiwara, Yuuka Nanri, Unsho Ishizuka, Kazuhiko Inoue, Risa Mizuno
- Genre Animation, Adventure, Drama, Romance, Science Fiction
- Available on Criterion Channel, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube
Tokyo Godfathers
(東京ゴッドファーザーズ)
A bizarre, heartwarming holiday tragicomedy film inspired by Peter B. Kyne's novel "Three Godfathers."
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Japan • 2003
- Director Satoshi Kon
- Cast Aya Okamoto, Yoshiaki Umegaki, Toru Emori, Satomi Kourogi, Mamiko Noto, Ryûji Saikachi
- Genre Animation, Drama
- Available on Amazon Prime Video, Amazon Prime Video with Ads, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube, Tubi TV, The Roku Channel, Pluto TV, Freevee, Hoopla
Tekkonkinkreet
(鉄コン筋クリート)
Orphans Black and White must fight off assassins' in order to save their town from an angered Yakuza boss.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Japan • 2006
- Director Michael Arias
- Cast Kazunari Ninomiya, Yusuke Iseya, Yu Aoi, Kankuro Kudo, Min Tanaka, Rokuro Naya
- Genre Action, Adventure, Animation
- Available on No streaming locations found.
The Girl Who Leapt Through Time
(時をかける少女)
A teenage girl finds out she can travel through time and, after some missteps, must make things right again.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Japan • 2006
- Director Mamoru Hosoda
- Cast Riisa Naka, Takuya Ishida, Mitsutaka Itakura, Ayami Kakiuchi, Mitsuki Tanimura, Yuki Sekido
- Genre Animation, Drama, Fantasy, Science Fiction
- Available on Crunchyroll, Crunchyroll Amazon Channel, Apple TV
Angel's Egg
(天使のたまご)
A young girl protects a mysterious egg while exploring the ruins of a city and bonding with a young boy.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Japan • 1985
- Director Mamoru Oshii
- Cast Keiichi Noda, Mako Hyoudou, Jinpachi Nezu
- Genre Animation, Drama, Fantasy, Mystery, Science Fiction
- Available on No streaming locations found.
Millennium Actress
(千年女優)
A documentary filmmaker interviews an aged actress about her legendary career.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Japan • 2002
- Director Satoshi Kon
- Cast Miyoko Shoji, Mami Koyama, Fumiko Orikasa, Shozo Iizuka, Masaya Onosaka, Showko Tsuda
- Genre Animation, Drama, Romance
- Available on Amazon Prime Video, Fandor Amazon Channel, Crunchyroll, Peacock Premium, Peacock Premium Plus, Retrocrush, AsianCrush, Crunchyroll Amazon Channel, Amazon Prime Video with Ads, Apple TV, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, Shout! Factory TV, Freevee, Cineverse
5 Centimeters per Second
(秒速5センチメートル)
Covering three stages of Takaki's life, from elementary school to adulthood, and the relationships with women that he navigates.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Japan • 2007
- Director Makoto Shinkai
- Cast Kenji Mizuhashi, Yoshimi Kondou, Satomi Hanamura, Risa Mizuno, Ayaka Onoue, Hiroshi Shimozaki
- Genre Animation, Drama, Romance
- Available on Netflix, Criterion Channel, Netflix basic with Ads, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube
Memories
(MEMORIES)
An anime trilogy of sci-fi and the supernatural.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Japan • 1995
- Director Koji Morimoto, Katsuhiro Otomo, Tensai Okamura
- Cast Shigeru Chiba, Hisao Egawa
- Genre Animation, Fantasy, Science Fiction
- Available on Amazon Prime Video, Amazon Prime Video with Ads, Amazon Video, Kanopy
The Garden of Words
(言の葉の庭)
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Japan • 2013
- Director Makoto Shinkai
- Cast Miyu Irino, Kana Hanazawa, Fumi Hirano, Takeshi Maeda, Yuka Terasaki, Takanori Hoshino
- Genre Animation, Drama, Romance
- Available on HiDive
When Marnie Was There
(思い出のマーニー)
Upon being sent to live with relatives in the countryside due to an illness, an emotionally distant adolescent girl becomes obsessed with an abandoned mansion and infatuated with a girl who lives there - a girl who may or may not be real.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Japan • 2014
- Director Hiromasa Yonebayashi
- Cast Sara Takatsuki, Kasumi Arimura, Nanako Matsushima, Susumu Terajima, Toshie Negishi, Ryôko Moriyama
- Genre Animation, Drama
- Available on Max Amazon Channel, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube
Good Morning
(オハヨウ)
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Japan • 2007
- Director Satoshi Kon
- Cast
- Genre Animation, Drama
- Available on No streaming locations found.
PAPRIKA uses the imagination — more specifically, the dream world — to show what animation can do. If the modern viewer is able to look past some off-putting fatphobia, they will be rewarded with striking colors and interesting characters, though I personally didn’t enjoy the director’s concerted attempts to tie up loose ends and provide almost an excessive amount of closure at the, well, closing. Still, if you assume animation is inherently childish, this film will show you how wrong you are.
Heady and fantastically weird, it’s easy to see the influence this movie had on “Inception.” Although it doesn’t quite have the emotional heft of Nolan’s film, it’s incredibly animated with an amazing, twisty story
Heady and fantastically weird, it’s easy to see the influence this movie had on “Inception.” Although it doesn’t quite have the emotional heft of Nolan’s film, it’s incredibly animated with an amazing, twisty story
Heady and fantastically weird, it’s easy to see the influence this movie had on “Inception.” Although it doesn’t quite have the emotional heft of Nolan’s film, it’s incredibly animated with an amazing, twisty story
Heady and fantastically weird, it’s easy to see the influence this movie had on “Inception.” Although it doesn’t quite have the emotional heft of Nolan’s film, it’s incredibly animated with an amazing, twisty story