SATOSHI KONTOKYO GODFATHERS, MILLENNIUM ACTRESS, PAPRIKAThere are people who look at certain Sathoshi Kon films, such as Perfect Blue or Tokyo Godfathers, and say, “Why did that have to be animated?” Those people quite clearly don’t get it. They “had” to be animated because they are Satoshi Kon films and that’s how he worked. He told stories that took place in worlds of his own creation. Whether those worlds were fantastical or not, the important thing is that he was wholly in control of them. In Paprika and Millennium Actress (the latter being my personal favorite), he did use the form to expand the boundaries of reality. Even then, however, these were not stylistic flourishes but extensions of the story, the characters and the themes. Satoshi Kon’s death last year at the age of 46 was a blow not only to Japanese animation but to the world of cinema as a whole.See the full list HERE.
