Paprika

Satoshi Kon's surreal anime masterpiece blurs the lines between dreams and reality.

In the near future, a new device called the “DC Mini" allows its user to enter people’s dreams and explore their subconscious. Genius scientist Dr Atsuko Chiba is leading a team researching the use of the device in psychotherapy.

When the DC Mini is stolen, the research facility is in uproar. In the wrong hands, the device could be used to annihilate a dreamer’s personality while they sleep. Dr Chiba must enter a shape-shifting landscape of dream worlds as her alter-ego named Paprika to try and recover the DC Mini before it falls into the hands of a mysterious “dream terrorist”.

This mind-bending, kaleidoscopic thriller was the last film made by celebrated Japanese filmmaker Satoshi Kon (Perfect Blue, Tokyo Godfathers). Many keen-eyed cinephiles on the internet have pointed out striking resemblances between Paprika and Christopher Nolan’s Inception (released four years later), although it’s unclear whether Nolan has ever actually name-checked Paprika as a source of inspiration.

Either way, Kon’s reality-blurring masterwork is an absolute visual spectacle and unmissable on the big screen.