Perfect Blue

A terrifying psychological head trip on the trappings of fame, and a prophetic glimpse into the dark heart of social media.

In this perverse psychological thriller, a young J-Pop star leaves her successful band to pursue an acting career on a salacious and popular television series, spurning the ire of an obsessive fan. When the threats and taunts begin to intensify (and the bodies begin to pile up), the young woman finds herself spiralling down a path of fear, paranoia and delusion.

Loosely based on the novel Perfect Blue: Complete Metamorphosis by Yoshikazu Takeuchi, Satoshi Kon’s lurid take on the material presciently tapped into the disassociation of social media and the destructive force of celebrity and online fandom. Dashes of Brian DePalma and a clear influence on Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan, Perfect Blue is a disturbing and hallucinogenic waking nightmare.

– Spiro Economopoulos, Guest Curator