Sunday, May 16, 2010

Seasoned Again


I'm very excited.
As I indicated in this post and here, I'm quite enthralled with the movie Paprika. Back at the time of the posts, I'd shared it with other people. One apologized when next I saw her. For she didn't bring the movie on account of she needed to watch it again. No one I've shown it to disliked this film.

At that time, the book on which the movie is based had been unavailable. I'd have been amazingly lucky to find even a copy in the original Japanese. Not that I can read Japanese anyway.

Lately, I've had a resurgence of Paprika. Having heard about it from me and Banky, Josiecat wanted to see it. (I'd shown it to Banky a long while back.) Josiecat immediately wanted to see it again. I can still hear her saying "amazing." She said the next day she told everyone about how cool the movie is and that they need to see it. Naturally, then, Buttercup heard about it from Josiecat, and, yes, Buttercup watched it, too. Same effect. Both the animation and the story, loved undeniably. Even with me a veteran of it, I still made new discoveries. Josiecat has since seen it again. She wants to be Parika for Halloween.

Well, it prompted me to seek the book once more. Lo and behold, a new English translation recently-ish came out in the UK. Need I say that I sent for it? It hath arrived. Imagine my excitement to read it - the basis of that magnificent movie. From the DVD "extras" I learned the author adores the film, saying the film reduces his book down to its essence while making the story its own. In other words a good adaptation. Most of the people who've written reviews agree it's a faithful rendition, and that the book enriches the whole experience.

I usually read in transit, so I'll post again when I'm through for sure. So far, I am quite happy. It's wonderful to see how the film has rearranged the material. I've already noticed what a great job it does with character's relationships with and opinions of other characters which the author can do with words. There are two "Aw, shucks!" though. A place that exists via the internet and dreams, so to speak, in the film turns out to be a real place (in what we deem reality) in the book. Also, the backstory of one of the characters from the film belongs to a different character in the book, one that does not appear in the movie. I'm only a few chapters into it, so these may yet reconcile with the film. My guess is that the movie character is in the book, but has been combined with another to simplify the tale.

I'll find out, guaranteed.

Oh - there is now a waiting list among my friends for my book.

*Note: The movie Paprika is not for everyone. It's certainly not a kid's movie. It does contain nudity, but not gratuitously (believe me I wouldn't like it so much if it were) and it also has many disturbing images. So before you rush out to rent it, make sure you can handle the oddities of anime.

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