Rising pop star Mima quits singing to pursue a career as an actress. After she takes up a role on a popular detective show, her handlers and collaborators begin turning up murdered. Harboring feelings of guilt and haunted by visions of her former self, Mima's reality and fantasy meld into a frenzied paranoia.
Direction
Kon blurs reality so smoothly you won't notice the fracture.
Editing
Cuts that lie to your face — then make you apologize for doubting them.
Acting
Junko Iwao's descent from chirpy idol to hollow shell is devastating.
Director
Satoshi Kon
Junko Iwao
Mima Kirigoe (voice)
Rica Matsumoto
Rumi (voice)
Shiho Niiyama
Rei (voice)
Masaaki Okura
Mamoru Uchida (voice)
Shinpachi Tsuji
Tadokoro (voice)
Yosuke Akimoto
Tejima (voice)
Yoku Shioya
Takao Shibuya (voice)
Hideyuki Hori
Sakuragi (voice)
Emi Shinohara
Eri Ochiai (voice)
Masashi Ebara
Murano (voice)
Kiyoyuki Yanada
Kantoku (voice)
Toru Furusawa
Yada (voice)
Teiya Ichiryusai
Mima's Mother (voice)
Shin-ichiro Miki
Taku (voice)
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Darren Aronofsky bought the remake rights just to recreate the bathtub scene shot-for-shot in Black Swan — then never made the remake.
Kon explicitly critiqued Japan's idol industrial complex; the 'fan' who runs Mima's website represents how audiences consume and destroy female celebrities.
JP
