Review | Satoshi Kon: The Illusionist movie review – Japanese animation master behind Perfect Blue and Paprika remembered in intoxicating documentary profile

Satoshi Kon was on his way to becoming a heavyweight of the animation industry when he died of cancer aged 46

This documentary explores his innovative movies and the influence he had on filmmakers Darren Aronofsky, Marc Caro and Rodney Rothman

Reading Time:2 minutes

A still from Satoshi Kon: The Illusionist (category: IIA , French, Japanese, English), directed by Pascal-Alex Vincent. The documentary is an intoxicating celebration of Japanese animator Kon’s astonishing talent.

Published: 4:15pm, 2 Nov 2021

4/5 stars

While Japanese animator Satoshi Kon’s body of work is relatively small – he directed just four features and one series before his untimely death in 2010 – he is regarded as one of the most influential filmmakers in his field.

Pascal-Alex Vincent’s new documentary Satoshi Kon: The Illusionist examines what made his work special through numerous candid interviews with giants of the industry, who collaborated with him or drew inspiration from his work.

Kon was on track to become a heavyweight of the animation industry when he died of pancreatic cancer at the age of 46. In the early stages of his career, he had the opportunity to work with titans like Katsuhiro Otomo (Akira) and Mamoru Oshii (Ghost in the Shell), before unleashing his own feature debut, Perfect Blue, in 1997.

A bleak, nihilistic thriller, in which a young pop idol is harassed by a stalker after she announces her retirement, the film is a decidedly adult affair, reflecting the director’s own contentious relationship with the animation industry.

Kon’s focus on vulnerable female protagonists struggling to retain their grasp on reality carried over from Perfect Blue into his subsequent films, Millennium Actress (2001) and Paprika (2006).