Filmography Worship: Ranking Every Satoshi Kon Film
Written by Andreas Babiolakis
Filmography Worship is a series where we review every single feature of filmmakers who have made our Wall of Directors (and other greats)
When the great minds of animation are brought up, a few names come to mind: Hayao Miyazaki, Walt Disney, Jan Švankmajer, and Shinichirō Watanabe are some of the many examples. Satoshi Kon should always be a part of this conversation. An animation visionary with four films in his near-perfect run, Kon always envisioned animation as an avenue to make what live-action productions could not fulfil. As a result, his four feature films play like extensions of our reality, be they through surreal or fantastical passageways or characterizations of what we experience in everyday life. Every single Kon feature presents protagonists who are tasked with viewing life through a different lens, whether it is through the decline of mental health, the re-contextualization of love, or the navigation through deception. On what would have been the filmmaker’s sixtieth birthday, let us go through the four films that only continue to be cherished and discovered by more and more cinephiles. If you aren’t familiar with this exemplary animation mastermind, just know that directors from Darren Aronofsky to Christopher Nolan have admired him. Here are the films of Satoshi Kon ranked from pretty great to masterful (there’s no such thing as “bad” in his filmography).
4. Paprika
Only on the list of Satoshi Kon’s films would Paprika ever be ranked last. Otherwise, this mind-bending, surreal trip of thrilling proportions would place highly on many other ranked lists, including best-animated feature films (alongside every other Kon release, to be fair), films with strong aesthetics, and the biggest mind fucks in film history (this may even be in the top ten of those, if not top twenty). A major inspiration for Inception, Paprika takes us down the corridors of our minds in ways that most films are incapable of. The reason why I have it last (by mere molecules) is because I find the other three Kon films to have a bit more emotional heart in them whereas Paprika is his greatest case of escapism. Equal parts gorgeous and terrifying, Paprika is an adventure into the parts of the human brain and psyche that you have maybe never been introduced to before. It is a transcendent final film from an animation master who was taken from us far too soon.
3. Tokyo Godfathers
One of the great Christmas films of all time, Tokyo Godfathers is Satoshi Kon’s most realistic film. Even then, it dips into tragicomic melodrama in ways that humanize the people who are often overlooked in society when they need the most help. The unearthing of the backstories of three homeless people, when they discover an abandoned newborn infant, is a reminder that our lives can take us anywhere: what matters most is where we go from here. The film twists and turns in ways you won’t expect in its final act proving this very maxim. The spirit of the holidays is about looking after others in any way. Some interpret this motivation as gift-giving. In the case of Tokyo Godfathers, it’s about trying to provide a better life for others than what has transpired for you, and this film about sacrifice and karma is extravagant.
2. Millennium Actress
When it comes to films that are tethered to memories, legacies, and remembrance, Millennium Actress is up there as one of the very best. It utilizes multiple timelines to reflect on the life of an acting legend being featured in a documentary feature; the spirits of Japanese icons Hideko Takamine and Setsuko Hara are channelled throughout. How do we send off those we idolize on the big screen, especially when the characters they play are not indicative of who these stars really are? Millennium Actress explores the importance of artistic contextualization and the power of filmmaking to convey key viewpoints; the film promises to project what the audience is meant to see and what we are shielded from through the powers of editing and production. Lastly, Millennium Actress pieces together a story for someone who can no longer provide their own thus adding a history to a beloved favourite before they are gone forever. Simply put, Millennium Actress is overwhelmingly stunning and moving.
1. Perfect Blue
Arguably Satoshi Kon’s biggest film and a feature that only gets better and more horrifying with time, Perfect Blue features the psychological decimation of an entertainment star while she transitions from pop idol to on-screen actress. The film scrutinizes the toxicity of fan culture way before it got as bad as it is now (Kon clearly knew both the advantages and qualms of the internet before it really took off), and we are provided with the unreliable perspective of a worshipped artist who has lost sense of both reality and herself. This film is a heavy influence on multiple films by Darren Aronofsky who actually owns the rights to it; Black Swan is one of my favourite films of the 2010s and I know that Perfect Blue is more about societal pressure while Black Swan is about perfectionism to the point of self-destruction, but Black Swan most certainly exists because Perfect Blue came before it. Either way, Perfect Blue is a neo-noir, psychological thriller, animation masterpiece which ranks highly on all three lists. It encapsulates the horrors of addiction and the mental perils of the suffocating ways of pop culture, online presences, and the entertainment industry as a whole. Even amidst all of the exploitation and objectification, what gives Perfect Blue its cherry on top is its care for its protagonist with hope for her survival through this all, adding that final punctuation point to the claim that this is Satoshi Kon’s greatest film (even with the tough competition).
Andreas Babiolakis has a Masters degree in Film and Photography Preservation and Collections Management from Ryerson University, as well as a Bachelors degree in Cinema Studies from York University. His favourite times of year are the Criterion Collection flash sales and the annual Toronto International Film Festival.