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Why are so many people relating this to Inception?

posted 13 years ago by perpetual-mind
62 replies | jump to latest

Why are so many people talking about how "This film inspired Inception!" or "Inception ripped off Paprika?!"

The films are NOTHING alike!
Both films are on the topic of dreams, and both films have some kind of machine that lets you enter another persons dream, but the stories and entire layout of the films are completely different.

First of all, Paprika handles the topic of dreams in an incredibly talented and perfect way.
The way the film layers the story and handles the transitions and the question of dreams merging with reality is done in a completely realistic manner.
The films acts as though dreams are, in a seemingly non-linear manner.

Inception on the other hand, (in my opinion) handled the topic of dreams in a horrible manner.
Everything was much too straight forward and layed out.
Things worked too normally for it to be a dream.

I was really not a fan of Inception.
I thought that the film had some interesting ideas, but the director put no effort at all into making the film feel like a dream.

Paprika on the other hand is a masterpiece.

[–] bigpappasmurff 13 years ago

people like to compare movies on imdb example: Observe and Report is compared to Taxi Driver. I think we can all agree that Paprika and Inception were AT LEAST better than average movies.

[–] PsychoDingo 12 years ago

I think we can all agree that Paprika and Inception were AT LEAST better than average movies.

We cannot all agree on that. Inception is average at best.

We got women talking back. We got people playing stringed instruments. It's the end of days.

[–] CharlieTheMan 12 years ago

I am sure you can't jsut wait for the 4th Transformers to come out.

Ours is the Fury!

[–] PsychoDingo 12 years ago

Will it have more explosions and car chases?

Is that what you're getting at?

Are you trying to say I am a philistine for not thinking Inception is above average?

We got women talking back. We got people playing stringed instruments. It's the end of days.

[–] CharlieTheMan 12 years ago

Yiu are a movie hipster. There i called it.

Ours is the Fury!

[–] PsychoDingo 12 years ago

I'm not even sure what that means. Please, tell me about myself in greater detail.

We got women talking back. We got people playing stringed instruments. It's the end of days.

[–] achordion 11 years ago

I knew there'd be someone in here claiming that Inception should've been a psychedelic trip into the subconscious mind. In reality, it would've been stupid and cheap of them to shoe-horn those fantastical elements into the story. What we got instead, was an airtight story with complex, believable mechanics that never break their own rules. It's a heist picture, and an exceptional one. My only criticism is that the story would've been more effective if it had a little bit more of a film noir tone (it had a bit of that but could've used more).

Inception and Paprika are both very good movies. I wouldn't put one above the other.

[–] simpsonment 10 years ago

I also think Inception was a bit too logical and measured for the theme it explored. Not that I didn't like it, but it was essentially a blockbuster. It had layers, but in a very literal way. We you deal with dreams, the ideal way is surrealism. With a blockbuster, of course you can't have it all.
I liked Inception a lot, but I think Paprika is higher art, more symbolic, more meaningful, more philosophical.
I'd give Inception a 7/10 and Paprika a 9/10.

I Sympathize with Lars Von Trier.

[–] Mastur_Batsler 11 years ago

you are a movie hipster indeed! Inception is average at best?! And you like this nonsense?
Why is everyone normal in their dreams except for the main character that becomes Paprika, and how the hell can dreams and reality merge? Is DC mini some sort of magic device? And if so, why is the fat guy called genius, as if it was a technological scientific breakthrough? DC mini is a *beep* name. Why did the hot chick fell in love with the fat magic man, is that some animators wet dream, and why was it horribly delivered by paprika saying that she will change her surname to Takito (or whatever...), just abysmal? Is that policeman in his dream when he goes to Paprikas internet site? Why is he talking with the bartenders at the end of the movie, when clearly he was awake and all the nonsense is over? How did Paprika know she has to swallow peaces of dream to defeat the bad guy, and why hasn't anyone in the world think of that, I guess because it makes no sense.
Ending was bad, plot was weak, nothing made sense, every character is in love with Paprika, all in all not worth watching. While Deception has 8,8 rating and is a hell of a movie.
I liked Paprika because it's beautiful and dreams really do look realistic, but comparison with Deception, quality wise, is absurd.

[–] chiibug 11 years ago

I think we can all agree that Paprika and Inception were AT LEAST better than average movies.

Well I'm willing to agree on that if no one is.

[–] fantasyescapist 13 years ago

I prefer Paprika myself, but there are some similar ways scenes are depicted in each, e.g. that with the glass shattering after being touched.

It isn't just the themes themselves themselves but how they're shown. They are of course different, but still similar in ways, both films.

Black Swan also has similarities with Perfect Blue as well - the scene with the paintings talking is the same, pretty much!

'Who is this person the world owes money to? Can we just kill the bastard and relax?'

[–] www-daniel-mb-se 10 years ago

Darren Arfonsky who made Black swan owns the rights to Perfect blue. I think its safe to say that they have more "simililarities" than Inception and Paprika

[–] maiira 13 years ago

I don't actually have anything to contribute to this thread (because I still haven't seen Inception), but I just found it funny that this thread was right above the thread entitled something along the lines of "Inception ripped off Paprika!!"

[–] buchichu 13 years ago

um, maybe because Nolan actually cited this film as an influence when writing Inception? duh?

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[–] Rie4973 12 years ago

I was going to say that, heh. Also, Leonardo DiCaprio had a hand in the influence of Paprika on Inception. As it turns out, he is a huge anime fan and was once poised to produce the live action Akira flick, but then backed out, out of respect for his fellow Akira fans.

"The unopened package was a waterproof, solar-powered, satelite phone"- Robert Zemeckis, Cast Away

[–] sellthedrama 10 years ago

I don't see what the issue is about films being influenced or inspired by prior films. Some aspects of Brian DiPalma's "Carrie," for instance, took inspiration from Hitchcock's "Pyscho," as have many other movies, which were not in Stephen King's novel. The ending of the film took inspiration from the film "Deliverance," unless people want to call that a total ripoff as well.

[–] fullofstars2010 13 years ago

Paprika was stunning; i could watch it on repeat. Inception-- meh, I didn't fall asleep, barely.

Now, I do see a lot of inspiration from paprika in some recent films. DITTO for perfect blue... 'excuse me, who are you...' RIP, Kon, Genius.

Thank you for praising and understanding this challenging film.

[–] terry_desmond 13 years ago

The glass shattering when touched has been done before in many many films. Paprika did not invent this concept! Also, Lawrence Of Arabia influenced Spielberg. Anyone want to tell me which film of Spilebergs was influenced by LOA? I think that people need to understand that being influenced by something is not the same a ripping of something. To me, Inception and Paprika are only alike on a very, and I mean very, superficial level

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[–] goodbyeenemyairship 12 years ago

I'm pretty sure Lawrence of Arabia simply influenced Speilberg as a filmmaker in general - but, I'll take a stab (more than 1/2 a year after the ? was posed): Raiders of the Lost Ark?

[–] fantasyescapist 12 years ago

The glass shattering when touched has been done before in many many films. Paprika did not invent this concept!

Sorry for replying a year and a bit late but I didn't imply Paprika did invent it(just the way it was shot looked similar and gave me deja vu, that's all), so there's no need to be condescending.

George Lucas talking about: 'Hey, give it to me, I'll fix it. I'll make 20 more of them'

[–] jkt244 13 years ago

I agree, it really gets annoying when people try to connect every single thing with one another. Pretty much every idea is somewhat from one another whether it is a collaboration of influences or just one. I mean maybe Nolan did have Paprika as a source of influence but the two are completely different, it's not like he made an exact replica of Paprika and tried to steal the credit. To the greatest extent, you can say it was an interpretation of the movie (which I don't think the two are even close). I know that 12 Monkeys used La Jetee as a huge influence, pretty much taking the concept of the whole movie and making it a sub-part of itself. Yet I have to say the Gilliam did a great job incorporating the rest of the film along with La Jetee as an influence.

I have to agree with your comparisons of the movie. I did enjoy Inception to a certain degree, but I always had some sort of distaste after watching it. It was as you said, Inception took dreams to be extremely logical, straightforward, with rules (I think I even remember there was a time limit for something, etc). Yes it was annoying as they walked around stating all these silly rules and concepts, basically the movie was more about entering dreams rather than the dreams itself. Paprika takes dreams as they should be, the subconscious mind between the conscious and unconscious.

[–] PsychoDingo 12 years ago

The fact that outright replication of an entire film by another film is not the case does not invalidate the discussion of similarities between two films that both depict a lot of the same concepts.

We got women talking back. We got people playing stringed instruments. It's the end of days.

[–] Strazdamonas 12 years ago

Bcause so many people are stupid.

--------------
All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for enough good men to do nothing.

[–] PsychoDingo 12 years ago

Well, if we can agree to ignore the guy floating in the hallway, the malformation of the city, the cars suspended in the air, the concept of moving through multiple layers of dreams, the inability of the characters to know if they were in a dream or in reality, the implanting of content into people's minds, and the Japanese businessman whose hopes for the future relied on manipulating people via the dream world, the similarities between Paprika and Inception are few and most likely coincidental.

So can we agree to ignore all of those things?

We got women talking back. We got people playing stringed instruments. It's the end of days.

[–] MrVibrating 12 years ago

Any movie about entering dreams will be similar to Paprika - but also similar to Existenz, or any other movie about layers of reality. It's not a concept that is used too often, but it's still not unique.

I also agree that Inception was pretty standard as a movie and that it handled the dream concept terribly. Did the makers of Inception ever dream, or did they just dream very boringly? It didn't remind me of dreams one second, while Paprika had me recognizing things and details all the time. Favourite example is when the captain wakes up in his office after his big showdown, and he can't help chuckling to himself as he recalls his great dream. Who hasn't been there?

If dolphins are so smart, how come they live in igloos

[–] 12 years ago

[deleted]

[–] svalinanikola 10 years ago

the concept of moving through multiple layers of dreams,

So, did Paprika and Inception rip of Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland then?

the inability of the characters to know if they were in a dream or in reality

Did Paprika and Inception rip off A Nightmare on Elm Street?

the implanting of content into people's minds

There's lots of movies like that.

[–] PsychoDingo 10 years ago

which movies share all of those characteristics?

They'll hang you as sure as 10 dimes will buy a dollar

[–] svalinanikola 10 years ago

Most of those are expected to be seen in a movie with a premise like that so it's pointless to even list them, besides didn't Nolan said this was an inspiration?

[–] PsychoDingo 10 years ago

go ahead and list a few anyway. I'm curious to see the films in which all of those characteristics were expected

Nolan denied any knowledge of Paprika

They'll hang you as sure as 10 dimes will buy a dollar

[–] svalinanikola 10 years ago

I was talking about the premise of entering someone's dream, it's normal that a movie with a premise like that will have several similarities. Which is why it's pointless to say Inception ripped off Paprika, especially since similarities are not that big anyways.

Why are other people claiming that Nolan said Paprika was an influence then?

[–] PsychoDingo 10 years ago

yes, it is normal that movies copy other movies

I'm not saying Nolan is the devil for doing it. I've merely pointed out an instance of it happening, and I backed up my claim with several specific pieces of supportive evidence.

you may feel it is pointless to mention it, but I disagree. what we're really talking about here is the evolutionary nature of art, which builds upon the works of the past. I think acknowledging that, and pointing out examples is a good thing

maybe Nolan has finally admitted it. I don't mind being proven wrong if someone has credible info that compels me to update my knowledge

They'll hang you as sure as 10 dimes will buy a dollar