Grady Hendrix' piece on Satoshi Kon is a fine read, but I think one partial paragraph needs clarification. Here it is, below:

"'Perfect Blue' made Mr. Kon a superstar. His next film, the madly self-referential "Millennium Actress" (2001), projects the history of Japanese film onto the life of a reclusive elderly actress. Technically it's breathtaking, but what point is there in decrying the corrosive artificiality of pop culture before turning around and giving it a big wet kiss?"

That big wet kiss that Hendrix sees Satoshi giving to pop culture is really being bestowed upon movies. (The end of "Paprika" offers the kiss again, with brilliant subtlety and tact.) While movies are of course pop culture, they can also be art -- a combo that Kon often achieves. Yes, as Hendrix points out earlier in the piece, we must mistrust movies (a little mistrust of ourselves might be in order, too) but we must also love them. And when they're wonderful, as so many of this animator's are, of course we're gonna give 'em that big wet kiss! No one who sees "Millennium Actress" can doubt that Satoshi loves movies. So do we GC readers. And so do YOU, Grady.