Millennium Actress
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Movie Reviews of Millennium Actress
Movie Review: Brilliant and complex
Summary: 5 Stars
Satoshi Kon's Millenium Actress demands attention from its viewers - time and space are plucked apart and rewoven over and over to capture the spirit of Chiyoko Fujiwara, once a famous actress but now retired, living in isolation for the past thirty years.At last she grants an interview to a documentary filmmaker, Genya Tachibana, who has been devoted to her since his youth as a gofer in her studio. He returns to her a precious token: a key, given to her in her youth by a mysterious, hunted stranger she has devoted her heart and life to ever since, even though she can't find him.
The key opens her memories, and she, Tachibana, his cameraman, and us start on a journey that weaves between historical eras, places, and the border between reality and the fantasy world of her film career. Tachibana even finds himself becoming a character in the movie of her memory.
Kon uses muted color and even black-and-white throughout as story elements. I found myself as devoted to her as Tachibana was. A great movie.
Movie Review: A perfect film.
Summary: 5 Stars
Few anime or even live action films make me respond like this one did. The story is warm yet tragic, the scenes flow into each other, switching between the reality of the studio and the reality of real life like water flows through a forest. Sometimes funny, sometimes painful, always drawing you deeper in, this anime is truly a masterpeice. Sublime, yet raw in emotions and amazing in how much it pulls out of the watcher.
The plot is one actress's search for her first love. A mixture of the past and the present, fantasy and fate, art and magic.
Few anime, or films, make me cry near the end. The anime -Grave Of The Fireflies- and the Chinese film -Not One Less- are the only ones I can think of off the top of my head that have generated such emotions. Powerful. Wonderful. Tragic, yet not truly sad in the end.
A must for any fan of anime, the magic of Japanese films or just a fan of a good story.
Movie Review: Good intro to anime
Summary: 5 Stars
If you are an anime fan, you will enjoy this movie, but may find it unremarkable. If you have never seen anime, or you have not found anime that you liked, this would be an excellent point of entry into the finer side.
Creative and often downright stunning in its imagery, the movie opts to take a meta-meta-meta-drama approach. Okay, I just put in an arbitrary number of "metas" but the point is that the plots of different movies are constantly being woven and blended into the flashback sequence that covers the main story. You'll realize that, yes, it's partly surreal, but at the same time it is not too difficult to pick up on "what really happened."
What it all comes down to is that it's hard to say why, but this is one of those profoundly Japanese animated films that really plays to the strengths of the medium while avoiding all the pitfalls that can turn off Westerners.
Movie Review: Great subtle movie
Summary: 5 Stars
this was a very good movie - better than I'd anticipated, having no experience with the director and writer.It's a very cool tale of a retired reclusive actress and her films and her life and her experiences with a mysterious artist she meets as a teenager prior to the US involvement in WWii.
As she tells her story to the interviewer (who turns out... well, don't want to give to much away) he and his camera man get involved in the action in scenes of her movies and scenes of her life, which become interspersed and blend into each other (life and movie, movie and live). It's very cool and very unique, especially with the cameraman's reaction to everything.
I haveta say I liked this alot and while I rented it I'm adding this to my wish list so at some point I'll be picking up a copy, and I'd recommend the same to you.
Movie Review: Amazing Film!
Summary: 5 Stars
If this film had been done with live actors & live action you'd be seeing it awarded on Oscar night. It's that good. The editing is superb. Likewise the animation. As for the "confusing" flashbacks, my daughters (8 & 9) watched this and after explaining that the old actress is telling her life story by using the films she starred in as parts of her actual life, they had no problem following the story. I didn't find the story to be depressing although it is bittersweet. The characters are so strongly drawn that halfway through I found myself forgetting they weren't real people! Strong, gentle story, superb visuals, pacing & editing make up one of the best anime movies ever! In fact, forget anime, this belongs in the top 100 films period.