Millennium Actress Details

[Highly rated reviewer]

good natured fluff

Director Satoshi Kon generally has two styles: surreal & disturbing (Perfect Blue) or humourous & touching (Tokyo Godfarthers). This is the latter. An elderly reclusive actress recalls her past, a succesful film career which she only got into because she was searching for a man she fell in love with. The films she stared in all take place in different time periods and the anime can be seen as a historical glimps of Japanese film or a homage to the Japanese actress Setsuko Hara, who worked with the great Japanese director Yasujiro Ozu. After he died, she retired did one interview saying she was never really interested in acting and became a recluse. This could be reading too much into it. It's a very light somewhat sad love story. Didn't really grab me. as far as Kon goes, I much prefer his disturbing surreal films, Paranoia Agent is great.

Customer Review

The concept is good, and it is interesting to see how the characeters jump through various time periods, but there's not much else: chiyoko keeps searching for the artist, in real life but this is mirrored by the films she makes, she tells her story, and the camera crew follow her around. That's it. I thought it was excellent film the first time I watched it, but was tedious on the second viewing. It is too short really, but because the story is as one-tracked as it is, it's probablt around the best running time. The soundtrack is great, and it is visually fantastic, and I loved the overall 'look' of the film. The extras are pretty poor, and it's only worth one watch really, so I highly recommend this as a rental.