Millennium Actress

Rating:
Summary: A perfect film.
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Best work by Aoshi Kon so far!
Review: This is one of the best anime movie, period. The editing and story telling style is extremely sophisticated. Better than 99.5% of movies produced in Hollywood these days. It is a shame Dreamworks did not put out a soundtrack CD. I had to paid $35 and order one from a Japanese Bookstore here in LA. If you are still wondering what is all the fuss about Anime, this should be the movie that convince you animation is just as capable, if not better in telling an engaging story.

Rating:
Summary: Outstanding Cultural Achievement
Review: Millennium Actress is an outstanding form of art which using video as a means of being expressed. The story plot is captivating, the symbolism is great, and the visuals are outstanding. The historical relevancy adds to the story as it goes through 20th Century Japanese imperialism which leads to the modern era.
The one slightly annoying factor is is the two video cameramen who make their inputs into the storyline. The reasons for them there was ok just a little unrealistic.

Rating:
Summary: MUCH, MUCH BETTER than Perfect Blue!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Review: PLEASE LISEN, this new movie by Satochi Kon (director of Perfect Blue and Tokio Godfathers) bring to us this amazing adventure of reality and fantasy.

Here is my comments:
* The best of Satochi Kon until now.
* Great animation and graphics (award winning)!!!
* The storyline is twisted as Perfect Blue but not THAT twisted.
* Is hard to understand the story at the beginning but then the story turns more comprehensible.
* There is one action scene but it was SOOOOOO COOL!!!!!!!
* The scenes of samurai drama were the most AWESOME and MEMORABLE scenes I ever seen in anime since Samurai X (the first two OVA episodes, NOT the TV series).
* Belive me!! Millenniun Actress is everything that Perfect Blue should be in the first place. I dind't like Perfect Blue because it was soo boring, TWISTED storyline (it gave me the biggest hedache I ever felt) and the story was not to good.

P.S: Just buy this movie and don't even rent it. The whole movie was great but just buy it for the Samurai scenes!!!!!!!!!!

ADIOS!!!

Rating:
Summary: An excellent movie
Review: The juxtaposition of the actress' movies, history and so forth was engaging. The interviewer's imposition in these flashbacks was entertaining and touching. The animation is top notch. While I would have liked an english dubbing, the voice acting is excellent.

Rating:
Summary: A Perfect Movie That Expands The Realm Of Storytelling
Review: Now THIS is a hard movie to put into words. I can easily apply words like excellent, beautiful, mind-blowing, multi-layered and stunning, but that merely conveys my personal rabid enthusiasm for "Millennium Actress". The first ten minutes or so are easy enough to describe - a pair of filmakers set out to profile and interview a famous Japanese actress who's lived as a recluse for many years, having disappeared from public life at the height of her career. From there the territory it heads into is among the most open-to-interpretation, the most moving, and (in my opinion) the most metaphysical plot ambiguities and mesmerizations ever captured on film. Ten people could watch this and come up with ten different takes on the movie, ranging from the mundane (as in worldly and rational, NOT dull) to the whimsical to the terrifyingly dark or to the dreamlike, or any combination thereof. I and the ones I saw this with came up with similar interpretations, but that could be due to our similar ways of thinking. Someone with a different worldview or imagination or set of beliefs might come up with a vastly different, but no less valid, way of interpreting it. There are no 'wrongs' in interpreting a movie and what each individual gets out of it. I still cling to hopes of someday publishing some of the stories floating around in my head, and if I'm fortunate enough to do so, some readers may get quite different takes on it than what I had in mind, and that's not wrong, it's just different.

One thing I can say about "Millennium Actress" is that it has some of the most realistic animation I've ever seen. Not realistic in the same sense as "Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within" of the firs segment in "Animatrix" where it looks nearly live-action (brilliantly so), but realistic in terms of body language, facial expressions, personal mannerisms, and so on. And the subtitling job is dead-on flawless; if you're a viewer who usually avoids subtitled films, this could be a great introduction.

In 2001, Millennium Actress split Japan's prestigious Agency of Cultural Affairs Media Arts Festifal Animation Grand Prize with the already-legendary "Spirited Away". The 2 movies are very different, but Millennium Actress is 1000% worthy of tying "Spirited" as its full equal. I can think of no higher praise to give this film.

Rating:
Summary: Memory made visible
Review: Millennium Actress is the third animated film I've seen by Satoshi Kon, director of "Perfect Blue" and "Tokyo Godfathers." This falls somewhere between the other two.

Like "Perfect Blue," "Millennium Actress" explores the faceted nature of reality, in this case the fractured memory of an aging actress recalling her film career, interwoven with her lifelong obsession - the search for a political agitator she fell in love with as a young girl. It's often difficult to tell if scenes are excerpts from the actress' films, her memory, or dreams. Transitions between scenes are abrupt and very creative, adding to the dislocated quality that Satoshi Kon has mastered. He succeeds in creating a visual analogue for memory, with its elisions and unexpected leaps through time.

As in "Tokyo Godfathers," the animation is lush and detailed. Satoshi Kon uses the main character's film career as a means to cut through large swaths of Japanese history, from feudal castles to bombed-out cities in World War II. The characters, costumes, buildings, and landscape are beautifully rendered, and the film is a visual feast from beginning to end.

But "Millennium Actress" lacks the emotional heart of "Tokyo Godfathers." Though the film's subject is overwrought passion, even the director seems a little uncomfortable with the ridiculous side of this unrequited love. He frames the love story by introducing an interviewer and cameraman who follow her through her memories, providing occasional comic relief; in my opinion the device is silly, although the interviewer's real love for the actress adds some emotional depth. Ultimately, as a story, the film is about lifelong self-indulgence and unwillingness to live in the present. It is the visual structure of the film that elevates it, not the tale it tells.

Rating:
Summary: the chase
Review: With distinct style and masterful execution, Satoshi Kon invites you to ride along for the chase that embraces both depth and simplicity through its imaginative and emotional adventure.

I wholeheartedly recommend all of his work: Perfect Blue, Millennium Actress, Tokyo Godfathers, Paranoia Agent.