Millennium Actress

Name: Millennium Actress
Genre: Drama, Romance, Animation
Released: September 12, 2003
Duration: 87 min
Rating: 70
Cast: Miyoko Shôji

2003

METASCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 15 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 42 Ratings

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7.8

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7.8	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 42 Ratings

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Movie Details & Credits

DreamWorks Home Entertainment | Release Date: September 12, 2003 | PG

Starring: Miyoko Shôji

Summary: In this unique epic adventure, the lines between the past and the present, and truth and fiction, are blurred when a documentary filmmaker fulfills his quest to find the legendary actress Chiyoko Fujiwara, and learn why she mysteriously vanished at the height of her brilliant career. (Go Fish Pictures)

Director: Satoshi Kon

Genre(s): Drama, Romance, Animation

Rating: PG

Runtime: 87 min

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Critic Reviews

100

Kevin M. Williams

Fabulous for many reasons. Most important, this movie is Chiyoko's story, not an anime adventure. It's animated, but it's human and will touch the soul of anyone who has loved deeply. Read full review

Sean Axmaker

Deftly weaves history, film and memory into an imaginative meditation on why the movies become a part of our lives. Read full review

David Chute

Satoshi innovates not by pushing off into more extreme realms of adolescent fantasy, but by using all the resources of animation to tell complex dramatic stories, resources that in his hands seem almost limitless. Read full review

Elizabeth Weitzman

Although we never feel any true connection to the enigmatic actress, there's no denying the inventiveness of Kon's homage to the possibilities of cinema. Read full review

G. Allen Johnson

There isn't a film filled with richer, more colorfully imaginative images currently playing in theaters. Read full review

Tasha Robinson

Animated in much the same style as "Perfect Blue," but with greater depth and a more elaborate sense of playfulness, Millennium Actress is a visual feast, but also a mental gymnastics routine. Read full review

Ben Kenigsberg

Flashbacks integrate with scenes from her films, and it becomes difficult to discern between the two -- cinema is equated with memory. Unfortunately, the trippy disorientation ultimately devolves into outright confusion. Read full review

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User Reviews

alejandro970

Aug 27, 2023

This is one of these examples that cinema is a reflection of moments in life. The tour-de-force story in the life of an actress is immersive as magnetic, grabbing the viewer's full attention.

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RandUm801eee

Sep 13, 2022

It's interesting to watch this and the video game episode of Paranoia Agent back to back, and see how Satoshi Kon adapted the ideas of this film into a different medium.

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Riren

Feb 2, 2007

Millennium Actress is lost on all cultures outside of Japan's. It's deep and meaningful tapestry of Asian film history is beautiful, but also outside the frame of reference for all but the most informed foreign movie goers. That said, its sentimentality and original execution are Millennium Actress is lost on all cultures outside of Japan's. It's deep and meaningful tapestry of Asian film history is beautiful, but also outside the frame of reference for all but the most informed foreign movie goers. That said, its sentimentality and original execution are inspiring. There may be no tribute to American film that rivals what this does for its homeland. And despite its language barrier, despite the culture barrier, despite it being animated, it will touch you. It's fairly easy to tell when the "real world" and "film world" change off, except when it's intentional. I can't imagine anyone who couldn't understand that part of the movie, and hope to goodness I never become such a person. This one goes down as not just one of the greatest animated drama, not just one of the greatest anime, but truly as a great film.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful

Oct 22, 2016

Satoshi Kon's style of his story makes is time to get it magnificent but Millennium Actress is wonderful for one actress about her career and memories of fantasies.

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ahmedaiman1999

May 10, 2021

Ever wondered why does a well-told love story always work in every movie regardless of its genre? Be it a shoot-'em-up actioner, a swashbuckling fantasy, an alien-invasion sci-fi or a cowboy western, nothing can prove a constraint to the power of love in cinema. For love thrives in cinema.Ever wondered why does a well-told love story always work in every movie regardless of its genre? Be it a shoot-'em-up actioner, a swashbuckling fantasy, an alien-invasion sci-fi or a cowboy western, nothing can prove a constraint to the power of love in cinema. For love thrives in cinema. It has the ability to ground the most wild and fanciful stories in reality because it evokes emotion in such a way the viewer comes to identify with the characters and invest in the story readily. Satoshi Kon captures that notion here to perfection, blurring the logical line between reality and fiction, forcing us to completely rely on what we feel as we're letting the movie wash over us.

"The Key" is a catalyst that opened the flood-gates of memories of the eponymous actress, letting these memories rush out in flashback scenes the two documentarians interviewing Chiyoko are literally pulled into them. The cheekily innovative way of making them intervene in her quasi-fictional stories added a sense of meta and light relief that imbued the film with much needed breeziness. In addition, that made us pry to Chiyoko's both inner and outer feelings throughout her cinematic and love-pursuing journey. That said, Millennium Actress perhaps runs too short to make a lasting impact on me, and the frenetic pace doesn't help either. I'm sure, however, that a rewatch can make me pump my rating up.

"I can't remember!

Not even his face!

I loved him so much.

Now I can't remember his face!"

The story moulds the agonizing feelings of longing in memory vessels that would preserve love so long as youthfulness lasts. But youthfulness withers, allowing memories to fade away. Here comes the struggle that's even harder than the life-time seeking of love: the struggle of desperately trying to hold onto memories of lost love while your aging mind failing you. That's when you even fail to lament your most precious loss! The story here takes a huge metaphysical leap to emphasize the immortality of love and cinema.… Expand

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DawdlingPoet

Nov 23, 2021

This is an intriguing anime film. Its not so much a film aimed at young kids and I liked the plot concept of travelling through different times in a persons life, to see what they saw and witness events first hand. I thought the old fashioned, video game type music played at times wasThis is an intriguing anime film. Its not so much a film aimed at young kids and I liked the plot concept of travelling through different times in a persons life, to see what they saw and witness events first hand. I thought the old fashioned, video game type music played at times was somehow endearing - it has quite a strong sense of nostalgia. It's not as great as Tokyo Godfathers (it features the same director) but its certainly worth a watch regardless if your into anime films and so I would recommend it, yes.… Expand

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