Anime Millennium Actress

[Ani_Freak]

After seeing one of the most acclaimed anime films of the year, I have to admit that, even I cried after seeing this film.

Millennium Actress relates the story of an actress who vanished from the film industry in search of a long lost love, with the hopes of returning to him the only thing he left her with since her childhood; the key to the most important thing of them all.

Director Satoshi Kon takes us on a ride through the life of Chiyoko Fujiwara, a star of the golden era of Japanese Cinema in a form of documentary created by Genya Tachibana, a small video producer enfatuated with the actress since he was young.

The documentary Genya is doing takes us through her life and Japanese history in wich I can only describe as brilliant.

Not only this film has received some of the best awards on the east, but beleive me, this anime film is as good as they say it is. From the backgrounds to the characters and to the animation, this film is plain perfect. The amount of detail you see just makes you wonder if anime films could get better than this, and the will.

The film begins a little slow at first, but once Chiyoko begins her tale, you begin immersing yourself in a story so rich, that draws you in completetly.

To be honest, I bought this film to see what all the hype was about. I have to say that, if I would've regreted something, it would be not seeing this film. I enjoyed it from start to finish, jaja, and I've only seen it once, but looking forward to see it again tomorrow. I recomend this movie to anyone, well, anyone that could take this movie seriously trying to find that special something that the director most definetly want you to find.

So, did any of you saw this film? What do you think of how the story revolves around the characters?

I would like to know what you think of this movie. It's a very interesting movie, lets see how you reacted to it.!!!


[color=red]Ani_Freack[/color]

[KarmaOfChaos]

[color=deeppink]
I am getting the weirdest feeling I created this exact same thread before, but I looked back a while and I didn't see it so I'm starting it now. If my deja vu was right, by all means delete this! ^^;;


Millenium Actress was, first of all, excellently done. The animation was wonderful (right on up there with Miyazaki), and the plotline, although slightly familiar, added so much more to the idea of a unrequited/forbidden love of sorts, that it avoided any cliche that I could see.

The story is about a girl who has a strange encounter with a young man, during the time when Communist China was just being born. The man is a rebel, and is being hunted by the government. He gives her a key to hold on to for him, until they meet again.

Her life is consumned by this meeting, and her only goal in life become to return the key to him. She becomes an actress, and through her movies, she travels from the days of feudal Japan to the future, full of spaceships, but always with the same theme of searching for the young man to give him his key.

"This is the key to the most important thing there is..."

The movie takes on an almost surreal air, as real life and the movies become melded together at points, and it may take a couple viewings to really get the gist of what exactly happened. However, the first time it is viewed, it creates such a strong emotional impact on the viewer.

The ending is by no means happy. Bittersweet and full of pointless chasing of shadows, she finally says, in the final scene,

"It's the chasing him that I really love..."

[spoiler]Throughout the movie, it is already revealed that the young man has been long since dead.[/spoiler] But it comes with the realization that it wasn't really about him. It wasn't about the key, whose lock it went with was never found. It was about the consequences of chasing something, and not being able to let go.

Great movie. I confess, I cried.

Thoughts? Opinions? Think I'm dead wrong? Let's hear it! And if you haven't seen it, do all in your power to do so! It will be worth your while. ^-^

-Karma
[/color]

[eleanor]

[size=1] The animation in the movie [i]is[/i] wonderful, and the thing I liked best about it was how Chiyoko actually told her story. Reminded me of a real photography movie at times; the colors that were used in the movie was absolutely great. I don't think I've ever really seen a movie that was based around a storytelling like this, and I thought it was a good way to make the audience interested. If I compared the movie with [b]Perfect Blue[/b], which is what I've been hearing a lot of, I'd say they're neck and neck. Sometimes the dark, psychological elements can tire me if I see too much of it, even though [b]Millennium Actress[/b] was pretty sad. I didn't cry, though. *grins* The only animated movies I've cried over was Grave of the Fireflies and uh..*mumbles* Totoro. [/size]

[Maully]

[color=green]I really enjoyed this movie myself. I had never heard anything about it until it arrived at the video store. I promptly took it home, and watched it twice consecutively. I thought the animation was really well done, yes. But it was the story that drew me in. I found the whole thing really tragic.

I also like the fact that it showed that a one time chance meeting can alter your life forever, without the other person ever realizing what they've done to you.

I found the reporters amusing at times, especially when they [spoiler]cry out, "This is real!" as bullets and fire swarm around them[/spoiler].

I found the entire experience of watching it appealling. I highly recommend it.[/color]

[haruno_sakura]

I actually didn't get to see this wonderful movie until yesterday, and I absolutely loved it. As everyone has stated before, the animation is wonderful, and the storytelling style is marvelous. The one thing I want to add to it is that the comedic elements help balance out the sadness throughout this film. The reporters succeed in doing this, and I found them quite endearing throughout the entire movie. As for the last line that Chiyoko utters in the space ship, it hit me a lot harder than anything else in the movie. It had me questioning if she really did love the strange man she met in her youth. Excellent movie, and I so want to watch it again lol!

~haruno_sakura

[Amarris]

[COLOR=DarkOrchid]millenium actress was excellent. the animation was top-notch and i really enjoyed the storyline. i must say, this anime is unlike anything i've ever seen before. it was the uniqueness that was so refreshing and different to me. i also must admit that i teared up at the end, which was pretty surprising to me. it was a tragic love story and it just shows that some people will do anything for the one they love and that some people will wait for that person forever. if you havent seen this movie, SEE IT! lol[/COLOR]

[Dreamseer Oona]

When I came across this thread I had to reply, even though I'll rant and rave just like everyone else has. I LOVE THIS MOVIE! It's in my top five of all time. I got it as soon as i could find it with English subs and it far exceeded what I thought it would be like. Kon always seems to be able the capture the realizism in his films that make me feel so intense about the protaganists of the movie! I was literally sitting on the floor with my nose on the screen watching this flick! Not only was the shots, art, direction, and storyline great with this movie but there was never a real moment when you knew if this was really Chiyoko chasing this mystery man or if she were acting.

Another thing I adored was how Kon captured each era and gave life to each of them even though he didn't linger on one point in time too long. He is the master! I cannot WAIT to see Tokyo Godfathers!

I also admit I cried uncontrollably not only for the ending but for how gorgeous the art was throughout the whole movie. Only Grave of the Fireflies could do what Millinium Actress did to me. (I still like Perfect Blue a little better then Actress though).

Ok, I'm done now...Does anyone know when Tokyo Godfathers is coming to the US by the way?

[Dagger]

One of the DVDs I got for Christmas was Millennium Actress, so I finally got to see this film. I didn't like the fact that DreamWorks refused to include a dub, but no matter; I got over that gripe once I became absorbed in the movie itself.

The way Millennium Actress was presented reminded me strongly of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. To be honest, I enjoyed the first half--a fun, surreal romp through Japanese history--much more than learning the resolution to Chiyoko's story. The bicycle sequence was easily my favorite part of the entire film; it carried such a wonderful sense of joy and freedom, and did all this on the strength of visuals alone.

At times the music was adequate, but for the most part it just made me have visions of Paranoia Agent (Susumu Hisasawa composed the music for both anime)... not to mention cheesy B movies from the '50s. Dramatic piano themes simply do not mix well with eerie alien sound effects which could have been lifted from something like "The Day the Earth Stood Still."

Overall, I thought it could have been a bit shorter; after a while I tired of hearing about Chiyoko's quest. But in the end Millennium Actress was a pleasant, nicely executed--if slightly overrated--movie. I might watch it again on a rainy day.

~Dagger~

[r2vq]

I know I should be bringing up old threads, but I just saw this movie and was wondering if anybody here remembers it. ^^

I have to say Satoshi Kon has a way of convincing me his movies are the best. Ever since I saw a poster for Millenium Actress a month ago, I had to watch it.

It's a wonderful story that almost made me cry, and was a dynamite adventure. There's a lot of hype out there for the movie, but there doesn't seem to be much recognition for it at the boards.

You don't have to reply to this, just go watch it. ^^

-ArV