Millennium Actress

Amazon.com

The second film by director Satoshi Kon and screenwriter Sadayuki Murai recalls Perfect Blue, but Millennium Actress is a more complex, subtle, and sophisticated work that evokes the history of Japanese cinema. After nearly 30 years of living in strict seclusion, the aged film star Chioyoko Fujiwara grants an interview to journalist Genya Tachibana. As their conversation begins, Kan intercuts scenes from Chioyoko's films with her memories of pursuing the mysterious artist she met as a young girl. Accompanied by his blasé cameraman, Tashibana finds himself within Chioyoko's memories and films, alternately observing and aiding the woman he adores. Kon's skillful direction and subtle use of color strengthen the intriguing story: Chioyoko's memories are rendered in shades of gray, with hints of muted color highlighting the overall composition. American viewers will find their appreciation of this shimmering, spiral narrative deepens with repeated viewings. (Rated PG: violence, mature themes) --Charles Solomon

Customer Reviews:

Highly Recommended.......2007-07-16

Devotion, unrequited love, and a search that continues through eternity. A theme of construction, destruction, history, progress, youth, old age, foolishness, wisdom, working, retirement, life, and naturally, death. All of this, plus more is 'Millenium Actress'. What we hold on to, that which we let go, as well as what we regard with deep affection, and that we see as trivial also take part. Flying forward with confidence or stumbling in desperation, this path one travels in life, the course one stays, which is of greater import? Is it the journey or the destination? In the space of a few minutes of film, these ideas are presented, played out and rewound both literally and figuratively. Each and every scene, the setting they're within, helps build and supports the creative ideas of the director Satoshi Kon and his team. This story spreads across a thousand years of time and space. From a mere chance encounter, see how ones' fate may twist and turn with another. It's packed with beautiful backgrounds, a great soundtrack, distinct moments in history (complete with just enough period detail), characters aging, growing, and many years of movie making are all condensed into one remarkable effort. In summary, it's a snapshot. A picture of an ideal, of a promise made. There's much to enjoy, it's an 'easy' movie, yet its characters have depth and substance. It also has more than its share of lighter moments. Satoshi Kon's other works available in the US include: Perfect Blue, Paranoia Agent, and Tokyo Godfathers. He's also one of the five artists that did the layouts for the 2nd Patlabor movie (another incredible animated film). His latest, 'Paprika' should be here on dvd later this year. I hope. Tokyo Godfathers,Perfect Blue,Paranoia Agent - Complete Collection, Patlabor 2 - The Movie (Limited Collector's Edition)

Good intro to anime.......2007-06-02

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.

All the lives of Chiyoko-san.......2007-04-05

This is a very touching movie and an elaborate journey through time. We don't really get to see Chiyoko's inner character that much, but we still end up liking her. The ending is sad, but fits perfectly with the rest of the story. The only problem is that anime newbies might have a problem with the complicated story. But one good thing about anime is that some of it makes you really think. This is one of those anime. I usually rate Hayao Miyazaki's movies high on my favorites list, but this is up there too with the rest of them. Highly recommended!

Satoshi Kon's first animated masterpiece.......2007-02-03

One of my big resolutions for 2007 is to travel through time more. But when I rented "Millenium Actress", I had no idea that that was what I would be doing. I merely knew that I was renting a film by Satoshi Kon, and that although his first opus, "Perfect Blue", had left me rather cold, I consider his "Tokyo Godfathers" one of the best animated movies I have ever seen.

But travel through time I did. "Millenium Actress" is a biographical film about a fictitious but incredibly attractive Japanese movie star (even at 60!), who gets to be interviewed by a life-long admirer turned journalist. As the audience discovers, her life simply summarizes one century of Japanese cinema (from silents to "Godzilla"), and her movies themselves, a thousand years of Japanese history (hence the title.)

"Millenium Actress" is a film that wraps the viewer into its perfectly imagined little world from the very first image and never lets him go. In fact, I was so immediately entranced by it that I realized I wanted it to end rapidly, afraid as I was that it might fail to fulfil its promise, and utimately lose momentum. But this obvious labour of love (from all parties involved) does manage to sustain to the end that unique combination of sweet and sour nostalgia, hopeless but ever hopeful romanticism, deliberately clicheed melodrama and occasionally overblown humour.

My only regret is renting the film rather than buying it with my eyes closed. I will not make the same mistake when Paprika is released on DVD.

not worth the time.......2006-12-12

Although the animation is good, this movie had the most disappointing ending! After the reviews I read on amazon I was expecting a powerful response, but the ending was unclear and hypocritical of the entire plot. Don't waste your time with this movie.

Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence/Millennium Actress

Average customer rating:

This is not an english version
A question for those who have bought this....
Still "Faulty" after all this time...
Buy this Set
DVD may be faulty but replacement available from DreamWorks

Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence/Millennium Actress
Starring: Akio Ôtsuka , Atsuko Tanaka , Kôichi Yamadera , Tamio Ôki , and Yutaka Nakano
Director: Mamoru Oshii , and Satoshi Kon
Manufacturer: Dreamworks Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Anime & Manga | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Animation | Genres | DVD | Video

Feature Films | Animation | Genres | DVD | Video

( G ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
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ASIN: B00078807U
Release Date: 2005-04-26

Customer Reviews:

This is not an english version.......2007-01-21

The film itself is a 5 star production. If you don't mind subtitles, this movie is great. The GITS world is amazing and the visual effects are spectacular. I didn't have a problem with the subtitles because of the extra caption-like features but I did have a problem since this is not an English dubbed verson as the Product Features indicate.

A question for those who have bought this...........2006-10-27

Everyone,
Does this version of Ghost in the shell 2 have the English voices dubbed in? Or is this still the Japanese only version? I can deal with the "closed caption subtitle problem",........what I can't deal with is no English voices and having to read 100 minutes of dialogue.

Someone please let me know.....

Still "Faulty" after all this time..........2006-09-12

I just recently bought the GITS2/Millenium Actress dual pack, and it still has the Close Caption subtitle problem on the GITS2 disc. I googled for information on this and found the entire rant and links to request a replacement, but they no longer work. However, these postings were from more than a year ago. Can you still get a replacement for "faulty" GITS2 discs?

Buy this Set.......2005-06-28

These are two of the best films that have been released in the last couple of years period. Buy them! You can't beat the deal and you will not be disapointed.

DVD may be faulty but replacement available from DreamWorks.......2005-05-11

The GITS2 DVD may be faulty in having a Closed Caption subtitle (in BIG font I might add) instead of a regular subtitle. In case this GITS2/Millennium Actress 2-pack doesn't have the corrected DVD, you can have it replaced free of charge by Dreamworks by going to gofishpictures.com/GITS2 and fill in a web form to request for a mailer. Don't let this stop you from buying this 2-pack at such a good price.

Faulty DVD has the "D191757V2" encoding in the inner ring of the disc, while the corrected DVD says "D19175757V4".

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