released 22 feb 04 / last mod 01 jun 07 / greg goebel / public domain
* I am always a little baffled at the way many anime fans pass out a five-star rating to almost everything they watch. As far as I'm concerned, an anime that is competently put together and entertaining gets three stars, with four stars reserved for something that's definitely superior. As far as five stars go, if I handed that out to everything, what would I have left to give to something as magnificent as Satoshi Kon's MILLENNIUM ACTRESS?
MILLENNIUM ACTRESS starts in the present day, with Genya Tachibana, a long-time movie studio worker nearing retirement, and his young assistant going to interview Chiyoko Fujisawa, thirty years' earlier one of Japan's greatest movie stars but since that time a quiet recluse. They find a delicate, frail, and lovely old woman -- reminding me much of an aunt of mine who was beautiful to the day she died. Genya, who turns out to be her biggest fan, worshipping the ground she walks on, and his assistant then literally take a "trip down memory lane" with her to review her life and career.
However, that story is not merely presented as a cinematic fairy tale but as a composite of cinematic fairy tales, something of a homage to the history of Japanese cinema, which in turn acts as a filter for a thousand years of Japanese history. If that sounds confusing, sorry, I don't dare say any more because it would give away too much of the highly imaginative script of this film.
Not only is the scriptwork brilliantly imaginative and outstanding, everything else is as well. The artwork is not merely technically meticulous, it is also ingenious and stylish. In a "the making of" documentary with this film, the director suggests stopping the DVD every now and then just to take in the backgrounds and the details. The soundtrack work by Susumu Hirasawa is also outstanding, something of a mix of atmospheric movie score and new age with a Japanese flavor, and it works absolutely perfectly.
Another thing about most anime fans is that they seem to be suckers for sentimentality. I tend to find it annoying and will get irritated enough at TV melodramas with tiresomely overblown dialogue to turn them off. However, I was unable to resist MILLENNIUM ACTRESS from the instant it started. There was no way I could hold out against its combination of classic cinematic moments, originality, and humor (mostly provided by Genya's assistant with his slacker observations), illuminated with almost hallucinogenic color and light. It is always interesting to find that the Japanese, stereotyped as buttoned-down and reserved, have such a streak of wild passion, and maybe a bit unsettling to find myself carried along on that emotional roller-coaster ride. I could barely sleep after watching this movie and going to bed.
The number of anime videos released each year that can really be regarded as worth five stars can be counted on the fingers of one hand, with fingers left over. This is one of them. Somebody who lacks imagination might have some troubles with the story line (is it live or is it Memorex? -- the answer is YES) and find it confusing. I also have to point out that the soundtrack is in Japanese only, with a selection of subtitle languages, which is fine by me but might annoy those who prefer dubbing. Beyond that I can recommend MILLENNIUM ACTRESS with almost no reservations.
