Millennium Actress

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Millennium Actress

PG

Released Sep 12, 2003

1h 27m

Drama

Fantasy

Anime

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93%

Tomatometer

59 Reviews

90%

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10,000+ Ratings

In this animated movie, filmmaker Genya Tachibana begins work on a documentary about famed Japanese actress Chiyoko Fujiwara. Now well into old age, Chiyoko has become reclusive and shy about any publicity, but she eventually warms up to Tachibana and starts to relate her life story. As the decades pass, Chiyoko is transformed from a teen with big dreams into a full-blown celebrity, while her cinematic characters span various eras, from ancient Japan to the distant future.

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Critics Consensus

The story of an aging movie actress' complicated personal saga unfolds in this sophisticated anime film that deftly blurs memory and make-believe into a meditation on the nature of cinema itself.

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Nick Schager

Lessons of Darkness

The finest anime film I've ever seen.

Rated: A

May 4, 2005

Full Review

Marc Savlov

Austin Chronicle

Millennium Actress has more layers to it than the proverbial onion, but Kon's sure hand keeps things moving right along.

Rated: 3/5

Oct 27, 2003

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Jeff Shannon

Seattle Times

Given its complex array of fact, fiction, location, character and atmosphere, Millennium Actress is almost unimaginable in any other medium.

Rated: 3/4

Oct 17, 2003

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Diana Tuova

Spotlight on Film

This beautiful animation...relies on an interesting mix of reality and fantasy...and the result is an intelligent, complex and multi-layered anime that pays equal attention to romance, the philosophy of destiny, and Japanese cinematic history.

Rated: 4.5/5

Aug 21, 2024

Full Review

Douglas Davidson

Elements of Madness

... truth and fiction, time and memory, love and loss, all intermingle until the only way to get to the end of the story is not through the linear path but by jumping forward and backward and forward again as memory becomes the road we travel.

Mar 21, 2022

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Yago Paris

El antepenúltimo mohicano

[A] jewel of Japanese animation. [Full review in Spanish]

Rated: 5/5

Mar 4, 2021

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Fer S

A very interesting way of telling a not very interesting story.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

11/07/24

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Hargie M

this cinematic masterpiece is a testament to the depth and sophistication that animation can achieve, proving that those who dismiss the medium as merely children's entertainment are missing out on something truly extraordinary.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

07/06/24

Full Review

Kyle M

An elegantly absorbing, comprehensibly surreal vision that depicts how an actor’s career seamlessly blends roles based on life’s trajectories as told in artistic transcendence, becoming a timeless animated classic albeit its flawed secondary purpose that may’ve served purposeful and humorous. (B+)

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

04/26/24

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Alec B

The narrative is both sentimental and abstract while offering a pretty effective overview of Japanese film history. Its far better than a traditional biopic would be.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

04/02/24

Full Review

Audience Member

I loved this movie as a teen, so today I re-watched it for the first time. Didn't enjoy it as much as I hoped. If it was a book, I'd say there's nothing keeping you turning the pages. The story is slow-paced and very bare-bones. The only things I like about it are the beautiful art and the blurring lines between fiction/reality or between different identities.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

01/17/23

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isla s

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 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.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

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Satoshi Kon

Director

Miyoko Shôji

Chiyoko Fujiwara (70's)

Mami Koyama

Chiyoko Fujiwara (20-40's)

Fumiko Orikasa

Chiyoko Fujiwara (10-20's)

Shôzô Iizuka

Genya Tachibana

Masaya Onosaka

Kyoji Ida

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Synopsis

In this animated movie, filmmaker Genya Tachibana begins work on a documentary about famed Japanese actress Chiyoko Fujiwara. Now well into old age, Chiyoko has become reclusive and shy about any publicity, but she eventually warms up to Tachibana and starts to relate her life story. As the decades pass, Chiyoko is transformed from a teen with big dreams into a full-blown celebrity, while her cinematic characters span various eras, from ancient Japan to the distant future.

Director: Satoshi Kon
Producer: Taro Maki
Screenwriter: Satoshi Kon, Sadayuki Murai
Distributor: DreamWorks SKG
Production Co: Mad House Company Ltd.
Rating: PG (Violence|Thematic Elements|Brief Mild Language)
Genre: Drama, Fantasy, Anime
Original Language: Japanese
Release Date (Theaters): Sep 12, 2003, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Jul 18, 2019
Box Office (Gross USA): $37.3K
Runtime: 1h 27m
Sound Mix: Dolby Digital
Aspect Ratio: Flat (1.85:1)

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