Review Piece: Millennium Actress (Secret Santa)

First in 2010 I reviewed Paprika, then last year in 2012 I covered Tokyo Godfathers and now in 2013, once again as part of Reverse Thieve's Secret Santa event, I'll go full...triangle with Millennium Actress. Check out my thoughts after the jump.

Why Millennium Actress?

Very simple reason for this one. Due to the fact that my previously mentioned Secret Santa reviews were both Satoshi Kon works, I decided to go for one more this year. Making this a sort-of trilogy. After this one, I will have seen all of his  personal works save for projects where he was assisting with animation or layout.

On that note, lets find out exactly what this film is all about and what I made of it.

What is it about?

 

Millenium Actress follows the life and career of a retired film actress through an interview by a professional who is determined to find out the reason for her retirement, as well as what made her such a brilliant actress to begin with. We (as well as the characters themselves) see through flashbacks that seem so real that it looks like the interview may as very well be drawing you in...

Who are our characters?

 

Our main leads are the retired actress, herself, Chiyoko Fujiwara, the interviewer Genya Tachibana and his fellow cameraman Kyoji Ida.

Obviously, Chiyoko's story is the forefront of this movie as we go through pretty much her entire life from birth to her retirement as an elderly woman. But the audience isn't just seeing her life through the flashback as Genya and Kyoji themselves are placed within the flashbacks as if they were actually there (I'll get back to that).

Kon did a good job with getting across Chiyoko's character because while she is a professional actress, this only so due to wanting to find a mysterious man she came across as a girl whom she fell in love with. The roles that she was given as an actress such as a princess or a geisha searching for her love reflects her real life intentions and I believe that was clever of Kon to display.

As for the Genya and Kyoji, they're a decent double act but Genya is the stronger of the two because he has strong admiration for Chiyoko and even gets to "play the hero" in some of her movies, not literally of course. But Genya also has a personal connection to Chiyoko which I won't spoil here but it does justify his feelings in the long run.

How Good does it look/sound?

Not surprisingly Satoshi Kon animated this beautifully. The films that Chiyoko stars in shows off Kon's  talents the best in my opinion through use of colours. As Chiyoko starts to get older, the colours become a tad more subdued and really shows how Chiyoko's more mature roles are down to earth. The soundtrack is also very atmospheric, as composed by Susumu Hirasawa who has done other Kon works such as Paranoia Agent and Paprika as well as the anime adaptation of Berserk.

Much like Tokyo Godfathers, Millenium Actress does not have an English dub but despite that the voice actors were strong. Particularly because we see Chiyoko through different times of her life she actually has three voice actresses and they probably are the strongest of the cast but I'll also give credit to any of the other ensemble because they all do a great job as well.

Overall

 

Millennium Actress once again shows how versatile and just plain good Satoshi Kon is. The fact that the other characters are "seeing" the flashback through fresh eyes along with the audience is the main hook for the story and it really works in the film's favor. We want to see Chiyoko fulfill her life's goal through to the very end and it doesn't disappoint. I must admit that this may not be my favourite Satoshi Kon work because I prefer his more paranormal works like Paranoia Agent but that doesn't mean I don't think the film is strong because it is. If you ever get the chance to see this, please do so.

That is all I have to say on Millennium Actress. Thank you all very much for reading, please leave a comment if you have anything to say about the film or if you agree or disagree with what I have said. Incidentally, a very happy Christmas to all of you at home (and on One Piece at a Time as well) and happy holidays!