Flashbacks integrate with scenes from her films, and it becomes difficult to discern between the two -- cinema is equated with memory. Unfortunately, the trippy disorientation ultimately devolves into outright confusion.
Millennium Actress(千年女優)
✭ ✭ ✭ ✭ Read critic reviews
Japan · 2002
Rated PG · 1h 27m
Director Satoshi Kon
Starring Miyoko Shoji, Mami Koyama, Fumiko Orikasa, Shozo Iizuka
Genre Animation, Drama, Romance
Add to Watchlist
Please login to add films to your watchlist.
After the prestigious Ginei Film Studio shuts down, filmmaker Genya Tachibana tracks down its most famous actress, Chiyoko Fujiwara, for a documentary about her life. Now elderly and reclusive, the legendary star who mysteriously retired at the height of her fame is ready to share long-held secrets.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
The New York Times by Dana Stevens
To watch Millennium Actress is to witness one cinematic medium celebrating another, an expression of movie love that is wonderfully eccentric and deeply affecting.
Satoshi innovates not by pushing off into more extreme realms of adolescent fantasy, but by using all the resources of animation to tell complex dramatic stories, resources that in his hands seem almost limitless.
Contains some brilliant invention between duller stretches.
Los Angeles Times by Kenneth Turan
Millennium Actress fascinatingly goes where films have not often gone before.
TV Guide Magazine by Maitland McDonagh
Past and present, reality and fiction blend seamlessly into each other in Satoshi Kon's dream-like animated drama.
New York Post by Megan Lehmann
It manages to be both kinetic and dream-like at the same time -- "Run Lola Run" by way of David Lynch.
The A.V. Club by Tasha Robinson
Animated in much the same style as "Perfect Blue," but with greater depth and a more elaborate sense of playfulness, Millennium Actress is a visual feast, but also a mental gymnastics routine.
The movie's narrative can be taxingly ornate, but there's something beautiful about its metaphorical conflation of politics and glamour, the real and the fictional.
Users who liked this film also liked
Akira
(AKIRA
)
Neo-Tokyo is about to E.X.P.L.O.D.E.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Japan • 1988
- Director Takashi Nakamura
- Cast Mitsuo Iwata, Nozomu Sasaki, Mami Koyama, Tesshou Genda, Hiroshi Ohtake, Kōichi Kitamura
- Genre Science Fiction, Animation
- Available on Hulu, Funimation Now, Crunchyroll, Crunchyroll Amazon Channel, Vudu
Howl's Moving Castle
(ハウルの動く城)
A young woman cursed with old age seeks the help of an insecure magician and his companions, who live in a moving castle.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Japan • 2004
- Director Hayao Miyazaki
- Cast Chieko Baisho, Takuya Kimura, Akihiro Miwa, Tatsuya Gashūin, Ryunosuke Kamiki
- Genre Fantasy, Animation, Adventure
- Available on Max Amazon Channel, Max, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Vudu, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube
Paprika
(パプリカ)
Just anyone can let themselves into your dreams now...
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Japan • 2006
- Director Satoshi Kon
- Cast Megumi Hayashibara, Tōru Furuya, Kouichi Yamadera, Katsunosuke Hori, Toru Emori
- Genre Animation, Drama, Mystery, Science Fiction, Thriller
- Available on Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Vudu, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube, AMC on Demand, Tubi TV
My Neighbor Totoro
(となりのトトロ)
Sisters and spirits come together in this magical tale.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Japan • 1988
- Director Hayao Miyazaki
- Cast Noriko Hidaka, Hitoshi Takagi, Chika Sakamoto, Shigesato Itoi, Sumi Shimamoto, Tanie Kitabayashi
- Genre Animation, Family, Fantasy
- Available on Max Amazon Channel, Max, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Vudu, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube
Ghost in the Shell
(GHOST IN THE SHELL/攻殻機動隊
)
A group of cybernetically enhanced cops are called into a stop a biohacking threat.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Japan, United Kingdom • 1995
- Director Mamoru Oshii
- Cast Atsuko Tanaka, Akio Otsuka, Iemasa Kayumi, Kouichi Yamadera, Yutaka Nakano, Tesshou Genda
- Genre Action, Animation, Science Fiction
- Available on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Vudu, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube, AMC on Demand, Tubi TV, Freevee
Perfect Blue
(パーフェクトブルー)
A retired pop singer starts to lose her hold on reality when she is stalked by an obsessive fan.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Japan • 1998
- Director Satoshi Kon
- Cast Junko Iwao, Rica Matsumoto, Shinpachi Tsuji, Masaaki Ōkura, Yōsuke Akimoto, Yoku Shioya
- Genre Animation, Thriller
- Available on Shudder, Shudder Amazon Channel, AMC+, AMC+ Amazon Channel, Shudder Apple TV Channel, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Vudu, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube
Grave of the Fireflies
(火垂るの墓)
Can these two siblings beat the odds?
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Japan • 1988
- Director Isao Takahata
- Cast Tsutomu Tatsumi, Ayano Shiraishi, Yoshiko Shinohara, Akemi Yamaguchi
- Genre Animation, Drama, War
- Available on No streaming locations found.
Tokyo Godfathers
(東京ゴッドファーザーズ)
A bizarre, heartwarming holiday tragicomedy film inspired by Peter B. Kyne's novel "Three Godfathers."
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Japan • 2003
- Director Satoshi Kon
- Cast Aya Okamoto, Yoshiaki Umegaki, Toru Emori, Satomi Kourogi, Mamiko Noto, Ryûji Saikachi
- Genre Animation, Drama
- Available on Hoopla, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Vudu, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube, Tubi TV, The Roku Channel
The Cat Returns
(猫の恩返し)
After Haru, a bored schoolgirl, saves the life of an unusual cat, her world is transformed beyond anything she ever imagined.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Japan • 2002
- Director Hiroyuki Morita
- Cast Chizuru Ikewaki, Yoshihiko Hakamada, Aki Maeda, Takayuki Yamada, Hitomi Satô, Kenta Satoi
- Genre Adventure, Animation, Drama, Family, Fantasy
- Available on Max Amazon Channel, Max, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Vudu, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube
Mind Game
(マインド・ゲーム
)
After an encounter with the Japanese mafia in which he fails to save his crush, Nishi journeys to heaven and back.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Japan • 2004
- Director Masaaki Yuasa
- Cast Koji Imada, Sayaka Maeda, Takashi Fujii, Seiko Takuma, Tomomitsu Yamaguchi
- Genre Adventure, Animation, Mystery
- Available on Shudder Amazon Channel, Hoopla, AMC+, AMC+ Amazon Channel, Shudder Apple TV Channel, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Vudu, Amazon Video, YouTube
Distant
(Uzak)
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Turkey • 2002
- Director Nuri Bilge Ceylan
- Cast Muzaffer Özdemir, Emin Toprak, Zuhal Gencer, Nazan Kirilmis, Feridun Koc, Fatma Ceylan
- Genre Drama
- Available on No streaming locations found.
Memories
(MEMORIES)
An anime trilogy of sci-fi and the supernatural.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Japan • 1995
- Director Koji Morimoto, Katsuhiro Otomo, Tensai Okamura
- Cast Shigeru Chiba, Hisao Egawa
- Genre Animation, Fantasy, Science Fiction
- Available on Amazon Prime Video, Amazon Video, Tubi TV, Kanopy
Shame
When his wayward younger sister moves into his apartment stirring memories of their shared painful past, Brandon's insular life spirals out of control.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- United Kingdom • 2011
- Director Steve McQueen
- Cast Michael Fassbender, Carey Mulligan, James Badge Dale, Nicole Beharie, Alex Manette, Hannah Ware
- Genre Drama
- Available on Apple TV, Vudu, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, AMC on Demand
Perfect Strangers
(Perfetti sconosciuti)
Everyone has three lives: a public life, a private life and a secret life
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Italy • 2016
- Director Paolo Genovese
- Cast Giuseppe Battiston, Anna Foglietta, Marco Giallini, Edoardo Leo, Valerio Mastandrea, Alba Rohrwacher
- Genre Comedy, Drama
- Available on No streaming locations found.
Mirai
(未来のミライ)
A young boy meets his sister from the future.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Japan • 2018
- Director Mamoru Hosoda
- Cast Moka Kamishiraishi, Haru Kuroki, Gen Hoshino, Kumiko Aso, Mitsuo Yoshihara, Yoshiko Miyazaki
- Genre Adventure, Animation, Family, Fantasy
- Available on Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Vudu, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube, Spectrum On Demand, AMC on Demand
Parasite
(기생충)
A poor family lies and schemes their way into the employ of a wealthy household — successfully, but with great consequences.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Korea • 2019
- Director Bong Joon-ho
- Cast Song Kang-ho, Lee Sun-kyun, Cho Yeo-jeong, Choi Woo-shik, Park So-dam, Chang Hyae-jin
- Genre Comedy, Drama, Thriller
- Available on Max Amazon Channel, Max, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Vudu, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube, Spectrum On Demand, AMC on Demand