Those who have seen director Satoshi Kon's Perfect Blue would remember it as a film that blended fantasy and reality for a surreal and immersive experience. Millennium Actress repeats this tradition, and with stunning results. The film commands your attention from the beginning due to the director's unique style, and retains it for the duration with its bittersweet story and unforgettable characters.

Millennium Actress is a film that utilizes simple concepts in a complex manner. At its core, the film uses the tragic life of actress and main character Chiyoko Fujiwara as a showcase of life's beauty and grace. It doesn't stop there, though. It is composed of many layers that are carefully blended to form a plot that has depth but also remarkable clarity. By the time it's over, Chiyoko's experiences become the viewer's own, and thus she is brought to life.

The film begins with footage of legendary actress Chiyoko Fujiwara's old studio being torn down as documentary film maker Genya Tachibana talks about her. He and his cameraman then make a trek up to her quiet mountain residence, where she has agreed to an interview after having lived in seclusion for 30 years. She agreed only because Genya posessed something of hers that she had lost. After he returns the item to her, they begin recounting her experiences, from the time she was a child all the way through her roles as a movie star. The time periods of her roles span a good thousand years (hence her title, the "millennium actress").

Chiyoko Fujiwara, present time. She is being interviewed by Genya Tachibana.	Is this a scene from Chiyoko's early life, or from one of her movies?

There is an unmistakeable beauty and elegance that radiates from Chiyoko, especially as an old woman. She had to be a woman who was pretty even in her elder years, and character designer Takeshi Honda was right on with his various renditions. The elegance of her character isn't limited to her appearance, though. It is in her motions and her speech, and in her life's story as well. Her early years would determine her life's course. As a teenager, she aided a political activist in his escape from authorities. He left a trinket in her posession for her to return when they met again, and she spends her young life searching for him. Her determination to find him shows in all of her roles as an actress, and is an important facet of the film.

Chiyoko's story isn't the only thing going on in the film. In a way, it is Genya Tachibana's story as well. He harbors great admiration for the old actress, and the film serves to reveal how that came to be. In one of the more surreal elements of the film, Genya and his cameraman appear alongside young Chiyoko while her various film roles are shown. Genya actually participates in these scenes as a character, much to his cameraman's surprise. The odd thing about the whole construct is that the blurring of fantasy and reality only serve to strengthen the film's premise. It causes you to give up any effort to keep track of the details and just focus on what the filmmaker is trying to get across.

The music helps to facilitate this idea, though not intentionally. New-age musician Susumu Hirasawa (known for some of Berserk's music) composed the music for Millennium Actress as a standalone work, yet it matches Chiyoko's elegance and determination perfectly. Director Satoshi Kon mentions (in an interview included on the disc) that he felt that both the pictures and the music should be strong enough to stand on their own as separate entities - and indeed they are - though they complement each other well, just the same.

Perhaps Millennium Actress can best be characterized as a balance of conflicting emotions and ideals. Chiyoko's life is tragic in one way, but rich and beautiful in another. She feels both sadness and joy, and she shows youth even in old age. The film doesn't only succeed in convincing the viewer that Chiyoko Fujiwara is a real person, but also that she is something special. We leave the film admiring her as Genya does.

Distributor: Dreamworks
Creator: Satoshi Kon / Chiyoko Committee
Released: 2002

Plot: A+
Character Design: A
Animation Quality: A+
Music: A
Overall: A+