- Japanese Title: 千年女優
- Directed By: Satoshi Kon
- Voice Cast: Miyoko Shoji, Mami Koyama, Fumiko Orikasa
It won’t appear tomorrow, but I like This moon better. After the full moon begins to wane. But after fourteen nights, starting tomorrow, I hope to see it again. I gotta go.
from the movie
Japan is a country that is known for exporting the finest goods. Culture is not an exception. It is well known that Japan has created the images of its culture and has exported them through movies, animations, mangas, and arts.
“Millennium Actress” is the slide show of the popular socio-cultural images of Japan through the well-integrated plot of personal emotions. As the title suggests, viewers are invited to the journey of a thousand years – shoguns (military leaders of 12-19 centuries), samurais, war soldiers, and scientists. The film is an ingenious work to the level of how animation can achieve.
But there are downsides too. What you are seeing is the popular version of each era of Japan. Even though the images are used as the background for the emotionally charged adventures, the settings seem dead and cliched. The film is wrapped with seemly realistic events but lacks the liveness of real life. There are only brightly-colored, decorated shells.
Overall, it is a good movie to watch. It is very interesting to watch how animation can portrait the blurring boundary of reality and cinema.
Scriptorium 