Millennium Actress

Revered anime filmmaker Satoshi Kon's delightfully warm and deeply humanistic Millennium Actress has not only been critically acclaimed at film festivals around the world, but also serves as an excellent introduction for the curious to the best that Japanese animation can offer--a film that is neither too culturally alien nor too geek-ish sci-fi (as anime has a tendency to be). Chiyoko Fujiwara (voiced, in different stages of her life, by Miyoko Shôji, Mami Koyama, and Fumiko Orikasa) was once, in the early-to-mid years of the 20th century, a great movie star; now, documentary filmmaker and devoted fan Genya Tachibana (the voice of Shouzou Iizuka) has come to interview the elderly woman in her retirement. Listening to Chiyoko's secret story of the decades spent chasing a man whom she fell in love with after a brief encounter as a teenager, Genya's imagination inserts himself--and, amusingly, his cameraman, Kyoji Ida (the voice of Masaya Onosaka)--into Chiyoko's recollections of her daring and adventurous movies. Romantic, visionary, and authentic, this is a beautiful film about the pursuit of the elusive, as well as about how film insinuates itself into our inner lives, taking over our fantasies. Highly recommended. [Note: DVD extras include a subtitled 40-minute making-of featurette including interviews and commentary with director Satoshi Kon, and the English U.S. trailer. Bottom line: a small (but insightful) extras package for a beautiful film.] (M. Johanson) [Blu-ray/DVD Combo Review—Dec. 3, 2019—Shout! Factory, 87 min., PG, Blu-ray: $26.99—Making its debut on Blu-ray, 2001’s Millennium Actress features a great transfer and a DTS-HD 5.1 soundtrack. Extras include interviews with producer Masao Maruyama (32 min.), voice actor Laura Post (20 min.), producer Taro Maki (9 min.), and voice actor Abby Trott (8 min.). Bottom line: this classic contemporary anime shines on Blu-ray.]