Sennen Joyuu (Millennium Actress)

Add to My List

Add to Favorites

Alternative Titles

Synonyms: Chiyoko Millennial Actress

Japanese: 千年女優

More titles

Information

Type: Movie

Episodes: 1

Status: Finished Airing

Aired: Sep 14, 2002

Producers: Bandai Visual, WOWOW, Genco, Kadokawa Shoten, KlockWorx

Licensors: Eleven Arts, DreamWorks

Studios: Madhouse

Source: Original

Genres: Action, Adventure, Award Winning, Drama, Fantasy, Romance

Themes: Adult Cast, Historical, Showbiz

Duration: 1 hr. 26 min.

Rating: PG-13 - Teens 13 or older

Statistics

Score: 8.25¹ (scored by 84,726 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score.

Ranked: #316²

² based on the top anime page. Please note that 'Not yet aired' and 'R18+' titles are excluded.

Popularity: #1273

Members: 187,074

Favorites: 2,661

Available At

Official Site

Resources

AniDB

ANN

Synopsis

At the turn of the millennium, Ginei Studio's dilapidated buildings are set to be demolished. Ex-employee and filmmaker Genya Tachibana decides to honor this occasion with a commemorative documentary about the company's star actress: Chiyoko Fujiwara, the reclusive sweetheart of Shouwa Era cinema. Having finally obtained permission to interview the retired starlet, an enamored Genya drags along cynical cameraman Kyouji Ida to meet her, ready to put his lifelong idol back in the spotlight once more.

Hidden in this secluded mountain retreat is a thousand years of history condensed into one lifetime, waiting to be narrated. Chiyoko's recollections take them on an illusionary journey through Japanese cinematic history that transcends the boundaries of reality; the saga of her acting career intertwines with her filmography, the actors in her life blend seamlessly with the characters on screen, and the present melds with the past. Though the actress may have retired at the height of her career 30 years ago, the curtain on her life's stage has yet to fall.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Edit

Background

The film won the awards of Best Animation Film and Fantasia Ground-Breaker at the 2001 Fantasia Film Festival. It was also awarded the Feature Film Award at the 8th Animation Kobe. In 2002, it won the prestigious Ofuji Noburo Award at the Mainichi Film Awards, and was honored with the Orient Express Award at the 2001 Festival de Cine de Sitges in Spain. The film was nominated for four Annie Awards in 2004, including Outstanding Direction and Writing.

Episode Videos

Episode 1

More characters

Characters & Voice Actors

Fujiwara, Chiyoko

Main

Orikasa, Fumiko
Japanese

Tachibana, Genya

Main

Iizuka, Shouzou
Japanese

Ida, Kyouji

Main

Onosaka, Masaya
Japanese

Man of the Key

Supporting

Yamadera, Kouichi
Japanese

Ootaki, Junichi

Supporting

Suzuoki, Hirotaka
Japanese

Ayakashi

Supporting

Scarface

Supporting

Tsukayama, Masane
Japanese

Shimao, Eiko

Supporting

Tsuda, Shouko
Japanese

More staff

Staff

Maki, Taro

Producer

Hirao, Takayuki

Assistant Producer

Kon, Satoshi

Director, Script, Original Creator, Character Design, Screenplay

Mima, Masafumi

Sound Director

Edit

Opening Theme

"Chiyoko no Theme Mode-1 (千代子のテーマ MODE-1)" by Susumu Hirasawa

Edit

Ending Theme

"Rotation [lotus-2]" by Susumu Hirasawa

Reviews

Mar 21, 2009

Skadi

Recommended

Millennium Actress is a wonderfully crafted story about a fateful encounter of a young girl and how it shaped the rest of her life. Though I am always a little hesitant about awarding such high marks to anything, this movie was one of the most riveting and unique anime experiences I have had.

The story follows a pair of filmmakers who are interviewing a famous actress who has been retired for many years to celebrate the studio's 70th anniversary. Millennium Actress features one of the most original story telling methods I have seen. We see the majority of the movie told through the ...

Open

Gift

Aug 23, 2023

Preachee

Mixed Feelings

Minor spoilers ahead.

Millennium Actress is a film that can easily be called great. It is outwardly audacious and seemingly gorgeous in nature.

Though in reality, Millennium Actress seems like it would be praised as long as the aesthetics are nice, the plot is not straightforward and that it is directed by Satoshi Kon. Not only are the fans often completely oblivious of any criticisms, but their belief that this movie is a magnum opus also won't change because of what was mentioned (as ridiculous as it sounded). About it being a faultless masterpiece, I beg to differ.

The story is downright average and uninspiring. That said, the ... story has a heart, with an intention that remains clear and consistent. Unfortunately, this is also one of my biggest gripes - the movie is rather 'static' for what is essentially labyrinth of a narrative, which is totally incongruous (and more on that later), and has virtually nothing to anticipate other than “does the actress meet her love?”, which is kind of a dull two-sides-of-a-coin. Nevertheless, the movie still manages to feel complete because of its 'heart'. Also, paying homage to Japanese cinema is no good excuse for an average story, though it's nice and somewhat exciting to feel such radiated, genuine affection of Kon towards the rich cinema history.

As briefly stated, the execution is poor. As thin and uninspiring as the story was, the execution did not do much to embrace it. To regurgitate what I said, it's not brilliant to have an abstruse narrative for a story so simple, quixotic even, hence the incongruity. Much of what Kon does was dragging the weak storyline for an hour and a half. For a story with barely any philosophical weight nor plot development, the messy confusing narrative didn't make it more "complex", only pretentious. “But it merges reality with memories...”, sure. I understand that by the end of the actress’ life, she can recall the events so vividly and can’t differentiate what’s real and what isn't; yet forasmuch as this whole sequence solely focuses on that concept alone without even bother to have a wider, or deeper reach, it gives the audience no insights or depth other than the actress' very simplistically discernible state of mind. Perhaps, this would've been so much more effective had the emergence not just taken up such a big chunk from the movie. When an idea so superficial being told this grandiosely, it will inevitably give the impression of self-indulgence. And to make matters worse, dragging it out wears out any novelty. The narrative, while somewhat impressive, not only lacks depth, but precisely because it lacks depth that it also comes off as pretentious.

The characters, I guess, are fine. They're fun and likable enough to lead the audience till the end, but none of them are really remarkable. Some parts of the scripts are honestly so corny though. I could forgive everything these hombres say throughout the movie, but even the very last line? It’s a corny melodrama kick in the gut. It literally just goes to prove my view on how the movie is as shallow as it could get, and yet with sprinkles of striking but empty visual storytelling, Kon manages to make it seem perplexing, yet not actually so.

That said, the tone did make the experience somewhat endearing. It's difficult to fully criticize Kon because the man was such a talented romanticist in this film. Kon knows exactly how and when to utilize comedic relief, or to build our expectations up for an emotional impact. So thanks to that, the story flows quite seamlessly. Still, this is insufficient as a saving grace for an overall poorly-written and executed movie.

But, if we really stop bothering about Kon's excuse of a story, we are left with what is probably Kon's true intention - a heartfelt love letter to Japanese cinema, elevated and, without reservedness, expressed via the exercise of exhibiting grand, unbounded audiovisuals. The animation is flawless and the attention given to the art is nothing short of stellar. The music is pretty good and generally well used. I have no real complaint about the production value and perhaps would even more than enthusiastically sing praises to the aesthetics alone.

Again, though, this movie is subpar in almost every other way. Satoshi Kon is definitely not a hack, however refutably overrated, for he has demonstrated his genuine competence in composing his own coups such as Perfect Blue and Tokyo Godfathers, and even glimpses of greatness here and there in Millennium Actress. Nevertheless, the self-indulgent and bafflingly convoluted narrative has made Millennium Actress his weakest work that I’ve experienced so far. Mind you, this movie used to hold a 10 on my list for quite some time, so I do understand all the worshipping. Yet have I verily changed my mind to thus give my sincere final verdict upon this movie: How corny.

Open

Gift

Oct 22, 2021

negrut

Not Recommended

Funny

Have you guys watched the same movie as i???
The movie i watched 10 minutes ago was 1:26Hrs of this "INCREDIBLE" PLOTLINE: A old woman tells her "stupendous" love (i think?????) story, she was in her likely 16 when she meets an OUTLAW, TAKES HIM HOME, TAKES CARE OF HIM (WITHOUT ASKING NAME OR ANYTHING), in the other day he leaves... AND SHE SPENDS HER ENTIRE LIFE LOOKING FOR THIS GUY. Alright, this is the plot.. Repeated for more than A HOUR. But hey, the "aesthetic" its great and pseudo-cult likely, and this PIECE S*, sorry, this plot is repeated in various scenarios, i ...

Open

Gift

More stacks

Interest Stacks

Stand-Alone & Non-Ghibli Movies Part. 1

by madiandi

50 Entries · 120 Restacks

Standalone Movies Part 1

by 0edoon

50 Entries · 11 Restacks

Movies Recs

by _Dunkelheit_

50 Entries · 5 Restacks

More recommendations

Recommendations

View All

More news

Recent News

North American Anime & Manga Releases for March

Here are the North American anime, manga, and light novel releases for March. Week 1: March 1 - 7 Anime Releases Gochuumon wa Usagi Desu ka? Bloom (Is the Order a Ra...read more

Mar 3, 2022 11:25 AM by Aiimee | Discuss (2 comments)

North American Anime & Manga Releases for December

Here are the North American anime & manga releases for December Week 1: December 3 - 9 Anime Releases K-On! (incl. K-On!!, Keikaku!, Live House!, Movie, Ura-On!,...read more

Dec 2, 2019 3:58 PM by Sakana-san | Discuss (2 comments)

More discussions

Recent Forum Discussion

Poll: Millennium Actress Episode 1 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 ) aero - Feb 7, 2009	166 replies	by wallus81 »» Mar 14, 11:19 PM
Correlation with "Magnetic rose" ManuelK06 - Oct 29, 2018	1 replies	by troilus_05s »» Oct 14, 2022 1:27 PM
Original Dub is Better than 2019 Dub Brittaman12 - Jun 4, 2022	2 replies	by Brittaman12 »» Jun 5, 2022 8:35 AM

Recent Featured Articles

Top 30 Best Anime Movies of All Time

You think you know anime movies? Have you seen all 30 of these movies on our best anime movie list? Our writer sets themselves a only-one-movie-per-director rule and comes up with 30 movies every anime fan must see.

by 5camp

746,667 views

Collection

Top 20 Best Anime Movies to Kick-Start 2016

Tons of good anime movies have been made over the years. But why settle for good? We present to you a list of not 5, not 10, but 20 of some of the best anime movies in existence! Dig in and find some new and interesting Japanese animated movies to watch this year!

by samcook

345,039 views

Recommendation Collection Ghibli

Sennen Joyuu

Alternative Titles

Information

Statistics

Available At

Resources

Synopsis

Background

Episode Videos

Visit MALxJapan
MALxJapan -More than just anime-

Characters & Voice Actors

Fujiwara, Chiyoko

Tachibana, Genya

Ida, Kyouji

Man of the Key

Ootaki, Junichi

Ayakashi

Scarface

Shimao, Eiko

Staff

Opening Theme

Ending Theme

Reviews

Interest Stacks

Recommendations

Recent News

Recent Forum Discussion

Recent Featured Articles

MoreTop Anime

MoreTop Airing Anime

MoreMost Popular Characters

Sennen Joyuu

Alternative Titles

Information

Statistics

Available At

Resources

Synopsis

Background

Episode Videos

Visit MALxJapan MALxJapan -More than just anime-

Characters & Voice Actors

Staff

Opening Theme

Ending Theme

Reviews

Interest Stacks

Recommendations

Recent News

Recent Forum Discussion

Recent Featured Articles

MoreTop Anime

MoreTop Airing Anime

MoreMost Popular Characters

Visit MALxJapan
MALxJapan -More than just anime-