An emotional roller coaster, even though Satoshi Kon doesn't use the big guns for this show (usually that means pointing out the most disturbing aspects of the human psyche and nature) it still manages to create a memorable movie, a trip in Japan's pre and post World War 2, and history of cinema.

'after all, it was the chasing that i really loved.'

I was honestly underwhelmed. I love history, Japan and the anthology film format. So Millennium Actress should be perfect for me, logically. In reality nothing about Millennium Actress managed to convince me.

all that for a guy she bumped into **ONCE**. for all she knew he was a criminal. great concept but so lazy with the romance (as with most anime romances).

What a movie.

The intro and incorporation of two filmmakers into Chiyoko's life story is genius. And the editing is just masterful.
But what makes this movie really great is the inclusion of various periods in Japanese history into various movies that Chiyoko starred in and the inclusion of Japanese filmmaking history in those same movies.

If you know a bit about Japan's history and about old Japanese movies you will appreciate this movie even more.

I wanted to watch every Satoshi Kon's movie and this is the second one I've watched after Perfect Blue. I sympathized with Chiyoko and felt sad while watching the movie, but when she acts in a period drama that was clearly inspired by Akira Kurosawa's Throne of Blood, I started thinking how Satoshi Kon, this amazing director, made only 5 movies and died too early.

That made me even more sad and it made Millennium Actress quite an unforgettable experience for me.

Satoshi Kon really did THAT again - I'm dead!

One of the most powerful, emotional and sensitive pieces I've seen up to this day. Again, we're trapped in waves between reality, dreams, memories in the most beautiful, touching possibilities.

Satoshi Kon's directorial follow-up to Perfect Blue is a somewhat lighter, less enveloping picture. We tail a pair of DIY documentarians, enamored with their subject, as they suss out the location of a reclusive former starlet and entice her to share her life's story. Truth and fiction intertwine in the telling of that particular saga, with personal memoirs stirred into various scenes from her best-loved screen performances. The result is a flighty, dreamlike atmosphere, a general easing in and out of the present that doesn't always follow a linear train of thought. It operates with a soft touch, which matches the understated nature of our aging narrator; smoothly straddling genres and decades en route to a destined meeting with a lost love.

That puts it on common thematic ground with both Perfect Blue and Paprika (Kon's 2006 swan song), which both toyed with perception and the meeting ground between internal and external realities. Millennium Actress, though, approaches the subject with reduced color and vigor, leaving less dangling threads to captivate audiences and fewer cornerstone visual showpieces to linger in their memories.

Yet another masterpiece from the amazing Satoshi Kon. I loved how the story of Chiyoko's real-life events and her actress roles constantly intertwined with each other, how the story of love and the story of being an actress bled into one another to tell two separate parts of her life in one single action. You can also really tell how much fun Satoshi Kon had with this film by making little gags out of Chiyoko's film roles and the ridiculous twists and events that typically happened in those types of films. Just a blast to watch from the start to the end, you can't go wrong with a Satoshi Kon movie!

It really feels like Kon found the silliest concept he could still make a serious love story with and went for it. It definitely worked, as the movie is entertaining, but it is certainly different. The story is unique and is certainly worth a watch for the gimmick (if you want to call it that) alone, but the story is also quite moving.

Overall, like I said, the concept seems silly on paper, but it really does work and does add some emotional heaviness throughout.