My new anime hero - Satoshi Kon

[flippyshark]

I just watched a movie called MILLENIUM ACTRESS. Wow, add this to your Netflix queue pronto!

This is not a genre film. It's a contemporary story about the life of Chiyoko Fujiwara, a movie actress whose career spans much of the 20th century. She narrates her life story to a documentary filmmaker, a man obsessed with her. Events from her life appear in flashback, but the documentarian and his comically dippy cameraman find themselves right in the middle of the action, in "Ghost of Christmas Past" fashion. On top of that, the setting shifts frequently into scenes and situations from her movies. Everyday reality suddenly becomes a sequence from a wartime movie, a samurai costume drama, a sci-fi space epic, even a Godzilla style Kaiju eiga. So, there are usually at least three layers to what is happening in any given scene. (Chiyoko's life, the story of the movie she is appearing in, and the documentary team observing and responding.) Often, conversations that seem to be taking place in Chiyo's "real world" memories reveal themselves to be dialogue from "on the set,' and it is fascinating how characters and places around her are in constant flux, but the basic story is a very simple one. This is a bravura display of cinematic style, but it doesn't get in the way of the heart of the story.

Speaking of said heart, this is a two-hankie movie. Chiyo's life isn't about her career, it's about the pursuit of the love of her life. Any description of the romantic storyline here would make it sound maudlin, and it isn't. The emotional content is handled poetically, with subtlety and restraint, and is all the more devastating because of it. This is the second anime (after GRAVE OF THE FIREFLIES) to make me actually cry. It's not quite as wounding an experience as FIREFLIES, which left me devastated for days. It's a gentler kind of sad. Put it this way. I don't think I can watch GOTF again. I'm looking forward to revisiting MILLENIUM ACTRESS.

On a side note, the documentarian and his slacker cameraman may remind you a little bit of Kevin Smith and Jason Mewes. I don't know if this was intentional. It's not pronounced, just something that occurred to me now and then.

This film was written and directed by Satoshi Kon, who has already impressed me greatly with his violent thriller anime PERFECT BLUE, which shares some similarities in style and content. I highly recommend it as a co-feature (maybe not on the same night.) It's as good as any live action psycho type movie I've ever seen.

Both of these films are atypical, in that either could have been made as live action dramas. But the beauty of the hand-drawn lines and backgrounds gives these a quality that I don't think could have been achieved any other way. They both stand as proof that hand-drawn animation is a limitless medium, capable of delivering complex, sophisticated narratives with characters as dimensional and compelling as any flesh and blood actor. (Japanese animation may produce miles and miles of generic robo-crap, but they've also elevated the art well past anything anyone else has done. Yes, that includes Disney, alas.)

So, my heartiest recommendation for MILLENIUM ACTRESS, and the adventurous among you should check out PERFECT BLUE.

[mousepod]

Thanks for the recommendation. About a month ago, Best Buy had a 2-fer pack with Millennium Actress and Ghost in The Shell 2, so I picked them up. Until now, MA has been sitting in its shrinkwrap in a "maybe I'll watch someday" pile. It's going to the top of the "must watch" pile immediately.

[Not Afraid]

I went to add it to my Netflix cue and, whatdoyaknow, they're closed for maintenance.

That's ok. I have 2 films to watch already from them (and a billion more to watch that I own).

[mousepod]

Heather and I watched Millennium Actress this Sunday night. Thanks for the recommendation! I've been on a Japanese movie kick lately anyway (I'm 2/5 through the Yakuza Papers series) and this movie was just perfect. I find that I defend anime the same way I defend horror movies - I call myself a fan of the genre while I'm disappointed by at least 80% of what I see. This film goes in my small pile of "excellent anime". Muy groovy.

[Ghoulish Delight]

Queued

[Not Afraid]

I've got in in my queue (but I have 2 films out at the moment yet to watch).

One film that was recommended to me after I put it in my queue was an anime version of Fritz Lang's Metropolis. Now, I have my anime loves but an particular. And I love Metropolis. So, this could either be great or God Awful. Any recommendations?

[flippyshark]

METROPOLIS is really cool, but it isn't much like the Fritz Lang movie. It's based on a manga by Osamu Tezuka (creator of Astro-Boy) which took the Lang film as an inspiration, but has its own story. That said, it's well worth your while.

[mousepod]

Metropolis is actually very pretty to look at, while not necessarily super heavy on plot. It's more of a reimagining of the ideas of Lang's Metropolis, rather than an "anime version". I certainly don't consider it a waste of time by any stretch of the imagination.

If you're looking for good anime (not counting Studio Ghibli stuff, because that's just a given), I'd recommend the work of Mamoru Oshii. His anime is terrific (not just Ghost In The Shell - which is to Blade Runner what the anime Metropolis is to Metropolis) - and his live-action work is even more outrageous. Watch his oeuvre in chronological order, if you can, and you'll appreciate him even more (I'll bet NA has a copy of The Red Spectacles in her collection).

[Not Afraid]

I wonder how you knew that?

[€uroMeinke]

Hmm time to try out the new stereo hook-up