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Millennium Actress
Millennium Actress
8.3
/10
2,204 Ratings

MILLENNIUM ACTRESS

千年女優 | Sennen joyû

Directed by Satoshi Kon
Japan, 2001
Drama, Animation

Synopsis

With the renowned Ginei Studios shutting down and their buildings about to be demolished, filmmaker Genya Tachibana sets out to commemorate this historical moment by interviewing the studio’s former superstar: the now-reclusive Chiyoko Fujiwara. But why did she vanish at the peak of her career?

Synopsis

With the renowned Ginei Studios shutting down and their buildings about to be demolished, filmmaker Genya Tachibana sets out to commemorate this historical moment by interviewing the studio’s former superstar: the now-reclusive Chiyoko Fujiwara. But why did she vanish at the peak of her career?

Our take

A luminous homage to the golden age of Japanese cinema, this masterwork from Satoshi Kon looks back over the career of a reclusive star—clearly modeled on Setsuko Hara. Pregnant with bittersweet romanticism, Millennium Actress is at once a reverent and subversive ode to an idealized screen legend.