The creative love child of anime director Satoshi Kon and screenwriter Sadayuki Mura (PERFECT BLUE), MILLENNIUM ACTRESS recounts the legend of an actress named Chiyoko Fujiwara who mysteriously disappeared during her greatest moment of fame. Via a sweeping backdrop of historical and fictional events that breathlessly span time, Chiyoko relates her saga to a documentary filmmaker named Genya who has tracked the actress down to her remote hideaway. As the story unfolds, Chiyoko's personal history becomes inextricably intertwined with the characters she plays in the movies throughout her long career, all in pursuit of her first love, a political activist painter who left her only with a mysterious key that sets the whole story in motion. Along the way Chiyoko's quest is hampered by an older actress and a mysterious scarfaced man. Luckily, Genya and his sardonic cameraman find themselves swept up in the story also, and come to her rescue several times. It all may sound a little odd, and western audiences not used to anime's occasionally static style may take a few minutes to adjust, but once they do, countless rewards await: brilliant animation, a treasure trove of insight into Japan's history and film industry, and for anyone who's ever loved and lost, an almost assured shedding of many heartfelt tears.

Theatrical Release: September 12, 2003 (NY/LA)

DVD Features:

Region 1
Keep Case
Dual Layer
Anamorphic Widescreen - 1.78
Audio:
Captions - English
Dolby Digital 5.1 - Japanese
Dolby Surround - Japanese
Subtitles - English and French
Additional Release Material:
Trailers
The Making of Millennium Actress
Interactive Features:
Interactive Menus
Scene Access

Satoshi Kon: Japanese anime director: PERFECT BLUE/PARANOIA AGENT

Taro Maki: 

Sadayuki Murai: Screenwriter, MILLENIUM ACTRESS (2003)

Susumu Hirasawa: Composer, MILLENIUM ACTRESS (2003)

"...The film's matter-of-fact, realistic animation style makes a fitting contrast to the topsy-turvy nature of its narration....MILLENNIUM ACTRESS fascinatingly goes where films have not often gone before..."
"What starts as a celebrity mystery scoop later morphs into a melodrama of epic longing."
"...[A] sweeping, beautifully drawn melange of fantasy and history....To watch MILLENNIUM ACTRESS is to witness one cinematic medium celebrating another, an expression of movie love that is wonderfully eccentric and deeply affecting..."