Millennium Actress

Part of The Dream Will Never End: The Films of Satoshi Kon

Based loosely on the life and work of Ozu muse Hara Setsuko, Satoshi Kon’s stunning sophomore feature is a kaleidoscopic, time-skipping portrait of a reclusive actor looking back on her career. The clever meta-movie follows a two-man documentary crew as they set about interviewing Fujiwara Chiyoko, a former studio star who withdrew from public life after retiring decades earlier. Her story transports the pair through a century of Japanese cinema and history, as past and present, memories and movie roles, start to blur. Kon co-wrote the script with Perfect Blue screenwriter Murai Sadayuki; as in that film, the boundaries between inner and outer realities are erased—albeit here in a more fanciful, less maniacal manner! Musician Hirasawa Susumu, long admired by Kon, wrote the electronic score. The film garnered much acclaim and shared (with Miyazaki’s Spirited Away) the prestigious Japan Media Arts prize for animation.

“A piece of cinematic art. It’s modern day Japanese animation at its best.” —Chicago Tribune