Romancefest 2015: Millennium Actress

MILLENNIUM ACTRESS makes two flicks in a row where I thought, "Ugh." Not only is it Japanese animation, but it's from Satoshi Kon, the mastermind behind "Perfect Blue." I watched "Perfect Blue" for Horrorfest 2013 and while the movie was okay, it had all the gross stuff you'd expect from the genre, specifically rapey stuff.

Luckily once again I'm the asshole, because MILLENNIUM ACTRESS was good, and didn't include any of that stuff. As the story begins, a movie studio in Japan is shutting down after along and storied history, and a reporter (Shozo Iizuka) has tracked down the now-elderly most famous star from the studio (Miyoko Shoji). Together with his camera man (Kyoji Ida), the reporter listens as the actress reveals the story of her long career, spanning many decades of Japan's history and many genres of film.

This is where things get interesting: as the story is told, the line between what's a movie and what's real life begins to blur. At the same time, the reporter and camera man are pulled more and more into the stories until they start taking on parts in the various memories or movies that are playing out in front of us. We see the actress first as a young girl (Fumiko Orikasa) and later in middle age (Mami Koyama) in all kinds of movies, from romance to action, samurai flicks to sci-fi.

There's also a framing story about a mysterious man (Koichi Yamadera) the actress encountered as a child who left her with a key before disappearing, and who she has spent her entire life and career searching for. This, and the reporters fascination with the actress, is where the romance comes in.

It's definitely an effective, unique and imaginative way to tell a life story, as well as to tell the story of both someone's career and the history of a nation.