Sennen joyu (2001) Millennium Actress

Directed by Satoshi Kon

Wonderful anime covering 100 years of Japanese cinema and a 1,000 year period of Japanese history and future as well as uncovering the driving force behind the life of an invented actress Chiyoko Fujiwara.

Love; unfulfilled love in particular can make or break someone, a minor accident involving Chiyoko and a stranger during her youth set events rolling that will affect the whole of her future. Her whole life is spent trying to find this mystery man who came into and out of her life so abruptly leaving a key in her care which he claims is very important.

We follow Chiyoko through her film career and life as she determines to find this stranger with whom she has become obsessed, along with her life, we follow the paths of those that criss-cross it. Anyone who has read Memoirs of a Geisha will recognise the character of the overbearingly jealous older actress who realises the spotlight has passed from her onto the new model. Even the documentary maker who is interviewing Chiyoko in her old age has his part in her past as he worked behind the scenes on several of her films and is aware of things that could have changed her life had she known about them.

This is an excellent anime and very different from Satoshi Kons other work, it covers several big subjects with broad strokes but pulls us in with its intimate look at life, love and the little things that can mean so much.

The only thing I'm not happy with is the glorification of Japan's imperialistic (early 20th Century) past, still the British or Americans are hardly in any position to comment on this!

All in all a definite recommendation, an inventive storyline with good rewatch value.

Cheers Trev.

BBFC rated PG

Region 2 dvd available from Manga Entertainment.