The further I go into Japanese animation cinema, the more I find surprisingly good things. Satoshi Kon is one of those good things. After watching Perfect Blue 97 times(almost) and thinking of having an idea how to interpret this movie, I moved on to Millennium Actress, which is, in my opinion, more straightforward, but richer, more poetic and more inspired, don't get me wrong, both movies are awesome, but very different. To give you an idea, Kon moved from a Alfred Hitchcock inspired movie, to something GREATLY more inspired by Orson Wells.
That's one of the main interesting thing about Millennium Actress. It's an upside down Citizen Kane. I can't believe it's not a "referenced" in the "movie connections". First of all it's about the life of a great public person, but now it's a women, an actress, then there is an interesting connection between the present moment & the past trought an narrator, BUT unlike Kane, she's alive and the journalist has the key(in every sense of the term)...and we know the key of the story in the end and not the actress(opposite in Citizen Kane).
Where Kon innovates and distant himself from the copycats is his BLENDING of film past, real past and present moment. You go up into Chiyoko's past, into her film-making and past life without understanding where to draw the line. Funny thing, Kon presents glimpses of Japanese cinema past in Chiyoko's career. She plays into Kurosawa like movies and is seen in Godzilla and Ozu like productions. Pretty interesting. There is also winks to Stanley Kubrick's work.
Every cinephile should see it, like they all seen Citizen Kane.
That's one of the main interesting thing about Millennium Actress. It's an upside down Citizen Kane. I can't believe it's not a "referenced" in the "movie connections". First of all it's about the life of a great public person, but now it's a women, an actress, then there is an interesting connection between the present moment & the past trought an narrator, BUT unlike Kane, she's alive and the journalist has the key(in every sense of the term)...and we know the key of the story in the end and not the actress(opposite in Citizen Kane).
Where Kon innovates and distant himself from the copycats is his BLENDING of film past, real past and present moment. You go up into Chiyoko's past, into her film-making and past life without understanding where to draw the line. Funny thing, Kon presents glimpses of Japanese cinema past in Chiyoko's career. She plays into Kurosawa like movies and is seen in Godzilla and Ozu like productions. Pretty interesting. There is also winks to Stanley Kubrick's work.
Every cinephile should see it, like they all seen Citizen Kane.