Millenium Actress
Dec. 6th, 2005 09:21 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dr_tectonicWe just watched Millenium Actress, an anime by Satoshi Kon, and I just have to say: WOW. It is a totally amazing movie that everyone should see! (We will have more Anime Nights, I swear, and we'll definitely show it at one of them.)
It's confusing at first, because it mixes history and fantasy pretty freely, but that's kind of what it's all about - fiction and memory and how we construct the narratives of our lives. And it's got some wonderful symbolism, and the end pulls it all together. Moving and wonderful and strange.
It's the kind of film that made me wish I'd seen it for a class, so we could have a rousing discussion about the what it all means and then maybe get to read some essays about it. Yes, seriously.
Highly recommended.
(Oh, and it's also completely for grown-ups: it's a drama about film and romance! No giant robots, no tentacles, nothin'. Although I have to admit that Gozilla makes a cameo appearance.)
Here's a quote I really liked from a review I found online: "Tracing the point at which reality begins and fantasy ends is beside the point of Millennium Actress: contemplating the futility of trying to draw that line when it comes to the weight of memory on an individual's psychic and emotional development is closer to the core of Kon's concerns."
It's confusing at first, because it mixes history and fantasy pretty freely, but that's kind of what it's all about - fiction and memory and how we construct the narratives of our lives. And it's got some wonderful symbolism, and the end pulls it all together. Moving and wonderful and strange.
It's the kind of film that made me wish I'd seen it for a class, so we could have a rousing discussion about the what it all means and then maybe get to read some essays about it. Yes, seriously.
Highly recommended.
(Oh, and it's also completely for grown-ups: it's a drama about film and romance! No giant robots, no tentacles, nothin'. Although I have to admit that Gozilla makes a cameo appearance.)
Here's a quote I really liked from a review I found online: "Tracing the point at which reality begins and fantasy ends is beside the point of Millennium Actress: contemplating the futility of trying to draw that line when it comes to the weight of memory on an individual's psychic and emotional development is closer to the core of Kon's concerns."
no subject
Date: 2005-12-08 07:07 am (UTC)There was a spot about 2/3 of the way in where you can't tell why you're being shown the story that you are. It does tie in, but it was hard to see when being shown the episodes a week or so at a time. Even so, I could have done without three of the episodes (or four) in favor of a more tightly woven story.
The series introduction song is one of my favorite anime theme songs. Depressing lyrics (in translation - I don't speak Japanese).