Millennium Actress (2001) | Rotten Tomatoes (2024)

93% Tomatometer 59 Reviews 90% Popcornmeter 10,000+ Ratings

In this animated movie, filmmaker Genya Tachibana begins work on a documentary about famed Japanese actress Chiyoko Fujiwara. Now well into old age, Chiyoko has become reclusive and shy about any publicity, but she eventually warms up to Tachibana and starts to relate her life story. As the decades pass, Chiyoko is transformed from a teen with big dreams into a full-blown celebrity, while her cinematic characters span various eras, from ancient Japan to the distant future.

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Millennium Actress

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Critics Consensus

The story of an aging movie actress' complicated personal saga unfolds in this sophisticated anime film that deftly blurs memory and make-believe into a meditation on the nature of cinema itself.

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Critics Reviews

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Millennium Actress (2001) | Rotten Tomatoes (1) Nick Schager Lessons of Darkness The finest anime film I've ever seen. Rated: A May 4, 2005 Full Review Millennium Actress (2001) | Rotten Tomatoes (2) Marc Savlov Austin Chronicle Millennium Actress has more layers to it than the proverbial onion, but Kon's sure hand keeps things moving right along. Rated: 3/5 Oct 27, 2003 Full Review Millennium Actress (2001) | Rotten Tomatoes (3) Jeff Shannon Seattle Times Given its complex array of fact, fiction, location, character and atmosphere, Millennium Actress is almost unimaginable in any other medium. Rated: 3/4 Oct 17, 2003 Full Review Millennium Actress (2001) | Rotten Tomatoes (4) Diana Tuova Spotlight on Film This beautiful animation...relies on an interesting mix of reality and fantasy...and the result is an intelligent, complex and multi-layered anime that pays equal attention to romance, the philosophy of destiny, and Japanese cinematic history. Rated: 4.5/5 Aug 21, 2024 Full Review Millennium Actress (2001) | Rotten Tomatoes (5) Douglas Davidson Elements of Madness ... truth and fiction, time and memory, love and loss, all intermingle until the only way to get to the end of the story is not through the linear path but by jumping forward and backward and forward again as memory becomes the road we travel. Mar 21, 2022 Full Review Millennium Actress (2001) | Rotten Tomatoes (6) Yago Paris El antepenúltimo mohicano [A] jewel of Japanese animation. [Full review in Spanish] Rated: 5/5 Mar 4, 2021 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Fer S A very interesting way of telling a not very interesting story. Rated 2/5 Stars • Rated 2 out of 5 stars 11/07/24 Full Review Hargie M this cinematic masterpiece is a testament to the depth and sophistication that animation can achieve, proving that those who dismiss the medium as merely children's entertainment are missing out on something truly extraordinary. Rated 5/5 Stars • Rated 5 out of 5 stars 07/06/24 Full Review Kyle M An elegantly absorbing, comprehensibly surreal vision that depicts how an actor’s career seamlessly blends roles based on life’s trajectories as told in artistic transcendence, becoming a timeless animated classic albeit its flawed secondary purpose that may’ve served purposeful and humorous. (B+) Rated 4/5 Stars • Rated 4 out of 5 stars 04/26/24 Full Review Alec B The narrative is both sentimental and abstract while offering a pretty effective overview of Japanese film history. Its far better than a traditional biopic would be. Rated 4/5 Stars • Rated 4 out of 5 stars 04/02/24 Full Review Audience Member I loved this movie as a teen, so today I re-watched it for the first time. Didn't enjoy it as much as I hoped. If it was a book, I'd say there's nothing keeping you turning the pages. The story is slow-paced and very bare-bones. The only things I like about it are the beautiful art and the blurring lines between fiction/reality or between different identities. Rated 2/5 Stars • Rated 2 out of 5 stars 01/17/23 Full Review isla s This is an intriguing anime film. Its not so much a film aimed at young kids and I liked the plot concept of travelling through different times in a persons life, to see what they saw and witness events first hand. I thought the old fashioned, video game type music played at times was somehow endearing - it has quite a strong sense of nostalgia. It's not as great as Tokyo Godfathers (it features the same director) but its certainly worth a watch regardless if your into anime films and so I would recommend it, yes. Rated 3.5/5 Stars • Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Read all reviews

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Cast & Crew

Satoshi Kon Director Miyoko Shôji Chiyoko Fujiwara (70's) Mami Koyama Chiyoko Fujiwara (20-40's) Fumiko Orikasa Chiyoko Fujiwara (10-20's) Shôzô Iizuka Genya Tachibana Masaya Onosaka Kyoji Ida
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Videos

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Millennium Actress

Millennium Actress: Fathom Events Trailer Millennium Actress: Fathom Events Trailer 0:30 View more videos

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Synopsis In this animated movie, filmmaker Genya Tachibana begins work on a documentary about famed Japanese actress Chiyoko Fujiwara. Now well into old age, Chiyoko has become reclusive and shy about any publicity, but she eventually warms up to Tachibana and starts to relate her life story. As the decades pass, Chiyoko is transformed from a teen with big dreams into a full-blown celebrity, while her cinematic characters span various eras, from ancient Japan to the distant future.

Director
Satoshi Kon

Producer
Taro Maki

Screenwriter
Satoshi Kon, Sadayuki Murai

Distributor
DreamWorks SKG

Production Co
Mad House Company Ltd.

Rating
PG (Violence|Thematic Elements|Brief Mild Language)

Genre
Drama, Fantasy, Anime

Original Language
Japanese

Release Date (Theaters)
Sep 12, 2003, Wide

Release Date (Streaming)
Jul 18, 2019

Box Office (Gross USA)
$37.3K

Runtime
1h 27m

Sound Mix
Dolby Digital

Aspect Ratio
Flat (1.85:1)
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Millennium Actress (2001) | Rotten Tomatoes (2024)

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