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DVD Millennium Actress
The second film by director Satoshi Kon and screenwriter Sadayuki Murai recalls Perfect Blue, but Millennium Actress is a more complex, subtle, and sophisticated work that evokes the history of Japanese cinema. After nearly 30 years of living in strict seclusion, the aged film star Chioyoko Fujiwara grants an interview to journalist Genya Tachibana. As their conversation begins, Kan intercuts scenes from Chioyoko's films with her memories of pursuing the mysterious artist she met as a young girl. Accompanied by his blasé cameraman, Tashibana finds himself within Chioyoko's memories and films, alternately observing and aiding the woman he adores. Kon's skillful direction and subtle use of color strengthen the intriguing story: Chioyoko's memories are rendered in shades of gray, with hints of muted color highlighting the overall composition. American viewers will find their appreciation of this shimmering, spiral narrative deepens with repeated viewings. (Rated PG: violence, mature themes) --Charles Solomon
Director Satoshi Kon definately has a monopoly on the real-life anime. But why would anyone want such a monopoly. Make a live-action film.
As for Millennium Actress, it's not as jarring as Perfect Blue. I'm a lover of well-written stories, and this movie has it, but as a real-life anime it's hard to get into the characters (actress, reporters). But it does, however, carry itself along with its beautiful love story, one that would have captured this movie five stars from me, had not it been real-life anime. If you can get past the fact that it's an anime that should be live-action, I recommend this movie. Otherwise, stay away.
A BIG waste without and english dub
A director is trying to work on a documentary about famous actress, Chiyoko. Chiyoko has gotten old and has withdrawn from the public life, but Tachibana slowly draws her out.
*Tear Drops*
Wow!!! I've seen tons and tons of anime in my life, but this one takes the cake! I heard of this DVD and borrowed it from a friend (4 months later I still have it (hehehe)).
The story is about a crew of two documentest who want to interview, for the first time, a veiteren actress who has performed in hundreds of movies. One of the men is in love with her and the other, the camera man, just wants to get the job done. As she tells her story, the two men encounter her life by living through them, in an astro-projection way.
Full of slapstick comedy, action, mystery and, of course, love. All leading up to an unforgetable ending. The music, storyline, and characters were unbelievable, along with the voice actors. By the end of this movie, I cried. Okay, I admit it! I cried, yes, cried for an anime movie! It's that great!
Go see this movie. Buy it, don't rent it. I have watched it 37 times! (Yes I kept count!) I bet you all will want to watch this movie over and over. *Tear*
Satoshi Kon's third feature (following Perfect Blue and Millennium Actress) confirms his status as one of the most interesting directors working in anime. Tokyo Godfathers centers on three homeless people: Hana, a flamboyant ex-drag entertainer; Gin, an alcoholic former bicycle racer; and Miyuki, a sullen teenage runaway. Their tenuous existence becomes more chaotic when they set out to find the parents of an abandoned baby on Christmas Eve. They scream insults as they confront the lies they've told each other--and themselves--about the past. Yet they remain curiously endearing and even noble. All three care passionately about the abandoned infant, and they love each other, although they're loath to admit it. Kon skillfully uses color to suggest the bitter... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Toru Emori - Aya Okamoto - Yoshiaki Umegaki Director(s): Shôgo Furuya - Satoshi Kon DVD Release Date: Released the 13 April 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
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One of the most ambitious animated films to come out of Japan (or anywhere, for that matter), Perfect Blue is an adult psycho-thriller that uses the freedom of the animated image to create the subjective reality of a young actress haunted by the ghost of her past identity. Mima is a singer who leaves her teeny-bop trio to become an actress in a violent television series, a career move that angers her fans, who prefer to see her as the pert, squeaky-clean pop idol. Plagued by self-doubt and tormented by humiliating compromises, she begins to be stalked, in her waking and sleeping moments, by an accusing alter ego who claims to be "the real Mima," until she collapses into madness as her coworkers are brutally slain around her. Director Satoshi Kon, adapting the novel by Yoshikazu... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Satoshi Kon DVD Release Date: Released the 02 May 2000 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Hayao Miyazaki gained widespread attention in Japan for his complex ecological manga series, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1982), which he adapted for the screen two years later. One thousand years after a war devastated much of the Earth, humanity clings to existence at the fringes of a vast, polluted forest inhabited by monstrous insects. Only Nausicaä, the princess of the tiny realm of the Valley of the Wind, grasps the environmental significance of the forest. She sees beyond petty wars and national rivalries to the only viable future for the planet. In Nausicaä, Miyazaki began to explore elements he would develop more fully in his later films: daring, compassionate heroines; exciting flying sequences; colorful side characters; strong interpersonal... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Hayao Miyazaki DVD Release Date: Released the 22 February 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Mamoru Oshii's landmark Ghost in the Shell (1995) largely defined the cyberpunk genre and influenced the Matrix films in the U.S. The long-awaited sequel continues the adventures of Batou, Major Kusanagi's former assistant, who was left behind when she disappeared into the cyber-realm of the Net. With his new human partner, Togusa, Batou investigates a series of bloody murders involving gynoids, robots with sexual functions. The case leads them to the headquarters of the Locus Solus company, where Batou uncovers the evil secret behind the creation of the gynoids. Innocence includes some staggeringly beautiful CG images, especially a parade depicting characters from Chinese mythology. Oshii contrasts this glittering beauty with a Blade... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Akio Ôtsuka - Atsuko Tanaka - Tamio Ôki Director(s): Mamoru Oshii DVD Release Date: Released the 28 December 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Porco Rosso (The Crimson Pig, 1992) ranks as Hayao Miyazaki's oddest film: a bittersweet period adventure about a dashing pilot who has somehow been turned into a pig. Miyazaki once said, "Initially, it was supposed to be a 45-minute film for tired businessmen to watch on long airplane flights... Why kids love it is a mystery to me." The early 1930s setting enabled Miyazaki to focus on the old airplanes he loves, and the film boasts complex and extremely effective aerial stunts and dogfights. In the new English dub from Disney, Michael Keaton as Porco delivers lines like "All middle-aged men are pigs" with appropriate cynicism, but his voice may be too familiar for some Miyazaki fans. Susan Egan makes a curiously distant Gina, the thrice-widowed hotel owner bound to Porco by... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Hayao Miyazaki DVD Release Date: Released the 22 February 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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