Satoshi Kon's Millennium Actress is a dazzling triumph of both form and function. As a piece of animation, it is breath-taking. As a story, it is heart-felt and devastating. And as a narrative, it takes bold risks and experiments with techniques that I have never encountered before. Where to start? The loving tributes to Japanese cinema, in particular the lives of Setsuko Hara and Hideko Takamine as well as classic Japanese films (most notably Akira Kurosawa's Throne of Blood)? Kon's seamless integrations of present-tense characters in past-tense flashbacks? The evocative art that breathes life to several different eras of history? The palpable sense of yearning on the part of the eponymous actress as she spends her life searching for a man she loves but barely knows, perpetually just out of reach like he was the Holy Grail and she the Knights of King Arthur? To watch Millennium Actress is to experience it. Joyful, melancholy, tragic, and funny, Millennium Actress is essential.
9/10
No comments:
Post a Comment