Millennium Actress (2001) | Understanding Chiyoko Fujiwara | Character Analysis

Millennium Actress is Satoshi Kon’s second feature film, and compared to his previous film of Perfect Blue, Satoshi Kon goes down the route of a PG family movie. But even though the film is targeted for a more family audience, it still carries heavy themes that you would expect from a great director. Love, loss, and legacy. That is because the film follows Chiyoko Fujiwara, an actress who after leaving the public eye for more than 30 years gets interviewed by Genya Tachibana, a filmmaker and fanboy of the actress. Genya decides he wants to make this documentary about his favourite actor to celebrate her achievements and to also coincide with the fact that the studio called Ginei Studios where Chiyoko did all her movies was being torn down. From there Chiyoko describes her life and we view her life from the perspective of her movies as these two worlds, movies and her life conjoin and become one. The basis of her stories centres around a moment where she meets this mystery person. This person is an artist and he is running away from the police and government because he is seen as an activist who opposes the Sino-Japanese War. Chiyoko hides this person and forms a friendship with him. This man shows Chiyoko a very important item to her, a key. A day after, Chiyoko finds that same key on the street, but cannot locate the mystery man because he has run away once again to avoid the police. Because of that Chiyoko decides to find this man no matter the cost because she knows how much that key means to him and most importantly, Chiyoko is in love. Her journey to find him becomes the story that she tells to Genya. And I’ll tell you this, for a movie that is aimed for a more family audience, there are some heavy scenes that are emotional. Because this story is about two loves, Chiyoko’s love for this mystery man and Genya’s love for Chiyoko and her movies. Both taking the form of a journey that should not be taken for granted. MERCHANDISE: https://www.filmispics.com/merchandise SOCIALS: Website: https://www.filmispics.com/ Email List: https://sendfox.com/filmisjustpics Twitter @filmispics Instagram @filmisjustmovingpics MUSIC: Anbuu - Traveling https://chll.to/b26686d3 chromonicci - Peace. https://chll.to/2a5c539e #MillenniumActress #SatoshiKon #ChiyokoFujiwara