Millennium Actress

(2002)

★ 7.9 IMDb · 1,087 votes

Genres: Animation, Drama, Romance

Year: 2002

Runtime: 87 мин

Country: Japan

Director: Сатоши Кон

Cast: Миёко Сёдзи, Мами Кояма, Фумико Орикаса, Сёко Цуда, Сёдзо Иидзука, Масая Оносака, Масанэ Цукаяма, Коити Ямадэра, Хисако Кьёда, Томиэ Катаока

Plot

Documentary filmmaker Genya Tachibana has tracked down the legendary actress Chiyoko Fujiwara, who mysteriously vanished at the height of her career. When he presents her with a key she had lost and thought was gone forever, the filmmaker could not have imagined that it would not only unlock the long-held secrets of Chiyoko’s life... but also his own.

A movie studio is being torn down. TV interviewer Genya Tachibana has tracked down its most famous star, Chiyoko Fujiwara, who has been a recluse since she left acting some 30 years ago. Tachibana delivers a key to her, and it causes her to reflect on her career; as she's telling the story, Tachibana and his long-suffering cameraman are drawn in. The key was given to her as a teenager by a painter and revolutionary that she helped to escape the police. She becomes an actress because it will make it possible to track him down, and she spends the next several decades acting out that search in various genres and eras.