Anime Juke Box - Princess Nine - Princess Nine

Been a while since we popped in a quarter into the anime jukebox, so I figured it was time. We are in the middle of summer and that means - baseball! And what does baseball mean to me? ANIME of course. One specific anime, Princess Nine. Oddly this little show actually helped me appreciate baseball as a sport. I didn't know until watching this how much strategy and tactics are used in the game and how much talent you actually need to have. Being the bookish nerd, I just figured sports are sports are sports.

Princess Nine tells the story of a girl's prep school creating an actual baseball (not softball) team and all the trials the players, coaches and school administrators go through to make the dream a reality. Of course it has the usual high school drama mixed in, and the team is composed of an unusual group of misfits. It is very entertaining and something we will pull out every few summers to enjoy. The ADV dub is solid (if a little squeaky) and while you can predict how some of the sports story tropes are going to play out, we always have a good time with it.

The music was composed by Masamichi Amano who managed to secure the Warsaw Philharmonic for the score! Princess Nine has a lush score with some wonderfully bombastic moments and drama. Very entertaining stuff. He also was able to work the opening theme song as a theme in the score to the series. That means you've got the full power of the philharmonic playing during the opening credits. I couldn't find the full version of the song, but here is the opening credits version of Princess Nine from Princess Nine.

Anime Juke Box - Metropolis - Metropolis

The late 90s and early 00s was a good time to be an anime fan. With the success of shows like Pokemon and the Toonami block on Cartoon Network, some anime films were actually getting a theatrical release in North America. The highlight was seeing Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away in theaters. But I also got to see a couple lesser known films including Escaflowne and this one Metropolis.

Based on one of the first manga series by the very famous manga creator Osamu Tezuka (creator of Astro Boy and Kimba the White Lion), Metropolis takes elements from the 1927 silent film, but adds that unique anime twist. The film is impressive in visual scope coming from Studio Madhouse. It includes some fun silent movie iris and wipe effects. The score by Toshiyuki Honda is a blast. It includes 20s style jazz, bombastic action music and even a torch song for the end credits. I don't see the film mentioned much any more, but the score is one of my favorites from the era. Here is the opening credits in all of it's jazzy glory. Enjoy!

Avalon (2001)

Introduction:

Between Ghost in the Shell and Ghostin the Shell 2: Innocence, Mamoru Oshii tackled a live action science fiction film. It wasn’t his first crack using a non-animated medium. But this was the first time a Japanese production team was going to film in Poland with a Polish cast and crew. You can bet this movie was going to be like nothing you’ve seen before.

Summary:

In a dystopian future, the game Avalon is a huge hit. It creates a virtual reality world at war, where players can team up to complete missions and win cash. The best players and teams can make quite a living off of the game. There’s just one little snag: it is illegal and dangerous. Players have been known to go insane or brain dead while playing.

Ash (Malgorzata Foremniak) is one of the best players of Avalon, but she always works alone. Once she was part of Team Wizard, but after a mishap the team disbanded with a lot of bad blood. One day Ash runs into a former teammate, Stunner (Bartek Swiderski) who claims that their old team commander Murphy (Jerzy Gudejko) attempted to access the ultimate level hidden within Avalon. Unfortunately Murphy is now a drooling vegetable. Ash decides that she will succeed where Murphy failed, attempt to find the secret level, and achieve the impossible prize – to see a world that lies beyond the game, a place that my truly be Avalon.

Good Points:

• Wonderful cinematography and visual execution of themes
• Creates an oppressive atmosphere for much of the running time
• An impressive and often propulsive score by Kenji Kawai

Bad Points:

• Some budget limitations keep the world from feeling complete
• Oshii’s slow pacing and obsession with hound dogs returns
• May actually have worked better as an animated film

Overall:

Oshii takes his exploration of perception of reality into the live action realm, and the results are impressive. He creates an atmospheric film with a lot of symbolism hidden away in the visuals. The action scenes do lack punch, and his slow pacing will drive some viewers nuts. But the final result is a film that creates an interesting world and characters that are hard to forget.

Scores (out of 5)

Visuals: 4

Sound: 4

Acting: 3

Script: 4

Music: 4

Direction: 4

Entertainment: 4

Total:  4

In Depth Review

Ash in her Avalon avatar mode.

Coming hot on the heels of The Matrix I remember this film suffering a lot in comparison to the big budget American blockbuster. I don’t think the advertising, which focused on the action scenes helped. Even anime fans who were familiar with Ghost in the Shell and knew something of of Oshii’s style (and quirks) were let down. Avalon just wasn’t the movie they were expecting. Yes, I’m putting myself in that camp.

My first viewing of the film left me puzzled by the whole experience and feeling that the director was spinning his wheels a bit. But the funny thing is, a lot of the imagery of the film stuck with me. I finally decided to revisit the film as part of my examination of Oshii’s work, and I was surprised by how much my expectations had hurt my initial viewing of the film. Seeing Avalon as a bridge of sorts between the two Ghost in the Shell films puts the whole thing in perspective.

Ash in the virtual reality interface for Avalon.

Let’s explore the plot before diving into the visuals, because thematic elements tie strongly to the style the Oshii attempted in this film. Ash is a true gamer. She wants to be the best player of Avalon, period. To do this, she must find the level: Special A. All the rumors she hears lead her to believe that a series of unique events must occur for the level to be revealed. She has to see a glitch in the game known as The Ghost. This ghost of a little girl must be shot, and then the player can proceed to Special A. But to even find The Ghost, the player must be part of a team that includes a character type called a bishop. But bishops are high-level players that rarely interact with teams. The second half of the film deals with Ash finding a bishop, joining a team and finally getting to Special A to complete the most dangerous mission.

The first half of the films follows Ash as she plays the game, showing us how good she is and how much she plays. We get a glimpse of her life away from the game, and how empty it seems. During this portion of the film she runs into Stunner, and we discover a bit about her past on Team Wizard. She visits Murphy’s brain dead body, and we see a hospital filled with glassy eyed bodies – other victims of Avalon? During these scenes we get to know Ash - a woman who always appears to be in control and confident with her place in the world. But it is also obvious that the events leading up to the break up of Team Wizard have impacted her.

The yellow tinged world of reality... or is it?

One of the most unique things about Avalon is the yellow filter used for most of the film. It appears in various degrees throughout the movie. When we are seeing Ash in her real life, the filter is lightly applied. The effect is that everything has a kind of washed out almost sepia look to it. Reds stand out quite a bit, but they are rarely seen. All the interfaces in the film are yellow or orange (a trait shared with Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence).

But once Ash enters Avalon the yellow filter dominates the visuals. This world seems a bit brighter than the real world, but it is still a war torn place with ruins dotting the landscape. All the life we see in this world, including the trees, grass and other players is awash in this bright yellow light.

Eventually that yellow filter vanishes, and the result is remarkable. Colors that we’ve spent nearly an hour and half without bombard the viewer: blues, greens and purples. It actually reminded me of a similar event that occurred in Boogeipop Phantom, which saved the cooler hues for the final episode or key moments.

Ash exploring the secret level.

In addition to the stark color changes that occur in the film, Avalon differentiates between the three worlds with production design.  The level Special A: is essentially Warsaw in the year 2001. This is a vivid contrast to the broken down world Ash lives in, and even the gaming world, that is always filled with the smoke of war and shadowed by ruins. When Ash arrives in Special A, she is given an actual gown to wear and a symphony to attend. Things she would never experience in her world or with the normal game of Avalon.

The movie is essentially bookended by long sequences of Ash wandering her world. In the first half we see her in her regular routine, her gaming, and caring for her dog (whom she treats much better than she treats herself). It seems strange to spend so much time watching her do these things while the plot is in standby mode until she meets Stunner. But the scenes in Special A show us a mirror of the earlier scenes. In this case, Ash is not comfortable in her world, she is the outsider, and yet she is intrigued by what she sees. Foremniak plays it all very subtly, but her eyes show you that this world of Special A is something she falls in love with. Ash is a very different person in both these sequences, even if the sequences themselves seem all too similar.

The game of Avalon is a brutal one.

One of the main reasons Avalon was filmed in Poland was to give the movie a unique feel from typical Japanese films. It works really well, feeling like we are in a world that is unfamiliar. Warsaw has a very European feel to it, and Oshii selects locations that feel aged and lost. In addition Oshii was able to make a deal with the Polish military. So the tanks, helicopters and weapons you see in the film are real functioning equipment. This brings a level of realism to the game sequences.

But to keep things virtual, there are some computer effects thrown in. A few of the vehicles you see are obviously mecha designs, like the citadel machine that Ash and her team face near the end of the film. There is also a neat effect when players get killed in the game, they break into component digital parts. Very reminiscent of both Tron and Tron Legacy. There are also times when the visuals play with the computer imagery, like when Ash literally walks behind some smoke on the battle field and it all goes from a 3D immersive cloud, to a flat 2D set of pixels.

Ash takes no prisoners in the game world.

The budget constraints do peek through on a few occasions. The world seems very claustrophobic at times, but that works well with the story. It happens frequently enough that you get the feeling that there is more going on, but that they just didn’t have the budget to show it. The yellow filter does manage to hide the seams in some the scenes. The action scenes suffer in places because of budget limits. It often feels like Oshii is using edits to cheat around the fact that he couldn’t damage the borrowed equipment or the locations they were shooting at. It is just obvious enough to make those scenes feel a bit clunky, something that rarely happens in his animated films. For those reasons, I would be curious to see what Avalon could have been like in an animated format.

The acting is a bit hard to judge. I’ve seen this movie with the original Polish dub and English subtitles. For my revisit I watched the English dub. Like most of Oshii’s other films, there are some really talky sequences in this movie.  Watching the film in Polish feels more natural but keeping up with the subtitles can be a chore. The English dub is a real mixed bag. Most of the voice actors have Eastern European accents, and for some reason it just doesn’t work. I kept getting pulled out of the movie by the accents and the mismatched lip flaps. Usually I can look past that kind of thing, but this time it was tough. Still, the story seemed to flow a bit better with the English dub and I could focus more on Oshii’s visuals.

A haunting empty game world, but so similar to her
real one.

The sound effects work is pretty solid. Some of the in-game stuff is creative, and gives an additional element of the unreal. But the real star of the audio show has to be Kenji Kawai. This score is much like his score for Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence – cold but driving forward. He uses some electronics in this score and it works wonderfully. But the big difference is where the Ghost in the Shell series used ancient Japanese songs as it’s base, Kawai focuses on an Eastern European symphonic sound. This fits Avalon like a glove and makes this one of his most accessible scores for an Oshii film. The final confrontation plays against a symphonic concert with some massive choral performances. It really works wonderfully in the film and also as a stand-alone listen. Kawai and Oshii work together so well, and this film really proves that.

Like Oshii’s other films, each element of filmmaking plays a part in the larger message and themes he is exploring. Once again we come back to perception of reality, a concept he has been exploring since Urasei Yatsura 2:Beautiful Dreamer. Much like Ataru in the dream jumping finale of that silly movie, Ash travels from reality to reality, seeking out an answer to a question she didn’t know she was really asking – which world is my reality? Oshii’s long scenes allow us to soak up the atmosphere and feel of each of the three worlds. And like Ash we begin to feel that Special A, must be the real world. It has all the color, all the excitement, all the “reality” that her life and her game doesn’t have.

"Hey there babe. How about a ride?"

And yet, there’s that hound dog again screwing things up. Why is this dog even in the movie? The easy answer is that Oshii is obsessed with basset hounds. But there is a thematic reason too. As I mentioned we see that Ash cares for her dog much better than she cares for herself. She gets it the best food she can afford. She obviously loves the little guy. When he disappears about halfway through the film, she becomes very distraught.

But Avalon throws us a visual curveball. The hound reappears in Special A, physically in a car passing by (but the camera makes sure we get a good look at him watching Ash). Then, a basset hound is featured on all the posters for the symphony where Ash makes her final reckoning with fate. Seeing her dog catches her eye and draws her to the symphony, sure. But why was the hound selected as the key image for a symphonic concert? Suddenly we have to wonder if this Special A world was built by Ash in a subconscious way. Or maybe it was designed to draw her into a trap. Remember she runs into Murphy in this world, but back in her home world, he is a drooling vegetable. Will Ash suffer the same fate if she stays here? Finally the hound could just be a visual clue the audience that Special A is where Ash will find what she’s looking for – her lost dog and her lost life.

Ash entering the final level? Or ending her life?

Oshii’s movie is like much of his other work. You’ll either enjoy his visual style, his slow evolution of the story and the lengthy dialogue scenes that seem a bit too full of exposition. Or you’ll find the whole thing to be dull and visually unappealing. For some folks the yellow filter is going to be too much to get around. I think that Avalon is a unique film, and one that has a lot of interesting elements. It stands out from the crowd and I certainly found it to be one of the more intriguing science fiction movies I’ve seen in the new millennium. It makes a perfect double feature with David Cronenberg’s eXistenZ.

Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001)

Introduction:

The early 00s had Disney re-examining their approach to animation. Their films weren’t the huge hits they experienced in the 90s. Other studios were stepping up their game, mimicking the Disney formula to compete with the animation juggernaut. In addition anime was making inroads with viewers, as Pokemon became a huge hit. Disney decided to switch gears and make an action adventure animated film without any catchy songs, and with a story inspired by Jules Verne instead of the brothers Grimm.

Summary:

Milo Thatch (Michael J. Fox) is convinced that he can find the lost continent of Atlantis; all he needs is some funding, and someone to believe in his little quest. Well both come his way in the form of wealthy benefactor who needs Milo’s brains to guide his team to the lost world. So Milo joins the mercenary Commander Rourke (James Garner), his femme fatale second in command Helga (Claudia Christian) and a whole host of oddballs and misfits.

After a treacherous submarine journey, followed by a trek through the earth’s crust they find the Atlantis, still around and supporting a civilization. The King Nedakh (Leonard Nimoy) is dying, but that doesn’t keep him from trying to protect his people from outsiders. His daughter Kida (Cree Summer) takes an interest in Milo and his world. But Rouke has other plans for Atlantis and its mysterious power source. If he can bring it back to the surface, he and his crew would be wealthy beyond their wildest dreams. Of course doing that will destroy the kingdom and it’s people. Now Milo must decide if he wants to return home a wealthy man or fight to save Atlantis: The Lost Empire.

Good Points:

• Some wonderful stylized and creative animation
• Captures the vibe of classic adventures stories
• A fine score by James Newton Howard

Bad Points:

• Some of the comic relief characters are too ridiculous
• No catchy musical numbers or super cute characters
• Is more violent and intense than typical Disney fare

Overall:

Disney executes a fine animated experiment. This is a heck of an adventure movie, with likable characters, amazing visuals and a large scope that Disney had not tackled before. Unfortunately some of positive elements get tainted by overly comic characters like “The Mole”. But the turn of the century design, the intense action scenes and wonderful momentum make this one worth checking out.

Scores (out of 5)

Visuals: 5

Sound: 5

Acting: 4

Script: 4

Music: 4

Direction: 4

Entertainment: 4

Total:  4

In Depth Review

This film has a visual scope not seen in most
Disney animated features of the era.

No matter how you feel about Walt Disney’s animation, it is impossible to deny the amazing longevity and legacy of that started in the 1920s. Not too many entertainment (and animation) studios can boast this. I think part of the reason for that longevity is the Disney animation attempting to go in new directions and adapt to changing tastes in entertainment. Obviously Disney himself was a master of innovation and getting the right people together for projects. But the animation studios have weathered some big storms.

By the late 1990s Disney animation had over-tapped their formula. Broadway style musicals with cute animal sidekicks and happily ever after endings were causing audiences to shrug their shoulders at each new animated offering. The studio knew they had to go in a new direction, but seemed uncertain how to proceed. In the end they picked a direction very similar to the one they attempted back in 1985 with The Black Cauldron. They would attempt a non-musical adventure story. Instead of attempting to adapt a well-known and loved fantasy series, they’d use Jules Verne as inspiration. The result is Atlantis: The Lost Empire.

Milo marvels at the production design.

The first thing that strikes most viewers is the visual imagination on display. The design of the submarines and other equipment the expedition uses are well thought out and executed. Yes, there is a little bit of an homage to Disney’s design for the Nautilus from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, but for the most part this is an unique look that Disney had never attempted before.

In addition there is the visually impressive and creative designs for the culture and technology of Atlantis itself. It appears to be centered on a more South Pacific (Easter Island) style than the ancient Greek style we usually see in when Atlantis is mentioned. Combined with that look is a technology that reminds me a bit of something you’d see in an anime. In fact, one of the films that Atlantis: The Lost Empire shares a lot in common with is Hyao Miyazaki’s Castle in the Sky, another period adventure story with some wonderful flying action scenes.

Helga isn't bad, she's just drawn that way.

Finally you have the character design that also looks backwards in the Disney cannon. It reminded me strongly of The Sword in the Stone or 101 Dalmatians. But a fellow blogger pointed out that it also appears to be inspired by Hellboy and artist Mike Mignola’s style. This is probably because he was part of the production design. This is a fresh look, much different from Tarzan or Mulan, the films that preceded this one.

All the Atlantian technology, as well as the mechanical devices the expedition uses required some unique sound design. The did a great job with this, giving Atlantis some amazing sound effects and putting viewers squarely in this lost world. But Atlantis: The Lost Empire was one of the most action packed Disney animations I’ve seen. There’s gunfire, explosions and swooping and diving air machines. The finale battle scene is really immersive, and I remember how impressed I was, when I caught this in theaters.

Because there were no Broadway style musical numbers, the film’s score takes a greater importance. James Newton Howard was brought in to provide this music, and his work here is very impressive. It’s got a big orchestral adventure sound to it, very much like what you’d hear in a live action adventure film from the same era. The score carries the movie extremely well, and works wonders during the scenes without dialogue and the travel montages. A nice end title song works well enough and won’t be confused with something penned by Alan Menkin any time soon (whether that is good or bad is left up to you to decide).

Comic relief overload!

The voice cast for Atlantis: The Lost Empire is really good. Michael J. Fox is recognizable as Milo, but he does a fine job with the role, adding that touch of naïveté that the part requires. When he gets tough by the end of the movie, you feel he’s earned it. Garner seems to be having fun as the gruff and dangerous Commander Rourke. Claudia Christian is smoldering as the femme fatale, and certainly adds to her sexy character design. Nimoy gives the King Nedakh plenty of gravitas and world-weariness to the part. And Cree Summer makes for a solid heroine who will do what she must to save her people.

The supporting cast does a good job too, considering they have such a wide variety of oddball characters to voice. Don Novello as Vinny and Jacqueline Obraors as Audrey are certainly the most likable of the group, and provide some solid laughs with their performances. Jim Varney as Cookie, Corey Buron as “The Mole” and Florence Stanley as Bertha… well your mileage may vary there.

"I'm sorry Milo, but your comic book collection
just doesn't impress me."

That brings me to the script. As a straight up adventure move Atlantis: The Lost Empire delivers the goods. All the story beats you expect in this kind of movie, especially one inspired by Journey to the Center of the Earth and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea are present. But they are handled with confidence and skill. Milo makes for a unique lead character in the Disney cannon, because he is really a nerd. He loves archeology and research, and is really out of his element with these rough and tumble explorers. But he grows as a character, when Atlantis and Kida start to mean more to him than just an objective. It is a believable character arc, and one that makes us root for him, even in the face of the more mercenary characters.

My biggest issue is the over-reliance on the comic relief characters. First of all, there are too many of them. If the script had kept it down to Vinnie and Audrey, it would have been fine. But tossing in Cookie, Bertha, The Mole and even Sweet (Phil Morris) who doesn’t have much of a character at all, just makes the whole film seem cluttered with extra voices, subplots and cheesy jokes. I found “The Mole” to be particularly annoying and baffling. How was this guy supposed to be funny? I wonder if the screenwriters felt that if they made this too serious they would lose viewers. But I think the thrills and adventures carry the film just fine. All the “laughs” end up diluting the whole thing or worse, stopping the script dead for another “Cookie can’t cook” joke.

One of many amazing action sequences.

There is also another elephant in the room when it comes to Atlantis: The Lost Empire. I already mentioned the visual links to Castle in the Sky. There is an anime television series from the early 90s called Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water that shares some of the same plot points and visuals styles with this film. Anime fans were crying foul the minute this move came out. Yes there are similarities between these three. Yes Atlantis feels heavily inspired by anime style of action and editing at times. But that is a good thing. It was a fresh approach that Disney was able to take in and work in their own way. Besides, all three share the same basic DNA with an older style of storytelling – namely Jules Verne and Edger Rice Burroughs. Too call Atlantis a rip off is too harsh. It is inspired by the older works, and takes elements it can use and revamp into it’s own movie. Castle in the Sky and Nadia did the same thing.

The final execution of the film is impressive. Directors Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise keep the whole movie moving forward briskly. Even the stumbles around the comic relief end up being just blips on the journey. Action scenes are handled extremely well, with everything being very clear and yet with a frantic intensity that isn’t often seen in Disney animation. They also work some moments of wonder and awe into the film, to really give the culture of Atlantis some time to shine. Like Milo, we see this as more then a treasure hunt at the end.

Milo and Kida alone in a lost world.

Atlantis: The Lost Empire is a rip-roaring adventure film. It provides some amazing visuals, intense action and a wonderful film score to support what you see on the screen. As far as Disney’s experiments in animation go, this was a resounding success, much better than the clunky and half-baked Black Cauldron. It is a shame that the film wasn’t more popular with audiences and critics. It is also a shame that Disney over-corrected their approach to the adventure film with Treasure Planet, which adds even worse comic relief and has some really bizarre tone problems. Disney animation would end up collapsing on itself. It wouldn’t be until Pixar’s John Lasseter would come on board that things would be corrected. Still Atlantis stands as a worthy achievement during a challenging time in the studio’s history. 

The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra (2001)

Introduction:

Some people take their love of bad movies and go onto the internet and write reviews about them. They want to share the wonder of the bad movie and drag others to witness its beauty. That is one of the reasons The Room has been inflicted on so many innocent people. But other people decide to take a crack at the bad movie piñata with their own bat. Larry Blamire just stepped up to the plate. The result may be as bad as my mixed metaphors.

Summary:

Dr. Paul Armstrong (Larry Blamire) is a scientist who specializes in the field of science.  He and his wife Betty (Fay Masterson) are driving to a remote cabin to spend some time alone together and so he can study a meteorite made of the mysterious element atmospherium (which may be the dumbest name for an element since unobtanium). Meanwhile an evil scientist named Dr. Roger Fleming (Brian Howe) is searching for the Lost Skeleton of Cadavra in the same woodland area. When he finds the skeleton it demands atmospherium so that it can regain all of it’s evil powers.

Then a spaceship lands… no seriously, a spaceship lands. The husband and wife alien duo Kro-Bar (Andrew Parks) and Lattis (Susan McConnell) discover that their pet mutant (Darin Reed) has escaped! They need to capture the mutant, and then get some atmospherium to repair their ship and return to their planet. Before you can say Plan 9 From Outer Space wacky shenanigans ensue as the aliens, the evil doctor and the clueless scientist and his wife all collide. Will the mutant horribly mutilate our heroes? Will the aliens be able to pass as normal humans? Will we find out what kind of animals Animala (Jennifer Blaire) is made of? And who will be the first victim of The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra.

Good Points:

• Manages to parody and capture the feel of a 1950s drive in flick
• The dialogue is a perfect parody of Ed Wood’s best
• Wears its love of bad black and white B movies on its sleeve

Bad Points:

• It is so in on the joke that it can rub viewers the wrong way
• A few scenes go on a little too long
• If you don’t get why people love bad movies, then don’t bother with this one

Overall:

This is a dangerous balancing act: to make a fun schlocky movie while poking fun at schlocky movies. But Blamire and his cast and crew pull it off. They obviously love the movies they are spoofing, and they’ve watched plenty of them. The result is a very fun ride with some very quotable dialogue, hilarious characters and a spirit of fun around every corner. A few of the talky scenes go on a bit long, but in all honesty it could be part of the joke. I had a great time with this one and anyone who enjoys the genre of films (and those particular Mystery Science Theater 3000 episodes that feature those films) will probably enjoy this too.

Scores (out of 5)*

Visuals: 5

Sound: 3

Acting: 5

Script: 4

Music: 5

Direction: 5

Entertainment: 4

Total:  5

*Since the movie is attempting to be bad, I rated the elements on how well it succeeded in matching the schlocky movie vibe. For example, the camera work reminded me strongly of Ed Wood Jr. and Roger Corman camera framing – and so it gets high marks.

Curious about a full review, sent me an email and I’ll make additional thoughts to this review.   

Millennium Actress (2001)

Introduction:

After adapting Perfect Blue from a novel, director Satoshi Kon decided to take on an original story. While it has similar themes to his first animated feature, Millennium Actress is a more ambitious film in many ways. So lets dive into the second full length feature by Kon and see where it takes us.

Summary:

Genya Tachibana (Shozo Izuka) wants to create a documentary about his favorite actress, Chiyoko Fujiwara (Miyoko Shoji). The problem is no one has seen her in years. Some sleuthing reveals her hideaway and he is able to meet with her. Chiyoko is willing to talk about her life, especially when Genya gives her a mysterious key which she lost in the film studio many years earlier.

As she tells the story of her life and the Japanese film industry something extraordinary happens. Genya and his hapless assistant are pulled into the story – quite literally. At first the two men are genuinely confused, as they stand in the frigid snow of late ‘30s Japan. But soon Genya dives in, taking key roles in Chiyoko’s life story with relish. As her tale continues, the lines between her story, the reality around them blurs. The significance of the little key is made vital. For all those listening to the story, they realize this is the last performance of the Millennium Actress.

Good Points:

• Creative visuals and editing
• Chiyoko is a great character
• The finale is especially poignant

Bad Points:

• Budget limitations affect some of the animation
• The humor is not going to work for everyone
• The jumping storyline is going to annoy some viewers

Overall:

Kon’s dynamic visual and storytelling sense is hard at work here. He keeps the story moving by melting the lines between the movies Chiyoko starred in and the story she is telling. And under all the nods to classic Japanese films and fun adventures there’s a lot of heart and humor. Competes for the top spot in Kon’s filmography.

Scores (out of 5)

Visuals: 5

Sound: 5

Voice Acting: 4

Script: 4

Music: 4

Direction: 5

Entertainment: 5

Total: 5

In Depth Review

2001 brought us my personal favorite animated film from Japanese master, Hayao Miyazaki: Spirited Away. The movie not only grabbed all my attention that year, but also won an Academy Award for best animated film. It deserved it no doubt. Little did I know I was missing out on Kon’s sophomore effort in the full-length feature department. I ended up discovering this film on DVD a couple years later and what a find.

Millennium Actress is what cemented me as a fan of his work. All the stylistic elements and themes that he introduced in Perfect Blue are present here but expanded upon. In addition we get to see a new side to the director, his sense of humor and his heart. While Perfect Blue focused on bloody sexy thrills, Millennium Actress is all about nostalgia. It’s a story about the past, and the joy and sadness that entails.

Like Mima from Perfect Blue, Chiyoko is the center of the story – a woman who is used to having people watch her. But for Chiyoko, her life as an actress was a pleasure. Kon does an interesting thing here, having Chiyoko as her older self (in her 70s or so) tell the tale to Genya. As the story continues we see it in a flashback form. At least we assume it’s a flashback – until we see Genya and his assistant standing in the snow of Chiyoko’s village back in the 1930s. They are just as surprised to be there as we are surprised to see them. Much like Scrooge from A Christmas Carol they cannot be heard or seen. So they watch the memory unfold and comment on the action. These moments are pretty funny, and Kon’s animation team gives the two men some great expressions to match their dialogue.

But what is most interesting here is that Genya and his pal treat these memories as movies. The assistant is always filming the memories, as if they are going to be part of the documentary. But he is never completely pulled into what he sees. His cynical nature provides for some great one-liners, but also is a contrast to his boss.

Genya reacts as he does whenever he watches any of Chiyoko’s work. He is a devoted fan and is stunned to be watching these memories play out. He ends up cheering her on and even crying in sympathy when the young Chiyoko loses her first love and is only left with the small metal key.

The funny thing is you are watching two men watch a memory like a movie about an actress. How many levels is that?

But Kon goes a step further. Once Chiyoko starts working on films, the presentation twists again. Many times the films she works on mirror what is going on in her life. So we’ll be watching a memory with Genya. He’ll make a comment and then a voice yells “cut”, and the “memory” we just saw turns out to be a scene in her movie. And vice versa. But when these events are referenced later in the film, they turn out to be both films she worked on as well as an event that occurred in her life. This is very reminiscent of Perfect Blue where Mima was mixing reality with her work on Double Bind. But here the effect isn’t sinister, but ties to the theme of Chiyoko’s life being so connected to films that it becomes a movie.

This element is the main one that ends up confusing and frustrating viewers of the film. When I do see negative reviews of it, its mostly because the viewer loses patience with the constant altering of reality. For me its an amazing ride, an done done with animation, but using techniques that you see most often in film: editing, camera placement and acting. Kon and his crew had to plan each shot of this film with the utmost care and get the animation just right, so we could see from the characters visual cues, which scenes were real and which were not. I love animation’s ability to flesh out new worlds and create the impossible. But this is a subtly you just don’t see too often, and the way its employed here in an animate medium is really something else.

For those who do get confuse while watching Millennium Actress, Kon provides some clues. Genya is just like us, confused by the constant switches in reality. But after a few sequences, he gets into it, cheering from the sidelines or even better, getting caught up in the action. This is what Kon is telling us to do. Forget logic and reality. Just go with the story, get pulled in and enjoy the flow. Genya embodies this by going from watcher to active participant. He literally becomes some of the key characters in Chiyoko’s memories/films. Most often he comes to her rescue at a key moment, dressed in some outrageous outfit (but perfectly natural for the memory/film). My favorite scene with him is during the time when Chiyoko films a Kurosawa inspired samurai epic. He suddenly appears as her devoted samurai general who is willing to do anything to save her. If you’ve seen Hidden Fortress by Kurosawa the scene is even funnier.

Genya is an interesting character in a lot of ways. Basically he’s a middle-aged fan boy. He grew up idolizing Chiyoko and knows quite a bit about her. We begin to wonder why he wants to make this documentary in the first place. He’s too kind hearted to be a stalker like Mr. Me-mania from Perfect Blue. The truth is that he knows more about Chiyoko than she really guesses. For Genya this last storytelling session with her is a bit of closure. As the movie goes along Genya goes from comedic audience surrogate to a main player in her life story, even though she didn’t know it at the time. It’s a great twist that stays true to the characters and leads into the poignant finale.

But the reason Millennium Actress works is the fact that Chiyoko is really a great character. In the film three different voice actresses perform her character: one for the scenes where she is a child, one for her adult years and the final one for the elderly version. But the casting is top notch, each woman sounding like a natural extension of the previous. Kon’s character design is also masterful, again skewing more toward the realistic than the typical anime look. Chiyoko looks like the same woman as she grows up, and this allows us to feel like we are watching her life story unfold in reality, film and in her mind.

Like Citizen Kane there is a mystery at the heart of the story. Genya is able to interview Chiyoko because he found a small metal key she lost long ago. He returns it to her and it triggers a whole bunch of memories. The story of how she got the key and the search it lead her on is fused to the reason why she became an actress. Throughout the story the key is a MacGuffin, but one that actually has a neat payoff.

There are so many things I could write about that this review could be endless. This movie has a lot of little treats hidden away, moments of amazing visual power and a great musical score that works perfectly with it (as long as you don’t mind Vangelis style electronics). It also helps if you know a bit about Japanese film. There’s a ton of little nods to the movies of Akira Kurosawa as well as Godzilla. But if I keep talking about the movie, it will spoil some of the surprises and it’s really a movie that plays out better as you make the discoveries on your own.

As of this writing, this movie is still available on DVD in the US. Dreamworks picked up the distribution rights and gave it a pretty solid presentation.

As much as I like Perfect Blue and appreciate how it is an amazing first feature, Millennium Actress is a superior film. It delves deeply into Kon’s take on reality and memories, something that will pop up again in Paranoia Agent as well as Paprika. But most of all it introduced us to his humor. This takes center stage in his next film Tokyo Godfathers, and would turn warped and dark in Paranoia Agent and Paprika. 
But here Kon presents an ode to nostalgia, the memories of the past colored by our loss and the need to look past our history and into the future wherever that journey may lead. If my description of Perfect Blue turned you off, I suggest you start with Millennium Actress instead. It’s got all the visual elements I love about Kon and has a great story at heart of it too, can’t go wrong there.