(Spoiler Alert!) Millennium Actress: A LifeLong Pursuit

A lifelong pursuit is perhaps the shortest but precise summary for Millennium Actress. It depicts the life of Chiyoko Fujiwara as a parallel to her acting career, which are somewhat similar to each other with one ultimate goal–to seek someone she wishes to return an item to. A fate that begins in her adolescence, and continues till the end of her life. Film director Satoshi Kon perfectly expresses the feeling of surrealism of Millennium Actress through the form of anime and seamless transitions that blurs Chiyoko’s life into a masterpiece of art that is filled with joy, challenges, sorrow, grief and hopes. It is a story about love, motivation,  self-growth, and a revisit back to Japanese history in the 1900s, where wars and propagandas were forms of normality.

 

Millennium Actress holds a rather simple plot. However, the art form and storyline is as fruitful as a dish of deliciousness, full of content and satisfying texture. Following the chronological timeline of Millennium Actress, the story's protagonist, Chiyoko Fujiwara is given birth on the day of the Great Kanto earthquake (Tokyo-Yokohama earthquake); a day that also marks the ending of her father’s life. Japan, having suffered from the loss of 140,000 lives and two major cities, enters into a depression state. Only three years after the earthquake, Japan’s emperor of the Taisho era died  in 1926; The country officially welcomed the coming of Showa era and the new emperor Hirohito, whose enthronement rituals were seen as a foreshadowing of chauvinistic nationalism. Large amounts of money were invested into making the enthronement happen, but for Japan at the time, the spending was beyond its low budget; Japan’s economy after the Hirohito’s enthronement worsened. People were more devastated, Japan continued lacking necessary resources, and soon the pre-war era arrived.

During Chiyoko’s youth, she describes the world around her as “a turbulent and dangerous place.” A country that is all in chasing for national benefits and extreme ideologies. Propagandas about war are posted along with posters that emphasize self-sacrifice and devotion for Japan. People whose actions conflict with the trending belief would be seen as traitors–even persecuted to death.

Obedience, perseverance, deindividualize, Chiyoko grows under such an environment where her life is to pursue what the country pursues. Even when the Ginei Studio scout wants to hire Chiyoko as a young actor, he emphasizes the amount of benefits it would produce for her mother nation. While on scout’s side, Chiyoko is able to contribute to Japan as an actor, Chiyoko’s mother is against his idea and thinks that becoming a housewife is the correct way for a woman to dedicate herself for her country; Chiyoko feels hesitant at the same time lost with the two options given to her. She leaves both her mother and the scout in the room with their argument as she goes out for a walk on snowy streets, and throws snowballs onto walls as a release of her emotions. 

The color of red appears obvious and attractive for sights in the snow. The red brick wall, the Japanese flag, the propagandas. Almost everything else is in a tone of black of white, even Chiyoko’s red-pink scarf loses its saturation and gains the color of limestone statues. She is rather alone and depressed. As Chiyoko continues walking down the neighborhood she is pushed by a man from behind, who is in a hurry escaping the pursuit of the Japanese Government. Out of sudden urge, Chiyoko decides to help him. 

The man is placed inside of Chiyoko’s family storage house to avoid being discovered. Only at night times Chiyoko sneaks into the storage house, bandages his injuries, and listens to his stories. The man explains his identity as a painter, as he carries a rectangular shaped canvas covered by a black sheet, and a box of painting tools. He wish, that when peace comes, he is able to finish his painting back in his hometown Hokkaido during its heavy winter. But before such time may come, the man wishes to go to his friends who are currently fighting in Manchuria; he has to leave Chiyoko’s house. He promises Chiyoko that once the turbulence in their country ends, he will invite her to Hokkaido to express his gratitude toward her kindness. Their conversation continues on, and the topic turns to the man’s key necklace. “It is a key that opens something important.” Explained by the man. Upon observing his locked paint box, Chiyoko is completely aware of what the “important thing” the man implies. Still, she makes a promise with the man in giving her a day of time to guess what the key is for. Except she is never able to tell him the answer as the Japanese government eventually discovers traces of the man, and the man has no choice but to take his leave early; he accidentally drops his key while attempting to escape on a train going in the direction of Manchuria. Despite knowing the difficulty for her to meet the man again, Chiyoko still wants to keep their promise. She wears the key that the man dropped and says to the faraway train: “I will go…I will go to you!” Thus Chiyoko’s journey into fulfilling her promise with the man begins. Or should we say, at this point, we are finishing the ending of one of Chiyoko’s films. 

The intriguing part about Millennium Actress is predictably known for its surrealism, as I have touched on a little bit at the beginning of this blog. For audiences who are familiar with Satoshi Kon’s other work of films, such as Paprika and Perfect Blue, the immersion of reality and none-real world are applied by Kon in a way that only anime can reproduce the same stunning effect; the seamlessness of the transitions in Paprika, Perfect Blue and Millennium Actress always leave me speechless, at the same time paying more respect to Kon’s creativity. Back to Millennium Actress, when we perhaps are watching Chiyoko’s story of her life, we are unsure whether or not we are seeing just other cinema films she participates in. Because in both her films and life, she is always pursuing the man, wishing to return his key to him. 

My immature writing on Millennium Actress is, and never will be able to express the fascinating visuals that this film brings us. The parallelity of Chiyoko’s career and life is not only a proof of her determination to find the man again, but that the pursuit of him also means significantly to the building of her own character. As Chiyoko states at the end of the film, maybe the man isn’t what matters on her journey. Because at the end of the day, what she really “likes is the pursuit of him.” 

 

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(Spoiler Alert!) Millennium Actress: A LifeLong Pursuit – PereCreate 

 

Paprika: The Balance Established by Dream & Reality

Paprika: The Balance Established by Dream & Reality

Dreams, free of all physical forms and logical thought system, is an unpredictable yet imaginative experience that occurs in bits of our lives. The film Paprika released in 2006 is a masterpiece directed by Satoshi Kon, as it jumps back and forth on the boundaries of real and imagined worlds. Following the sight of Paprika, or Dr. Chiba Atsuko (Megumi Hayashibara), we get to witness different dreams of many characters as their minds rip away from reality, and dive deep into a complex conspiracy. 

Launched by Dr. Chiba and her colleague Dr. Kosaku Tokita (Toru Furuya), the dream device DC Mini is invented and in development for purposes of dream psychotherapy. DC Mini gives those who are connected to the device the ability to enter one’s dream, which allows the patient and therapist to be in the same dream created by the patient’s subconscious mind. Such a therapy method was introduced in the beginning of the film, when policeman Konakawa and Paprika dives into his dream relative to his pursuit of a criminal. 

Interestingly to say, Paprika’s motif on the topic of dream and reality penetrates throughout the entire film; the boundaries of reality and dreams are meant to be the reflection of one’s self, the outer mind and inner mind. Neither can be dismissed. 

Let’s observe Chiba Atsuko and Paprika, they originate from the same person, which is Chiba herself. But the way they talk and interact is apparently distinct from each other. Chiba is an attractive woman that speaks stoically. She barely smiles, and tends to distance herself away from everyone else except Tokita. Her dark blue hair is clipped up as she always walks fast like the wind. Ever before the end of the film Chiba stands as the definition of permanence. Same suit, same High heels, same attitude to almost everyone around her. If anyone were to be the “antonym” of Chiba, it would be Paprika. She exhibits an expressive kind of beauty, making her a lovely and friendly woman just from her appearance; the color of her bright red blouse t-shirt makes her someone attractive and a tolerant figure like the sun. But is it really possible to say that they are not the same, and should be judged as two different figures? 

Paprika: “Leave that irresponsible fatso!”

Chiba Atsuko: “Why won’t you listen to me? You’re a part of me!” 

Paprika: “Have you ever thought that maybe you’re a part of me?”

Here comes the paradox, Paprika and Chiba are different people, but similar enough to call each other the reflection of themselves. Just like what we previously said, Paprika originates from Chiba, nevertheless, Paprika prefers to be identified as herself, and not Chiba. In fact, Paprika never once says that she is part of Chiba, and she sees Chiba as another individual: “If anything happens to Atsuko, use the…” is what Paprika tells Dr. Shima (Hori Katsunosuke) in dream of finding Tokita’s consciousness. Therefore, Chiba and Paprika both sense the difference between them, and does not consider their existence presents because of the other’s presence; they live with their own minds. 

The lack of logic is perfectly explained by the imperfect yet powerful imagination of dreams. Which eventually concludes a paradoxical message regarding dream and reality. They stand as two sides, having their pros and cons, and inseparable or one another.

Thank you for reading.

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