This beautiful animation...relies on an interesting mix of reality and fantasy...and the result is an intelligent, complex and multi-layered anime that pays equal attention to romance, the philosophy of destiny, and Japanese cinematic history.

| Original Score: 4.5/5 | Aug 21, 2024

... truth and fiction, time and memory, love and loss, all intermingle until the only way to get to the end of the story is not through the linear path but by jumping forward and backward and forward again as memory becomes the road we travel.

| Mar 21, 2022

[A] jewel of Japanese animation. [Full review in Spanish]

| Original Score: 5/5 | Mar 4, 2021

A haunting love story.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Nov 30, 2019

If you enjoy incredible storytelling and vibrant fantasy, this will assuredly provide an emotional experience.

| Aug 18, 2019

Co-writer/director Satoshi Kon's 2002 Millennium Actress comes close to achieving the highest artistry while delivering a bittersweet, deeply moving narrative.

| Aug 14, 2019

A special chance to see a stunning work of art...

| Original Score: 5/5 | Aug 9, 2019

A chase film that's chasing after films. All the world's a set as cinema and reality thrillingly blur in this second feature from Satoshi Kon.

| Feb 9, 2016

Arty Japanese animated drama is too complex for little ones.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Dec 15, 2010

A winning combination of humor, emotional resonance and striking, indelible imagery.

| Original Score: 5/5 | Nov 17, 2010

Insofar as the movie recreates Japanese film history, it's as a means of exploring history more generally.

| Original Score: 9/10 | Feb 5, 2010

| Original Score: 4/5 | May 12, 2007

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Oct 7, 2005

The finest anime film I've ever seen.

| Original Score: A | May 4, 2005

Paints a vivid portrait, blending pathos and unrequited love with a rich collage of Japanese history

| Original Score: 4/5 | May 25, 2004

Like Perfect Blue, Millennium Actress is about living with ghosts, but where the one is all shadow, Millennium Actress is all alight.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | May 10, 2004

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Feb 4, 2004

The movie's outer spectacle works better than its story.

| Original Score: 7/10 | Jan 11, 2004

Millennium Actress is smart and complex and beautifully constructed.

| Dec 10, 2003

Millennium Actress has more layers to it than the proverbial onion, but Kon's sure hand keeps things moving right along.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Oct 27, 2003