Review of Millennium Actress (2002) by Adam K — 05 Sep 2014
The way Kon layers narratives, fictions, and obsessions into a tightly woven, nearly indistinguishable tapestry is clever and well executed. His (apparently) signature cuts between realities are an efficient and artful way to connect and elaborate these ideas.
The problem is just that there isn't much here beyond 'clever.' The driving premise is a romance so thin and melodramatic that it shades heavily into obsession, mirrored by the framing filmmaker's obsession with the titular actress.
Kon seems so focused on the twists and layers of his plot and how he can move between them and blur them that he doesn't spend much time giving any weight or depth to the characters. That's kind of a shame just because I think the premise isn't inherently unemotional.
It's a postmodernist (yay) dissection of the narratives we apply to our lives, and a director as smart as Kon should have been able to apply that theme to someone with a narrative a bit more realistic and compelling.
This review of Millennium Actress (2002) was written by Adam K on 05 Sep 2014.
Millennium Actress has generally received very positive reviews.
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