In Rob Zemeckis’s Forrest Gump, the presidencies of JFK & LBJ, Vietnam, Watergate, and other American history unfold through the perspective of an Alabama man with an IQ of 75. In Satoshi Kon’s Millennium Actress, TV interviewer Genya Tachibana and his cameraman track down a reclusive former actress Chiyoko Fujiwara, to document her life story.
As she tells her story, Genya and his crew are literally pulled into her memories where they witness her chance encounter with a mysterious man. Chiyoko relentlessly pursues that man, blurring the line between reality and cinema.
In a sense, Forrest Gump is a generational capsule of the West, while Millennium Actress encapsulates the East. Both Forrest and Chiyoko serve as a prism for their respective country’s collective history. Both films reflect the journey of life itself and how life is more than meets the eye.
A Tale of Two Prisms
Forrest is a cipher with a ringside seat for many of the most memorable events of the second half of the 20th century; the movie plays like a best hits collection of post-World War 2 America. Forrest has a flat character arc; he doesn’t really change but he does impact the world around him.
He doesn’t comment on or affect what’s happening; everything happens to him. Much like the feather that bookends the opening and final scene, he just goes where he’s blown. He’s more like a random element moving through vignettes woven together by chance.
This movie is seen through his eyes and not that of an observer who gives context, so when he comes across Civil Rights activists or Black Panthers, for example, all he sees is what’s in front of him and not the reasons behind it.
When he goes to Vietnam, he doesn’t question why, he just goes along and does what he’s told. We aren’t told in the movie the background behind these events; we’re supposed to know already. Like the movie itself, Forrest is silent on any political stance.
Chiyoko means “child of thousand years/generations” or “millennium child”. Chiyoko not only travels through her own history of being a film star but we travel with her through Japan’s history (general, military, technological, art).
We see Japan go from the Edo period to the more European fashion of the Meiji era. Satoshi Kon’s editing transitions seamlessly from horse riding, to European style carriage, to automobiles and bicycles. The background transitions from woodblock paintings to the more vibrant Taisho era design; a period that resulted in Japan embracing Western styles and technologies.
Running As Motif
Forrest’s college football uniform is always spotless, due to the fact that no-one is fast enough to catch him. He starts running to escape bullies, ultimately breaking free of his disabilities. In due course, he runs faster and faster, ending up running for 1170 days and 16 hours. His journey becomes a metaphor for the pursuit of happiness.
The movie has a recurrence of the phrase “for no particular reason….” Forrest never seems to care for a particular reason. He enjoys running and it’s what’s he’s always good at. He’s not exactly running away from anything; he’s running towards the right things. Everyone sees him running and assumes he has a destination, when in reality Forrest just felt the call to run. It’s not about “Why?” – it’s about “Why not?”
Chiyoko Fujiwara runs because she in love with who she was while chasing her mystery man. She found joy and meaning through the act of chasing something forever out of reach. It’s about the searching, not the finding for her. Some people hate Chiyoko because they feel she wasted her life chasing after a man. But everyone pursues something, whether it be money, fame, a better job, school, greener pastures.
Who are we to say that love is a lesser goal? Millennium Actress can be interpreted as a film about what pushes an artist to do their art. In some way, I think all artists experience something before and are trying to relive or recreate it through their work. However, it’s just an idea and something not tangible so they never truly get it.
Chiyoko’s obsession with the idea of love runs parallel with the painter’s obsession with peace after the war. It’s about the pursuit of dreams, but the one that keeps propelling us further! This message of love, the artistry of how it presents its theme throughout a single action as running and how it reflects so strongly on what it means in Millennium Actress.
Innocence in Complex Times
Forrest is like the human embodiment of a Boomer’s lost innocence and everything that goes right for him seems like it’s because of that. Like, so much boomer anguish really comes down to mourning the loss of innocence – no wonder this film has been claimed by American conservatives. Forrest spends his entire life in a state of perpetual “1950s child” while Jenny never got to be innocent, she never got to stay the same, and she seemed to spend her life desperately chasing that feeling.
Chiyoko is a composite of many notable Japanese actresses, particularly Setsuko Hara who was one of the greatest screen presences equally adept at playing different roles in different genres of films so perfectly.
Much like Chiyoko’s love, Hara was rumored to have been in love with Yasujirō Ozu (director of Tokyo Story and Late Spring) She didn’t leave the screen due to Ozu’s death (which occurred in 1963), as she retired in 1962. There are photos of Hara and Ozu looking very much at ease, even like a couple, but Ozu was known for not having intimate relationships, as was Hara.
Female Empowerment
The most objectified character in Forrest Gump is Jenny – and I don’t mean objectification of the oversexualized “male gaze” variety. Her character goes through so much, almost like an object on which you dump all of your cruelty.
The number of bad things that happen to Jenny are so absurd that if you put her in a dark comedy, you have a really good satire on conservative ideas of women: where women are seen as dumb objects who don’t know the “good path” by themselves; where women are attracted towards liberal ideas which destroys them. And in the end, it is actually an “empty headed” rural man through whom she becomes “better”.
As such, she is punished for her “sins”. Rather than a character foil to Forrest, Jenny exists as a fantasy to emphasize the moral value of our protagonist! Jenny never got to be innocent, she never got to stay the same, and she seemed to spend her life desperately chasing that feeling.
Unlike Jenny, Chiyoko cannot regret taking on her choices. Unlike Jenny, the love of her life isn’t simply there to be a symbol of longing for the past but also a representation of her passion and what she has currently become as a woman and a person.
There are points in which Chiyoko’s real life and her films completely intersect and you can either take this literal as in she’s an old woman with a failing memory, who’s life has just sort of blurred together with her films, or you can take it as symbolic in that her movies were her life. They represented her and everything she lived through. They were her art and her art was her. In short, Millennium Actress did a much better job at exploring the complicated history of Japan through the very specific perspective of one woman.
A Touch of Destiny
Forrest Gump can be summed up by that random floating feather. While every other character wants to be some part of a subgroup or collective, Forrest is an individual who just goes with the flow. His decisions are already made for him; there’s always someone telling him to run. Forrest never goes looking for a path – it’s the path that finds Forrest. While Jenny chases fame, Forrest becomes famous. While Bubba aspires to own a shrimp business, Forrest actually owns a shrimp business.
While Lt Dan dreams of being a war hero, Forrest is adorned with all medals of honour. These characters have convinced themselves that they are destined to be something in life, but Forrest achieves all their goals without intending to.
Forrest’s superpower is that he is aware of how unaware he is. He knows he has no control over the future; hence, he doesn’t even have an expectation to begin with. Perhaps the film’s apolitical message is that we should be more open to opportunities that come our way in the random unpredictability of life, without overthinking the expectations.
Millennium Actress is just as romantic and optimistic in nature, but it does show how Imperial Japan has also been responsible for taking away the love of the protagonist’s life. Acknowledging that much of this fantastical portrayal of her history, is ultimately Chiyoko’s own perspective of her journey.
She tries to find inspiration in which she herself has been able to overcome in her life to be such an admirable figure. Fiction is the eternal pursuit of our desires and ideals. What really spoke to me about Millennium Actress is that it shows fiction is an important part of lived experience.
Chiyoko may not have lived her movies the way she tells it, but they were real because they were real to her. Chiyoko’s story shows us that our journey in life is sometimes more important than the goals that we try to reach. We may or may not get the future that we want, but as long as we do our best in the present – we have lived a fulfilled life.
A Box of Chocolates and Lotuses
Forrest Gump isn’t exactly critical of our world, but celebratory of it. It flows like a trip down a clean wholesome time before the 1960s changed everything (some on the Right might even say “ruined everything”). It’s about a man who’s slow but he doesn’t let that stop him from doing anything in life. Forrest represents the better side of ourselves; the side that we need to be on. Gump’s helps Lieutenant Dan find the strength to heal and their growing friendship is probably the best dynamic of the film.
Millennium Actress is littered with lotus symbolism. The lotus flower has been known to represent purity, rebirth, self-realization and longevity, all of which Chiyoko’s forlorn quest revolves around. It all feels like memorabilia of the beautiful, tragic, and heart-pounding feelings that are invoked and pulled out from a long-forgotten memory until now.
From the gorgeous animation to Susumu Hirasawa’s legendary soundtrack to the ethereal blending of reality and memories and movies to Chiyoko’s captivating life story to Genya’s infectious enthusiasm, Satoshi Kon crafted a perfect film with absolute mastery in all areas!
In the end, our lives are a lot like movies themselves, high and low points, love, despair, regret and everything in between. In the end of it all, all we have left is the memories that we’ve experienced. I loved seeing those memories become analogous to moments in an All-American kick returner/Vietnam veteran/Medal of Honor recipient, or moments in a famous actress’ films!
Mike’s love for films began when his dad introduced him to The Usual Suspects. From that moment on, he never looked back. Now, having explored thousands of films, he has mastered the art of unpeeling each facet gracefully. Mike especially loves writing movie reviews that are narratives in themselves, offering a unique perspective and depth you won’t find anywhere else. His insightful and captivating reviews bring each film to life, making him a standout voice in the world of cinema.