For anyone interested, Turner Classic Movies will be airing the 1973 anime classic Belladonna of Sadness at 2:15 am on March 5th. After lurking in obscurity for almost four decades, it was remastered last year and released to critical acclaim. I haven't seen the film (recorder's all set), but many consider it to be the first great anime.
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/20 ... -5/.112719
Belladonna of Sadness to air on TCM
Re: Belladonna of Sadness to air on TCM
Wow... I've seen Belladonna of Sadness... the word that comes to mind when I think of that movie is groovy. 
The animation is limited and a lot of the look is '60s-'70s dated pop art, but many of the individual drawings are very beautiful, especially when Jeanne is depicted as that horned panther creature during the peasant orgy.
If it does well, I hope they show A Thousand and One Nights.
The animation is limited and a lot of the look is '60s-'70s dated pop art, but many of the individual drawings are very beautiful, especially when Jeanne is depicted as that horned panther creature during the peasant orgy. If it does well, I hope they show A Thousand and One Nights.
-
cutiebunny
- Yosutebito - Hermit
- Posts: 1937
- Joined: Sat Jul 23, 2005 1:55 pm
- Location: Rockin' da Cats-bah
- Contact:
Re: Belladonna of Sadness to air on TCM
I watched it last night and while the artwork was really lovely (though dated), I didn't care much for the story, especially the opening where Jeanne is raped and there's victim blaming. I know this was made in a different time, but the demon telling her that her husband is too tired to do anything with her because this happened to her really bothered me.
I'd love for TCM or any other network to show more anime. More exposure to good shows can't hurt.
I'd love for TCM or any other network to show more anime. More exposure to good shows can't hurt.
Re: Belladonna of Sadness to air on TCM
Parts of it were enthralling, but I agree, the narrative suffered, particularly in its second half, where the story lost focus and dissolved into a lot of ugly, repetitive imagery. I can't fault the film for a lack of ambition and ingenuity, but it's many problems prevented it from being the avant garde masterpiece it aspired to be IMO. Still, I appreciate the film as an interesting footnote in anime history, and I'm not sorry I watched it.cutiebunny wrote:I watched it last night and while the artwork was really lovely (though dated), I didn't care much for the story, especially the opening where Jeanne is raped and there's victim blaming. I know this was made in a different time, but the demon telling her that her husband is too tired to do anything with her because this happened to her really bothered me.
I'd love for TCM or any other network to show more anime. More exposure to good shows can't hurt.
Bring on the anime TCM!
Re: Belladonna of Sadness to air on TCM
The story did disappear in the second half of the film, but I thought that was all for the best. The establishment raping, stealing, and brutalizing a tired, beaten down, and dying peasantry wasn't anything new or ingenious, and the point was belabored before the devil even showed up.
I think the second half is better. When I think of "Belladonna of Sadness", I think of the trippy scenes: the Peter Max-esc trip through time when Jeanne gives herself to the devil; the scene where the bubonic plague hits and the town literally melts; the peasant orgy when the peasants ooze and change into half animal sexualized creatures; and the love scene between Jean and Jeanne where they just morph into each other in different ways. Unfortunately, the look and the music is very dated in all these scenes. However, these scenes really showed the power of animation to depict a feeling, and that animation is not bound by anything in the real world.
Still, it's just so... groovy that it's hard to watch.
It has that hippie zeitgeist ... like ... "Brother Sun, Sister Moon", or "Godspell".
I think the second half is better. When I think of "Belladonna of Sadness", I think of the trippy scenes: the Peter Max-esc trip through time when Jeanne gives herself to the devil; the scene where the bubonic plague hits and the town literally melts; the peasant orgy when the peasants ooze and change into half animal sexualized creatures; and the love scene between Jean and Jeanne where they just morph into each other in different ways. Unfortunately, the look and the music is very dated in all these scenes. However, these scenes really showed the power of animation to depict a feeling, and that animation is not bound by anything in the real world.
Still, it's just so... groovy
that it's hard to watch. It has that hippie zeitgeist
... like ... "Brother Sun, Sister Moon", or "Godspell".