Sita Sings the Blues
Saw the movie on Wednesday at the Central Cinema, a cute local theater where
you can also have drinks and adult beverages (stout floats, anyone?).
The movie is beautifully animated and all the more impressive
considering it was written and produced by one person with a copy of
Flash (cartoonist Nina Paley). The story of Sita and Rama from Indian
mythology is told with musical interludes, where Sita sings with the
voice of 20s jazz crooner Annete Hanshaw (copyright snafus involving
Hanshaw's songs are the main reason the movie hasn't found regular
distribution, which is a shame). Parts of the story are also narrated
in hilarious fashion by a "Hindu chorus" of shadow puppets who keep
mixing up details and disagreeing about how things happened or why.
Another kind of framing device is also laid on top of everything, and
this is the story of Nina Paley's real-life breakup with her husband
as he takes a job in India. The animation is done in a looser style,
seemingly freehand, with very wobbly, cartoony lines. The real Paley
provides her own voice and in these segments the acting is quite
amateur - the effect to me is a like a mediocre autobio comic and
certainly would not have made a good film on its own. These brief
scenes do provide us a modern-day "in" to the story, and serve as a sort
of explanation for all the anachronisms, but I was glad when we got
back to the more colorful animation and fun visuals. Apart from that
complaint, this was a really fun and entertaining film and I'm glad I
saw it in a theater. You can also watch it online
(http://www.sitasingstheblues.com/watch.html).
you can also have drinks and adult beverages (stout floats, anyone?).
The movie is beautifully animated and all the more impressive
considering it was written and produced by one person with a copy of
Flash (cartoonist Nina Paley). The story of Sita and Rama from Indian
mythology is told with musical interludes, where Sita sings with the
voice of 20s jazz crooner Annete Hanshaw (copyright snafus involving
Hanshaw's songs are the main reason the movie hasn't found regular
distribution, which is a shame). Parts of the story are also narrated
in hilarious fashion by a "Hindu chorus" of shadow puppets who keep
mixing up details and disagreeing about how things happened or why.
Another kind of framing device is also laid on top of everything, and
this is the story of Nina Paley's real-life breakup with her husband
as he takes a job in India. The animation is done in a looser style,
seemingly freehand, with very wobbly, cartoony lines. The real Paley
provides her own voice and in these segments the acting is quite
amateur - the effect to me is a like a mediocre autobio comic and
certainly would not have made a good film on its own. These brief
scenes do provide us a modern-day "in" to the story, and serve as a sort
of explanation for all the anachronisms, but I was glad when we got
back to the more colorful animation and fun visuals. Apart from that
complaint, this was a really fun and entertaining film and I'm glad I
saw it in a theater. You can also watch it online
(http://www.sitasingstheblues.com/watch.html).