BELLADONNA OF SADNESS
One of the great lost masterpieces of Japanese animation, never before officially released in the U.S., Belladonna of Sadness is a mad, swirling, psychedelic light-show of medieval tarot-card imagery with horned demons, haunted forests and La Belle Dame Sans Merci, equal parts J.R.R. Tolkien and gorgeous,
explicit Gustav Klimt-influenced eroticism. The last film in the adult-themed Animerama trilogy produced
by the godfather of Japanese anime & manga, Osamu Tezuka and directed by his long time collaborator Eiichi Yamamoto (Astro Boy and Kimba The White Lion), Belladonna unfolds as a series of spectacular still watercolor paintings that bleed and twist together. An innocent young woman, Jeanne (voiced by Aiko Nagayama) is violently raped by the local lord on her wedding night. To take revenge, she makes a pact with the Devil himself (voiced by Tatsuya Nakadai, from Akira Kurosawa’s Ran) who appears as an erotic sprite and transforms her into a black-robed vision of madness and desire.
Extremely transgressive and not for the easily offended, Belladonna is fueled by a mindblowing Japanese psych rock soundtrack by noted avant-garde jazz composer Masahiko Satoh. The film has been newly restored by Cinelicious Pics using the original 35mm camera negative and sound elements – and including over 8 minutes of surreal and explicit footage cut from the negative. On par with Rene Laloux’s Fantastic Planet and Ralph Bakshi’s Wizards as an LSD-stoked 1970s head trip, Belladonna marks a major rediscovery for animation fans. If Led Zeppelin had a favorite film, this would be it. In other words, Stairway to Hell.
SCREENING: El Cosmico - THURS 7/14 - 9:00 PM
Short
86m
Japan
Eiichi Yamamoto
Born in 1940, Eiichi Yamamoto took interest in animation when he was only a junior in high school. He joined Mushi Productions, which Osamu Tezuka established as his first animation studio in 1960. Yamamoto directed three anima- tion features, of which Belladonna of Sadness is the final film in the trilogy called “Animerama,” a series of animations made for an adult audience.
CONTACT
David Marriott: d.marriott@cineliciouspics.com
Dennis Bartok: d.bartok@cineliciouspics.com
CREDITS
Producer: Tadayoshi Watanabe
Director: Eiichi Yamamoto
Key Animator: Gisaburo Sugii
Script: Yoshiyuki Fukuda and Eiichi Yamamoto
Art Director and Water Color Paintings: Kuni Fukai Music: Masahiko Satoh
Cinematographer: Shigeru Yamazaki Original Book: Satanism & Witchcraft written by Jules Michelet
Cast:
Jeanne: Aiko Nagayama
Jean: Takao Ito
Satan: Tatsuya Nakadai