Tuesday, February 16, 2010
LOVE AND PAIN
Today's movie was Nina Paley's animated
This is a wonderful film. Paley's real life romantic difficulties are compared to the saga of Sita and Rama in the Ramayana.
There are four levels of experience. Paley's line drawing animation of her own story, shadow puppet narrators of the Rama/Sita story (contemporary, ironically funny, Indian voices), the legend itself in classical indian art and a wonderful Betty Boop kind of cartoon of Sita singing the blues to the 1920s recordings of Annette Henshaw.
What a mix.
Cultural overload. Almost.
I was a little apprehensive about seeing this film. All that Indian stuff. But it is quite contemporary with a true multi-culti post-fem sensibility. Very nicely done.
Paley pretty much produced this herself. It was not promoted highly but won a lot of Fest awards and had a semi-successful theater history. It is now one of the longest waits on Neflix. It lives on as a DVD.
I enjoyed it a lot and would not mind at all seeing it again.
That makes it a 4 out of Netflix5.
Labels: films