#animerama

[fujikosouvenir]

Belladonna of Sadness 哀しみのベラドンナ 1973 Japanese movie poster, version 1

[starcrossedscreams]

Belladonna of Sadness (dir. Eiichi Yamamoto, 1973)

[motoko-memories]

Cleopatra: Queen of Sex . Osamu Tezuka & Eiichi Yamamoto . 1970

[fostersffff]

My copy of Belladonna of Sadness came in, which means this weekend is the Animerama marathon!

Looking forward to becoming Cultured™

[cadavezr]

千夜一夜物語, A Thousand and One Nights (1969). Directed by Eiichi Yamamoto.

[coppercookie]

Belladonna of sadness (1973)

This is the last of Tezuka's animerama trilogy and it was a hard watch. This movie goes over heavy and triggering content so be warned. Jeane is viciously gang r@ped by the Lord of the kingdom and his generals on the day of her wedding. Traumatised and frustrated from what happened, she decides to make a deal with the devil to take revenge on the system.

My opinion might be a tad clouded from personal experiences but I got some gripes with the plot. Jeane is only given agency when she gives herself to the devil (who is shaped like a dick btw). So it's like Jeane is strong and defined by her trauma which is a big ol yikes. It feels like the film is trying to arouse the audience at any chance it gets. The nudity, violence and especially the r@pe scenes feel like their designed to be erotic from the way they draw Jeane in these compromising positions. Safe to say that watching this made me uncomfortable. The r@pe scene at the beginning made me disassociate so while my mind's a little fuzzy for that bit it must have been graphic to do that.

The illustrations are absolutely gorgeous with lovely watercolour art and changes medium every now and then. Animation isn't too common so more often than not the movie uses stills. When it is animated it's smooth and nice to at (out of context at least).

Belladonna of sadness left a bad taste in my mouth, it's such a shame since the art is so beautiful. I think the story could have worked with tweaking but as it is now it isn't something I'd recommend. I'd say to just Google the art and watch some other movie that handles these topics better. Promising young woman is supposed to be good so that might be a good substitute.

The list

[altrestrategie]

Paura & Delirio: La Tragedia di Belladonna (1973)

Una delle regole non scritte di Paura & Delirio è che vogliamo parlare di film meno noti e meno praticati, nella speranza che qualcuno dei nostri ascoltatori rimanga abbastanza incuriosito da p…

[elegieenbleu]

EIICHI YAMAMOTO /

Sen’ya Ichiya monogatari - Les Mille et Une Nuits (1969)

Film d’animation, 128′ minutes

Les contes des mille et une nuits revisités par Osamu Tezuka, premier segment de la trilogie Animerama emporté par Mushi Production et réalisé par Eiichi Yamamoto.