BELLADONNA OF SADNESS
Special Features: 50th Anniversary
[KANASHIMI NO BERADONNA] [哀しみのベラドンナ]
One of the great lost masterpieces of Japanese animation, 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 and manga, Osamu Tezuka, and directed by his long-time collaborator Eiichi Yamamoto (ASTRO BOY, KIMBA THE WHITE LION), BELLADONNA unfolds as a series of spectacular still watercolor paintings that bleed and twist together. An innocent young woman is raped by the local lord on her wedding night. To take revenge, she makes a pact with the devil himself, 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 mind-blowing Japanese psych rock soundtrack by avant-garde jazz composer Masahiko Satoh. The film has been restored by Cinelicious Pics using the original 35mm camera negative and sound elements, and includes more than eight minutes of surreal and explicit footage cut from the original negative. On par with René Laloux's FANTASTIC PLANET and Ralph Bakshi's WIZARDS as an LSD-stoked 1970s head trip, BELLADONNA marks a major rediscovery for animation fans. (Note courtesy of Cinelicious Pics.) DIR/SCR Eiichi Yamamoto; SCR Yoshiyuki Fukuda, from the novel by Jules Michelet; PROD Keiko Koike, Makoto Motohashi, Osamu Tezuka, Tadami Watanabe, Teruaki Yoshida. Japan, 1973, color, 86 min. In Japanese with English subtitles. NOT RATED
AFI Member passes accepted.
Run Time: 86 Minutes
Opening Date: Saturday, February 25, 2023
Genre: Animation, drama