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| Movie Review: Sita Sings the Blues Alternate Title: The Art of Storytelling
Story: Nina Paley
(http://blog.ninapaley.com/ ) is the writer, director, producer, animator,
blood, sweat, tears, brains and just about everything else that has
to do with this delightfully, inventive and entertaining film. How do you connect the centuries old Indian folk
tale, the Ramayana with the dissolution of a relationship
in contemporary times? Well, Nina Paley does it with aplomb. Through
painstaking digital, hand drawn and collage animation we get to witness
the story of the Ramayana. Prince Rama is exiled with his bride, Sita. She
is kidnapped by the evil Ravana, then rescued by the monkey warrior
army and well - it is not really confusing at all. It is fun, wildly
colorful and very unconventional storytelling. My favorite part was her use of three shadow
puppets, whose contemporary voices add hilarious critical commentary
and annotations to the telling the the story. Paley's use of singer Annette Hanshaw's
recordings added just the right touch to
this cautionary tale of a woman's love and loss. If you do not walk
out on the rolling credits in most Pixar or CGI spectaculars you will
notice they go on and on and on. Do stay for the credits in this fun
film. Nina Paley adds a little fun to this part of her film as well. Watch the trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7y5_zJ1xfQs
Acting: Annette Hanshaw (the singer),
Aseem Chhabra, Bhavana Nagulapally, Manish Acharya, Reena Shah, Sanjiv
Jhaveri, Pooja Kumar, Debargo Sanyal, Aladdin Ullah, Nitya Vidyasagar
Trivia: Annette Hanshaw's (1901-1985) wonderful recordings
are sung including: "Here We Are", "What Wouldn't I Do
for That Man", "Daddy Won't You Please Come Home?", "Who's
That Knockin' At My Door?", "Mean to Me", "If You
Want the Rainbow, You Must Have the Rain", "Moanin' Low",
"Am I Blue?", "Lover Come Back to Me", "I've
Got a Feeling I'm Falling", "The Song is Ended")
Predilection: I like all things Indian.
Critters: My oh my - we get to see a delightful array
of animals including the contemporary cats. In the Ramayana we see,
frogs, monkeys, peacocks, herons, birds of all types, cows and more.
Food: I do not recall anything being eaten.
Sex Spectrum: Purity is a big issue.
Blatant Product Placement: None
Soundtrack: See Annette Hanshaw tracks in Trivia
above.
Visual Art: A wildly wonderful visual treat from
beginning to end.
Theater Audience: My buddy (not the Indianologist)
and three other people. We had smiles on our faces throughout the entire
film.
Weather: The weather was fine through the ages.
Sappy Factor: 0
Quirky Meter: 0
Squirm Scale: 0
Drift Factor: I was attentive throughout.
Predictability Level: If you do not know this tale
the level might be moderate.
Tissue Usage: 0
Oscar Worthy: Probably not Oscar bound but Paley
has won a Guggenheim Award that allowed her to work on this wonderful
film. She also hands out an award of her own called The Golden Ego Award.
Check it out here: http://www.ninapaley.com/goldenego.html
Big Screen or Rental: I always push for the big screen
but I did notice that when I was at the Rubin Museum this weekend it
is already out on DVD.
Length: 90 minutes or so.
LOBO HOWLS: 8
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