After decades of being neglected any true circulation within the United States, Eiichi Yamamoto‘s notorious animated feature Belladonna of Sadness (sometimes referred to as The Tragedy of Belladonna) will soon have its day in the sun. Cinelicious Pics are behind a new restoration that, on the basis of its 35mm-negative scan, looks rather beautiful, and whose supposed content immediately intrigues.
Described as “equal parts J.R.R. Tolkien and gorgeous, explicit Gustav Klimt-influenced eroticism,” its story of rape, revenge, witchcraft, and Satan makes for precisely the sort of cult item that’s bound for a major rediscovery — which is to say nothing of its innovative use of watercolor painting as a storytelling tool, here brought to a startlingly clear life. (And precisely the sort not made for children.) Step aside, Pixar — we have our most-anticipated animated film of the year.
Watch the trailer below:
Synopsis:
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.
Belladonna of Sadness will arrive on May 6th at the Metrograph theater in New York, the Alamo Drafthouse at the New Mission in San Francisco, and at The Cinefamily in Los Angeles the week of May 13, with a national roll-out to follow.