‘Belladonna of Sadness,’ 1970s Anime Erotica Masterpiece, Gets A U.S. Theatrical Release, Blu-Ray, and Art Book
Features like Anomalisa and Sausage Party signal a sea change in America’s palate for animated films. Younger audiences who have been raised on the complex storytelling of anime and the adult humor of South Park and The Simpsons demand more from animation nowadays, and U.S. film studios are responding with a growing number of adult-targeted features.
The mood for mature animated offerings in America is so upbeat right now that a 43-year-old erotic art film from Japan, Belladonna of Sadness, is being released in over 30 theaters this spring. The film, never officially released in the U.S., has received a loving 4K restoration, courtesy of Cinelicious Pics, which undertook the project at the urging of The Cinefamily repertory theater in Los Angeles.
Watch the trailer below:
The experimental art film was produced by Osamu Tezuka as part of his Animerama adult trilogy, and directed by frequent collaborator Eiichi Yamamoto. The following synopsis gives some idea of the unlikely elements that comprise the film:
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. 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.
But none of this begins to capture the experience of watching the film itself, which the New York Times calls “one of the most unusual ever made,” “a landmark of animated film,” and “compulsively watchable, even at its most disturbing.”
Following its theatrical run, the new 4K restoration will be released on Blu-ray in July (pre-order on Amazon)
Here’s the list of theatrical screening dates and theaters that will be showing the film over the coming months:
May 6-17, 2016 Metrograph (New York, NY)
May 6-11, 2016 Alamo Drafthouse – New Mission (San Francisco, CA)
May 13-19, 2016 The Cinefamily (Los Angeles, CA)
May 13-19, 2016 Alamo Drafthouse – South Lamar (Austin, TX)
May 13-19, 2016 Alamo Drafthouse – Littleton-Denver (Denver, CO)
May 13-19, 2016 Denver Film Society (Denver, CO)
May 13-19, 2016 Cable Car Cinema (Providence, RI)
May 13-19, 2016 Alamo Drafthouse – Vintage Houston (Houston, TX)
May 13-19, 2016 The Loft Cinema (Tuscon, AZ)
May 13-16, 2016 Brattle Theater (Boston, MA)
May 20, 2016 Texas Theater (Dallas, TX)
May 20-26, 2016 Northwest Film Forum (Seattle, WA)
May 20, 2016 Cinemapolis (Ithica, NY)
May 20, 2016 International House (Philadelphia, PA)
May 20, 2016 Alamo Drafthouse – El Paso (El Paso, TX)
May 20, 2016 Alamo Drafthouse – Lubbock (Lubbock, TX)
May 20-22, 2016 The Royal Cinema (Toronto, Canada)
May 20-26, 2016 Alamo Drafthouse Omaha (Omaha, NB)
May 20-26, 2016 Gateway Film Center (Columbus, OH)
May 20-26, 2016 Jean Cocteau Cinema (Santa Fe, NM)
May 20-23, 2016 Hollywood Theater Dormont (Pittsburgh, PA)
May 26, 2016 Mayfair Theatre (Ottawa, Canada)
May 27-29, 2016 Hollywood Theater (Portland, OR)
June 2, 2016 Alamo Drafthouse – Yonkers (Yonkers, NY)
June 3-4, 2016 AFI Silver (Silver Spring, MD)
June 3-5, 2016 Cleveland Cinematheque (Cleveland, OH)
June 3-8, 2016 Pacific Cinematheque (Vancouver, Canada)
June 6-7, 2016 Trylon Microcinema (Minneapolis, MN)
June 10, 2016 Dryden Theatre (Rochester, NY)
June 15, 2016 Sun-Ray Cinema (Jacksonville, FL)
June 17-23, 2016 Cinestudio (Hartford, CT)
July 7-8, 2016 Speed Art Museum (Louisville, KY)
