Sita Sings the Blues

[eredien]

I think that the film "Sita Sings the Blues," an animated version of the Ramayana with musical interludes from a 1920's singer Annette Hanshaw as well as meta-commentary from 3 of the director's Indian friends, and will be important. Nina Paley, a Guggenheim winner, made it herself in 5 years, after her husband traveled to India for a "temporary" job and then divorced her. The film is also about her breakup with her husband. It's being billed as "the greatest break-up story ever told."

I want to bring it to the Brattle. I have already contacted them and said that I will be happy to personally help them bring it to the theatre. Please feel free to contact them yourself and ask.
If that's not possible, or maybe even if it is, I will be traveling to New York City, or possibly Vermont, on the bus to see it for myself.

Ebert's review

This is the trailer.

This is the trailer with the meta-commentary on the nature of story.

Please please come with me to see it, or buy a shirt, or do anything you can to help this film. If you love art or criticism or singing or thinking or epic or commentary or story, you will probably want to see this film.

Now off to the Somerville Theater.
This is some of the embedded singing.

Comments

[greylander.livejournal.com]

Frankly, I'm pretty tired of being treated as a cipher for white women's issues with their sexuality.

http://zooeylive.blogspot.com/2006/12/of-cultural-appropriation-and-white.html

[capsicumanuum.livejournal.com]

I swear to you, I did not look at this comment before I posted mine.

[shatterstripes.livejournal.com]

This happens on a regular basis?

Admittedly I am biased towards Paley, what with being a middle-class white transwoman who dropped out of the animation industry around the same time Paley started her solitary quest to animate this, loves 20s animation, and has found Paley's comics to be pretty reliably entertaining in the past. Part of the film seems to be about commenting on her appropriation of the narrative, which is more than the average big budget myth-copyrighting animated feature does.

[greylander.livejournal.com]

This happens on a regular basis?

Mostly on days ending in 'y'.