Belladonna
of Sadness (1973/Cinelicious Pics Blu-ray)
Picture:
C+ Sound: C+ Extras: C Film: B+
Jeanne
and Jen were once young starcrossed lovers with full of potential and
life until Jeanne was raped by their lord on their wedding day.
Since then, she has been trading pieces of herself body and her soul
to a mysterious black figure for power ...and her revenge in Eiichi
Yamamoto's animated gem Belladonna of Sadness (1973).
Jeanne
was a beautiful, kind and clever village girl which everyone loved
and respected and was to marry her childhood sweetheart Jean, but
that was not their happy ever after... on the wedding day she was
raped by their lord and she made a deal with the devil to in order
save her sanity and mind. Even after becoming a successful
seamstress, she was still envied by the queen and cast out of the
village, claiming she was a wicked seductress. A year later, when
the black plague ravaged the land, Jeanne finds a cure and still the
Queen calls a witch and she is burned at the stake.
This
was an artistic film made from Japanese animation of the time in the
1960s and 1970s, like watch an animation on LSD. It felt like it was
a reflection woman's treatment of in the counterculture period in
light of Japanese reaction to U.S. military bases in Japan (Japan
lost WWII, they can't militarize and thus, the bases). Perhaps the
film was brought out again to remind people of what happened in the
past.
Though
there can be impressive color here at times, the 1.33 X 1 digital
High Definition image is very hand drawn and may look limited or even
'cheap' to some, but this is the intended style, in a new 4K transfer
here. Unfortunately, it is still a limited presentation and that
affects the rating. The sound is here in two Japanese presentations
in lossless DTS-HD MA 2.0 (Master Audio) sound: a passable monophonic
track and relatively better stereo track. This can show the films
age, but like the image, is as good as this will ever likely look or
sound. Extras include booklet, an essay by scholar Dennis Bartok and
trailers.
-
Ricky Chiang
