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Winner of "Best Feature" at the 2008 Annecy International Animated Film Festival.
Nina Paley crafted most of SITA SINGS THE BLUES by herself, a remarkable fact when you consider the labor force required of most feature-length animated films. SITA’s eclectic layering of personal history, epic myth and saucy musical numbers is held together by Paley’s palpable pleasure in the art of storytelling. An autobiographical kernel has Nina following her boyfriend from San Francisco to India only to be dumped in a cursory email message. Rather than staying with this first-degree heartbreak, though, Paley relates her own story to an older tale of spurned love: that of Rama and his devoted wife Sita from the ancient Sanskrit epic, the "Ramayana." Three modern-day Indians ad-lib the plot as Paley’s animation wittily keeps pace with their corrections and disagreements. Their narration is periodically interrupted by musical interludes set to tunes by early jazz diva Annette Hanshaw. The songs run the full gamut of romance, providing yet another reflective surface for the tender emotions freely coursing through the film. Through boldly idiosyncratic means, SITA SINGS THE BLUES touches upon the particular consolation that comes of recognizing one’s own situation in songs and stories from the past.
GENRES
Cast & Crew
- Manish Acharya - Shadow Puppet #3
- Aseem Chhabra - Shadow Puppet #1
- Deepti Gupta - Kaikeyi
- Annette Hanshaw - Sita
- Sanjiv Jhaveri - Dave/Dasharatha/Ravana/Dhobi/Valmiki
- Pooja Kumar - Surphanaka
- Bhavana Nagulapally - Shadow Puppet #2
- Nina Paley - Nina
- Debargo Sanyal - Rama
- Reena Shah - Sita
- Aladdin Ullah - Maricha/Hanuman
- Nitya Vidyasagar - Luv/Kush
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Reviews
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For those who are familiar with the story of the Ramayana will find this intriguing and quite amusing. And if you aren't, then this will still be worth your while. Certainly the various styles of animation, and styles of music, keep this film interesting. For those Hindus who are more orthodox, may be taken aback by the modernistic and sometimes irreverent take on the personalities of the Ramayana, especially Rama. The most interesting part of this film is the dialogue of the three young Indians who are recounting the story, not always clear on the particulars, and argue the ethical and philosophical complexities of this famous epic poem. Interesting also is that it recounts the story from the point of view of the story's heroine, Sita, giving it a feminist perspective. If memory serves me correctly, I think the working title of this project was the Sitayana. Well worth the time!
One of the most whimsical films that I have ever watched. All cultural education should be like this. Incredible music, amazing shifts in medium and hilarious dialogue.
Fascinating and fun. Like nothing you'll from the Hollywood cliche mill.
Always struggled with the story of Ram and Sita. I tell it to my Yoga students as a tale of the bitter ironies of our patriarchal culture. Yes, ours. But I think it is a story about the beginning of this patriarchal culture, when the goddess was buried for a while, that men might develop independent identities, an evolutionary change at the time. But now it is time for a further evolution. Sita returns to rule at her mother's behest. Love the graphics and the music as well.
This film is somewhere between Yellow submarine and looney tunes . The music is wonderful, the story line is great! thank you
Fantastic. So inventive and imaginative. Excellent mixture of Western and Eastern animation, story and music. Such a great idea to put blues music to ancient story of Ramayana!..We (husband and I) would love to see what Nina next produces as she is one of the most talented filmmakers we have ever seen. Would recommend this film to anyone with a touch of whimsy in their heart. Love this film!!!
Oh. Now I get it. Discrimination against women gets its moral authority from religion.
Very creative and feminist take on an old poem. My daughter for one, would love for Nina Paley to showcase more of her unique twists on old fables.
My six-yearold daughter thought this was very interesting, although she did come to me with many questions that I didn't quite know how to answer.
It's Scott Pilgrim but about Indian mythology instead of video games. Great little film.