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Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Film Cinematic Ravishment; or, the Third Dimension is Overrated; or, Ignore My Babbling and Just Go See Sita Sings the Blues at Central Cinema Tonight

Posted by David Schmader on Wed, May 20, 2009 at 10:56 AM

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Last night I saw Sita Sings the Blues at Central Cinema and my head nearly exploded with joy.

The basics: Using a variety of (gorgeous) 2-D animation techniques, artist Nina Paley presents episodes from the Sanskrit epic the Ramayana, interspersed with commentary from a gossipy shadow-puppet chorus and scenes from her own life. A number of scenes set the Ramayana-retelling to recordings of early jazz vocal great Annette Hanshaw—a wonderful juxtaposition that ultimately wreaked havoc on the film's distribution. (For a full rundown on Sita Sings the Blues' amazing backstory—from Hindu outrage to paralyzing copyright issues skirted by an inventive Creative Commons license—see Wikipedia.)

But all this (rich) plot stuff is secondary, because Sita Sings the Blues is so gorgeous to behold that it could be devoid of content and still worth leaving your house to see.

About that: Thanks to that Creative Commons license, Sita Sings the Blues can be downloaded for free in a variety of formats. But you really want to see it on the big screen, especially at Central Cinema, where it's projected in HD and preceded by an amazing instructional video produced by and for the Chicago Police Department on the proper handling of Hindus.

The film shows tonight at 7 and 9:15 pm, and if you think you want to do, you do, and you should probably get tickets ASAP, as I have the feeling everyone in last night's crowded 7 pm show is telling everyone they know how they must go see this movie.

(Good news: After tonight's two shows, Sita will be back for another five-day run.)

Comments (14) RSS

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I've watched Sita Sings The Blues quite a few times. It's amazing and I highly recommend it.

Posted by Baconcat on May 20, 2009 at 11:12 AM

If you liked the Indian paintings at SAAM, you should check this out.

Posted by Laurel on May 20, 2009 at 11:18 AM

Oh God, the dancing cows. THE DANCING COWS WITH TAMBOURINES! That still cracks me up every time I see it.

Posted by Greg on May 20, 2009 at 11:33 AM

I saw it at U of Chicago for my Asian Studies class. If you are lucky, Nina will be there to give a talk afterwards. She is fantastic. And David, where can we find this police video? It sounds interesting.

Posted by Zoroastronomer on May 20, 2009 at 11:42 AM

ok , this explains the lack of slog commentary on Glee, Fox's new show about high school show choirs. I thought for sure there would have been some review, if only to plug Aushglitz! again...

Posted by jazz hands! on May 20, 2009 at 11:49 AM

I recently discovered Sita Sings as well, and there was much exploding of joy.

Posted by -ink on May 20, 2009 at 11:49 AM

5: Soon, comrade, soon...(But first I gotta deal with the Real Housewives...)

Posted by David Schmader on May 20, 2009 at 11:51 AM

I must be the only person on earth who completely fails to see the appeal of this little Flash doodle.

Posted by levide on May 20, 2009 at 11:51 AM

Sita Sings The Blues is a wonderful film that has only been held up due to legal matters, which impedes its distribution and limits the showings of this fine film.

See it, you'll be glad you did.

Posted by Will in Seattle

on May 20, 2009 at 11:57 AM

I agree, great film. I also saw it last night. I have to say though, it really really made me want marijuana to be legal and sold at the central cinema. Beer, pizza, pot, and sita on the big screen....you can't beat that.

Posted by JoshMahar on May 20, 2009 at 11:59 AM

Yes! This movie is wonderful!!! I'm so glad more people are hearing about it.

Posted by Beki on May 20, 2009 at 1:06 PM

I saw this movie in upstate NY about a year ago. It's AMAZING, definitely both fun & smart, best breakup movie I've seen in awhile & loaded w/ mythology. Nina Paley = full of awesome.

Posted by Eva Hopkins