About this movie
- Genres:
- Animation, World Cinema
- Language:
- English
- Running time:
- 1:21:32
- Partner rating:
- Released:
- 2008
Cast & Crew
Cast
- Aseem Chhabra
- Bhavana Nagulapally
- Manish Acharya
- Annette Hanshaw
- Debargo Sanyal
- Sanjiv Jhaveri
- Reena Shah
Directors
- Nina Paley
Producers
- Nina Paley
Sita Sings the Blues
Two women having troubles with their men, separated by several centuries, find their stories coming together in this animated comedy-drama from artist and animator Nina Paley. A female cartoonist moves from the United States when her husband gets a new job in India. While acclimating to her new life in India, the cartoonist becomes fascinated with the Hindu folk tale "the Ramayana," in which a beautiful woman named Sita, who was created spontaneously from the Earth, is adopted by King Janaka, pledged to a brave warrior named Rama, and is kidnapped by the demonic leader Ravana. Sita's story is given two visual interpretations at once -- a visually striking abstract version and another which employs a whimsical, cartoony approach and uses vintage recordings of jazz singer Annette Hanshaw for Sita's voice. As the film jumps back and forth between two adaptations of the Ramayana, the cartoonist discovers that her sojourn in India has taken a turn for the worse when her husband falls in love with another woman. Sita Sings The Blues was an official entry at the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival.
Reviews by Rotten Tomatoes
100%
percent positive reviews
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Frank Scheck, Hollywood ReporterCharming indie animated film that doesn't insult anyone's intelligence.
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A.O. Scott, New York Times
And the ingenuity of Sita -- which evokes painting, collage, underground comic books, Mumbai musicals and "Yellow Submarine" (for starters) - is dazzling. Not busy, or overwhelming, or eye-popping....
– Full review
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Michelle Orange, Village Voice
Paley's beguiling, consistently inventive visuals and sly yet melancholy tone are about as warm and winning as heartbreak-fueled empowerment gets.
– Full review
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Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post
Nina Paley's animated marvel mixes a personal tale of romantic woe with a fabulous, often hilarious, recounting of the Sanskrit epic fable The Ramayana.
– Full review
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J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader
Captivating, mesmerizing, spellbinding -- I'll throw everything in the movie-critic book at this animated feature by Nina Paley
– Full review
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Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune
Nina Paley's delicious Sita Sings the Blues finds solace in autobiography and an animated gold mine in the caverns of an ancient Sanskrit epic.
– Full review
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