Belladonna of Sadness

One of the great lost masterpieces of Japanese animation. Belladonna of Sadness is a mad, swirling, psychedelic lightshow of medieval tarot-card imagery with horned demons, haunted forests and La Belle Dame Sans Merci with J.R.R. Tolkien influences. The last film in the Animerama trilogy produced by the godfather of Japanese anime & manga, Osamu Tezuka and directed by his longtime collaborator Eiichi Yamamoto, Belladonna unfolds as a series of spectacular still watercolor paintings that bleed and twist together. A young woman, Jeanne (voiced by Aiko Nagayama) is assaulted by the local lord on her wedding night. To take revenge, she makes a pact with the Devil himself (voiced by Tatsuya Nakadai) who appears as a sprite and transforms her into a black-robed vision of madness and desire. Extremely transgressive, Belladonna is fueled by a mind-blowing Japanese psych rock soundtrack by noted avant-garde jazz composer Masahiko Satoh. (Anime Ltd)