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Annette Hanshaw, Reena Shah, Sanjiv Jhaveri, Aseem Chhabra, Bhavana Nagulapally ... see more see more... , Manish Acharya

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 move... read more read more...s 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. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

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86% liked it

2,110 ratings

Critics

100% liked it

33 critics

Unrated, 1 hr. 22 min.

Directed by: Nina Paley

Release Date: February 11, 2008

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DVD Release Date: July 28, 2009

 

Stats: 295 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (295)

  • jennifxu
    April 7, 2009
    jennifxu
    An oddly cute and unorthodox film utilizing hilarious shadow puppets and really nice cross-cutting blues music with Annette Hanshaw. I got to learn a little bit about Indian religion, experienced a real-life breakup semi-familiar to me, enjoyed some soothing music, and sometimes ... read morelaughed my head off.
  • harrycaul
    March 4, 2009
    harrycaul
    A delightful little animation, unfortunately stuck in litigious limbo for the time being on account of its unlicensed jazz soundtrack, which is a great pity because it is enormous fun and deserves to reach the widest possible audience. I cannot say I knew anything about the Ra... read moremayana before watching Sita Sings the Blues. However, not the least of its achievements, the film is remarkably educational with respect to its sources, somehow managing to be simultaneously reverent and humorously critical.

    There are several component parts to the narrative, each with its own individual style of animation. Wonderfully voiced, with an almost improvisational feel, a trio of shadow puppets set the scene, introducing the characters and discussing the events of the Ramayana before we watch them unfold. In addition, writer/director Nina Paley contrasts the turbulent relationship of Rama and his wife Sita with her own autobiographical tale of marital break-up. Finally, interspersed throughout are the Twenties jazz songs of Annette Hanshaw, as lip-synched by Sita. What with kidnap, banishment, single motherhood and trial by fire among her woes, there's little wonder she's singing the blues, poor girl! Women, dump your men and get a cat! "That's all" :D
  • rubystevens
    February 27, 2009
    rubystevens
    absolutely adorable! yes, it's a flash-animated version of the ramayana set to 1920's jazz music!! it's completely enchanting, gorgeous and hilarious and u can watch it here: http://www.thirteen.org/sites/reel13/blog/watch-sita-sings-the-blues-online/347/
  • michaelneumann
    July 2, 2010
    michaelneumann
    Sita Sings The Blues brings interesting, vibrant animation to the legendary story of the Ramayana, a Sanskrit epic of Hindu lore about star-crossed lovers Sita and Rama, and is paralleled with the filmmaker's (Nina Paley) own love and heartbreak. But the net effect is one of lim... read moreited impact, despite the occasional dazzle and sprinkle of pathos.

    There are essentially 4 different visual mediums on display here: 2D painting-like characters moving like paper dolls for exposition, more 2D with the narration portion from Indian shadow puppets, a more fluid animation (vector graphics -- giving everything a pronounced geometric feel) for when Sita sings out her blues via (deceased blues singer) Annette Hanshaw, and scribbly animation for Nina Paley's modern parallel to Sita's sufferings. The vector graphics anchor the film visually, bursting with color and hypnotically swaying movement that arrests your attention -- a similar effect as the recent The Secret of Kells.

    Smartly, the film had those 3 sub-myth characters (Indian shadow puppets) "narrate" from a modern point of view as the epic is being told, sorting out the how's and why's of the story with humorous exchanges and colloquial grounding. Interspersed are the crudely-drawn sequences of Nina's life, and the progress of her relationship with Dave, and the 2D renderings of the Ramayana's advancing story. Then there's Sita singing the blues in buoyant animation, lending gravity to an otherwise simple film about women getting the shaft, and perhaps more earnestly about women drawing inspiration from strong women of legend. The blues singing was pretty and nice, but again it kept the movie from developing into something more complex than just creating Indian animated music videos. It was entertaining enough, and cleverly rendered (occasionally exciting) with some quirky touches, but the plot was as narrow as Sita's alluring waist.
  • Nutterjr
    April 21, 2010
    Nutterjr
    Astonishingly imaginative, a true original, one might say. A work of art? Definitely. But that's as far as my appreciation goes, as Darjeeling is not really my cup of tea.
  • lesleyanorton
    August 31, 2009
    lesleyanorton
    Two parallel stories of life and love and loss, the story of Rama + Sita interleaved with the story of the director's marriage breakup. Set to the songs of Annette Hanshaw which echo the same theme. Plus a dialog in the background of three Indians narrating (and arguing about) wh... read moreat actually happened in the 14th century, no 11th century, no BC, definitely BC. Plus the best two minute intermission I've ever seen.
    Written by, produced by, directed by, and a whole-lot-of-other-things by Nina Paley, who's distributing it by letting you watch it/download it for free. Check out "www.sitasingstheblues" where you can find out loads more information..
    And then sit down and watch it. It's charming, chock-full of ideas and very very funny.
  • fb1419615964
    December 8, 2010
    fb1419615964
    First things first: this is an animated film released under the CC-SA license, which basically means its free. It can be downloaded or watched at http://www.sitasingstheblues.com/watch.html
    Its perhaps the funniest cinematic adaptation of the Ramayana. The opening scenes are tot... read moreally hilarious and with tongue firmly on cheek, the film is.. let's say irreverent towards Rama. The narrators themselves are shown to be not highly knowledgeable of Ramayana, and that in fact adds to the fun. Its a film from a feminist viewpoint and Rama is the err.. villain. Created by Nina Paley, the film also tells her breakup story along with Sita's. It's essentially a musical featuring lots of jazz numbers, and towards the end they just keep on coming, making the film drag a bit. A great attempt nevertheless.
  • TecmoSmokaBowl
    October 6, 2009
    TecmoSmokaBowl
    WOW! What a interesting mashup of concepts to bring us an original take on a classic Indian tale! Nina Paley wrote, directed, animated (and just about everthing else) this wonderfully vibrant, charming tale.

    Almost as amazing as the film itself, is the story by which it came to ... read morefinally be released. Copyright issues over the use of Annette Hanshaw's music came into play. On a independently filmed movie such as this, the fees for using the songs would have cost more than the entire film to make! The director continues to be active in helping rewrite free speech/censorship laws.

    And if you're still on the fence about watching this movie, it's absolutely free! Check out www.sitasingstheblues.com and you can d/l it for ABSOLUTELY FREE! Ms. Paley thinks this is the best way to ultimately make money off this film and she may just be right.

    Filled with wry humor, classic 1920's jazz, and a unique animation style; this is seriously one of the best times I've had watching a film lately!
  • divinetrash
    August 23, 2009
    divinetrash
    Unbelieveable. We've all seen it before when they take someone's music and create an original story with it (Mamma Mia!, Across the Universe), but Sita Sings the Blues does it better than anything I have evers seen before. Mixing the lovely jazz music of Annette Hanshaw with diff... read moreerent styles of animation to tell th story of the Ramayana, Nina Paley has created something unique and has shown us how talented and promising she is. Something not be missed and definitely something to fall in love with.
  • wumeixian
    October 22, 2010
    wumeixian
    This is awesome! My new recommended animation! It is actually a bit too slow at times, but it is very creative. It is also seen from the woman's perspective mostly, which is original because usually it's seen from the historical perspective only. I'd say, it gives consideration t... read moreo each individual, so none of these characters are very pure or very evil like how it is told in the real story. I really enjoyed this movie. It didn't lose the Bollywood taste in it with the singing and dancing scenes, but it is a blues bollywood :) Nice work. Nice combination of Indian culture and non-Indian. It's funny, tragic, romantic, well I guess the story of Ramayana is anyway...but the point is, I like how Nina Paley put all these different styles and culture all together in an original way. My only complain was the singing part can be erased a little. I enjoyed seeing Sita in the more realistic version. U know...more talking... The singing Sita has too much part in it lol... Geez how could she come up with that body concept...Kinda annoying a little bit, but it's probably just me. I don't want to be too subjective.

View All Sita Sings the Blues Reviews

Critic Reviews

Frank Scheck
December 31, 2009
Frank Scheck, Hollywood Reporter

Charming indie animated film that doesn't insult anyone's intelligence.

A.O. Scott
December 28, 2009
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. Ju... Full Review

Michelle Orange
December 23, 2009
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

Lisa Kennedy
June 26, 2009
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

J. R. Jones
June 26, 2009
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

Michael Phillips
May 29, 2009
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

Ty Burr
March 12, 2009
Ty Burr, Boston Globe

An almost indescribable pleasure from Brooklyn-based cartoonist and animator Nina Paley. The film, dazzling and poignant and five years in the making, retells the ancient Indian epic The Ramayana from... Full Review

Roger Ebert
March 2, 2009
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

To get any film made is a miracle. To conceive of a film like this is a greater miracle. Full Review

Ronnie Scheib
October 18, 2008
Ronnie Scheib, Variety

Constitutes an irrefutable argument for classic 2-D animation as a viable, vibrant low-budget arthouse medium for adults. Full Review

James Plath
February 26, 2012
James Plath, Movie Metropolis

A spellbinding film that charms with its quirkiness in almost every sequence. Full Review

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