Sita Sings The Blues

Part auto-biographical "fuck you" to an ex-boyfriend, part retelling of the Indian epic Ramayana, part societal commentary, and part jazz musical, this movie was lots of fun.

Nina is an illustrator who's living with her boyfriend when he gets a contract and moves to India temporarily. Sita is the wife of Rama, an incarnation of Vishnu, who is captured by another man and then scorned once she's rescued. Annette Hanshaw was a jazz singer who recorded a number of very nice songs in the 1920s, a number of which work admirably as a loose reinterpretation of Sita's story. And then there's three Indian paintings who sit around making fun of the whole thing.

The story proceeds jumping back and forth between these parts, with completely different but equally entertaining animation styles for each. The jazz bits are particularly hilarious as the animation adds a new slant to some old lyrics, but all the sections work well together.

I'm not sure what else to say, really. The humor was adult-themed, so this isn't for kids. It's definitely not serious viewing, but it's a lot of fun. I would gladly see it again, given a chance.