Belladonna of Sadness: A Companion Book to the 1973 Cult Japanese Anime Film

Description: Rare copy of the now unavailable, beautifully illustrated, 2016 Hat & Beard companion book to the 1973 cult anime movie Belladonna of Sadness. Note that this copy is a first edition but from the run which comes WITHOUT the DVD which accompanied the few, first printed copies of the book. (The disc is not missing: there is no corresponding printed pocket for a DVD on the inside back cover.) Unsealed but unread, in mint condition save for one small mark on top page edge, and a couple of tiny speckles on the bottom page edge (see images). From the publisher's website: Belladonna of Sadness, the final film in the adult-oriented Animerama trilogy, is one of the great forgotten masterpieces of Japanese anime. Loosely inspired by Jules Michelet’s 1862 history of witchcraft and the occult, La Sorcière, Belladonna of Sadness tells the story of a young woman who makes a pact with the devil to exact revenge after being raped and driven from her home. This brief synopsis, however, does no justice to the visual spectacle of the film, which proceeds as a series of still images flashing onscreen. Spectacular watercolor paintings, by Kuni Fukai, marry the art nouveau artifice of artists like Aubrey Beardsley to ’60s psychedelia; the film’s North American distributor, Cinelicious Pics, describes it as “equal parts J.R.R. Tolkien and gorgeous, explicit Gustav Klimt-influenced eroticism.” A legendary cult classic, Belladonna of Sadness has never been officially released in the United States—until now. This publication accompanies the restored film’s North American release. Beautifully produced in a colorful, large-format edition, this volume provides an indispensible companion to this incredible animated masterpiece, including script excerpts, stills and other ephemera from the film, a text about the film’s painstaking restoration and interviews conducted with the film’s illustrator and composer, and director Eiichi Yamamoto.

Price: 550 USD

Location: Brooklyn, New York

End Time: 2025-02-13T22:38:57.000Z

Shipping Cost: 5.38 USD