Review of Sita Sings the Blues (2008) by Zane U — 30 Jun 2009

Sita Sings the Blues is the most fun that can possibly be had in an animated film in some parts; straightforward and solid, but unspectacular in others; and overly self-indulgent on the part of the filmmaker in still others.

The setup is that Nina Paley suffered a difficult breakup with her flaky boyfriend, who moves to India. In her heartbreak she reads the Ramayana, puts a feminist, woman-scorned spin on it and turns it into a movie.

That's definitely an interesting and personal behind-the-scenes story about a film's conception, but it is by far the least interesting part of the movie and is annoyingly self-indulgent. Of course, her portrayal of the Ramayana provides the bulk of Sita's runtime and is by no means disappointing.

Split into two types of storytelling and animation, I personally found the vibrant, circular-animated musical parts to be the most engrossing and made the movie unique and very very enjoyable. The other, a more informative retelling of the Ramayana by three somewhat unreliable narrators is visually less appealing but made enjoyable by the humorous banter between the said narrators.

While I get the feeling that the portrayals of Rama are unflattering and possibly even offensive to some Hindu people, I found the story very interesting and was able to be simultaneously entertained and informed about a religion that I knew little about.

I would have no qualms giving my wholehearted endorsement of Sita Sings the Blues were it not for the parallel storyline of filmmaker Nina Paley's failed relationship.