Belladonna of Sadness: A Companion Book to the 1973 Cult Japanese Anime Film Hardcover – August 23, 2016

Such a great companion to that beautiful movie , order it before it come out , so i was able to received one included a BR of the movie , after awhile disappeared and now you have to pay a fortune to find it ....Quality of the book and the pictures is excellent , overall is a piece of art like the movie ......

I cannot tell you how astonished I was to see that not only was a proper 4k restored version of one of the most extraordinary – and yet unknown – films I have ever seen getting released on Blu Ray, but that an artbook was accompanying it! Even better, 1st editions (which it would appear at this point, judging by the skyrocketing price, have quickly become scarce) come with the Blu Ray in a sleeve in back! (Note that there is no special marking or labeling on these first editions indicating the Blu-Ray is included. In other words, once a second edition becomes available, you will have no idea if you have purchased a 1st edition with the Blu Ray or a 2nd edition without until you open it – or unless a seller is able to tell you). At this point, I would like to comment that the presentation of the Blu-Ray is outstanding. Aside from one tiny artifact that occurred during compression (and is part of mere seconds of the film), it is a flawless delivery of a lost masterpiece: the experience of art literally unraveling on your screen! I realize that no short summary can do justice to a film like Belladonna Of Sadness, which is so storied in its powerful images and loaded, provocative themes, so I will not provide that here. But I will say that the film is tragic, beautiful, surreal, grotesque, horrific, erotic, moving and arresting like no other. Lovers of Art Nouveau, of Klimt, of Egon Schiele; of Japanese Avant Garde, Aquirax Uno, Yellow Submarine, Psychedelia; of scroll paintings, illuminated manuscripts set into motion, of static yet breathtakingly beautiful watercolors: your film has arrived. This art book will be an indispensable part of your collection. Now having said that, I should probably say something about the content. I am thrilled, first, by its existence. I am thrilled, secondly, by the overall presentation. The hardcover is very satisfying, with perfect front and back cover images. Paper is very high-quality, and the image selection is pretty good. (more on that in a moment) It begins with a very informative essay on the background and historical context of the film, and ends with interviews with the filmmakers, as well as the restoration team. The layout typically features 1 to 2 images per page, as well as full-page spreads, with wide margins that are judicious to the various scenes from the movie, so that no images are cluttered or too small. Where the images are smaller is in a fantastic breakdown of the most extraordinary (in my opinion) scene from the movie, where reality literally tears open in a fantastic, spontaneous riot of psychedelic free-association images. Where I am disappointed is in the total absence of the "scroll painting" or long-format backgrounds that are so inextricably a part of the film's feel and visual language. Some appear in the book, but only in cropped form. The book frequently makes use of sequenced stills instead. As you can imagine, this makes a big difference. I also found some of the image content selected to be pretty unremarkable, given that Belladonna is a film literally bursting at the seams with gob-smacking visuals. The book is solid by presenting stills in a very standard, consistent way. But it lets down by failing to take risks in how it displays the film's fantastic and unusually-formatted imagery. Its layout is simply too rigid. In other words, whereas the world of Belladonna ceaselessly unwinds and visually teases, excites and transgresses, like a free-love philosophy major with a hookah pipe entertaining at a party, this book is the square sitting in the corner. Well, more or less. Please do not consider these reasons not to acquire this book, though. It still is a handsome and satisfying presentation of one of the most remarkable films ever made. If you have never seen it, but the appeals I made to visual styles and artists intrigued you, then do not hesitate to seek it out. If you have, you will no doubt be pleased to own this book.

Beautifully bound and printed, but disappointing content-wise. A majority of this book is the entirety of the movie in screenshot form with select snippets of dialogue scattered about. There's nothing inherently wrong with that, they've been producing artbooks in this vein forever (not to mention "movie manga" titles from Japan), the problem lies with publisher Hat & Beard's advertisement of the volume:"This publication accompanies the restored film’s North American release. Beautifully produced in a colorful, large-format edition, this volume provides an indispensable companion to this incredible animated masterpiece, including script outtakes, stills and other ephemera from the film, a text about the film’s painstaking restoration and interviews conducted with the film’s illustrator, composer, and director Eiichi Yamamoto."H&B makes no mention that the book consists mostly of stills and to make matters worse, there are no script outtakes and the so-called "production ephemera" is a scan of the script's front page. That's it. Overall what we have here is the equivalent of a Criterion Collection extras booklet but oversized and hardbound. I find it a missed opportunity on Cinelicious' part to opt for a separate book like this, instead of releasing at least the written extras with their already lacking in presentation release of the film itself. It came with a small pamphlet with a review. Those interviews and restoration information would have been amazing served-up alongside the movie as typical with boutique film label releases.Don't get me wrong, this book is gorgeous and having stills of it directly at my fingertips is very cool. But straight-up being deceptive about what's contained in it? Really, really disappointing.PROS+Beautifully printed+Having the movie in stills right at your fingertips is cool+Interviews and restoration pages are a nice readCONS-Not advertised as being mostly a collection of stills-No script-outtakes-"Production ephemera" is simply a page of the script-Feels like an extras booklet that would have been packed with the film

Great limited edition book.

Belladonna of Sadness is a long lost masterpiece. I firstly watched it many years ago and it created a great impression which I still remember until now. That's why I didn't have any problem to buy this book. I wanted it to be part of my collection.About the book, even though, it's a good print, I think people would find there's not enough content for $42. But for me, I will buy it anyway. Please consider about it yourself before buying it.