Princess

[TomMcCarthy82]

This is my fist post here so go easy guys...

Princess

This adult Euro-anime was director Anders Morgenthaler's first film. It is a Danish film that mixes animation and live action with powerful results.

The films first scene produces one of its most resonant images: a priest watching slack jawed as his pregnant sister stars in a pornographic movie. The beauty and grace of the animation jar with the brutality of what we are seeing. As the story progresses we are bombarded with unrelentingly difficult scenes. Five years later the sister is dead and the priest, August, returns to take care of the orphaned child, Mia. A five year old girl who has been deeply damaged growing up in a brothel and seeing her mother, the porn star “Princess”, on magazines at newsstands.

What follows is a brutal revenge cycle seen through the eyes of an innocent child. August sets out, with Mia in tow, to destroy all of the “Princess” material and trying to find Charlie, the man he sees as responsible for the ruin of his sister. It's a story of broken people: August desperately tries to reach out and connect with Mia who is craving the “normality” of her old life. His sisters story is tolled in live action flashbacks shot in fuzzy VHS. All of these elements crash horribly together in the film's tragic, bloody climax.

Princess is a well executed film about a difficult subject matter. The use of anime techniques makes this a gorgeous looking flick and allows for Mia to be put in situations that no child actor should see. Strong performances from the danish cast give an emotional grounding to even the most extreme of scenes. A lot of this film is genuinely disturbing but it is intelligent and thought provoking in a way that few films are.

[Ancient One]

Any review should at least aspire to making the reader want to see the movie. Ive just put this on my L******m list. Well done and welcome onboard.

[Jeffbiscuits]

Definitely agreed. I had never even heard of this but I'm pretty excited about it from your review.

[filmgamejunkies]

Nice review of a genuinely interesting and disturbing anime. Enjoyed this when I first saw it on Tartan DVD a couple of years ago though like you said the subject matter is one that is seldom confronted. It is executed really well with this film. Not one that many people have seen when I discuss it though. Definately deserves to be seen by more people.