The Hollywood Theater will show the a 4K restoration of the 1973 Japanese animated movie Belladonna of Sadness (哀しみのベラドンナ) on May 20, 21, and 22.
A RogerEbert.com review provides a summary:
Beginning with a pop ballad of love, “Belladonna” tells the story of Jeanne, a beautiful young woman who falls in love with hunky Jean. The two, blessed by God, marry, with all the requisite expectations of happily-ever-after. But soon the nightmare begins. On their wedding night, the lord of the village rapes Jeanne. Jean is helpless to intervene. At first broken by the experience, Jeanne eventually vows revenge, with the help of a pact with the devil, who appears to her in explicitly phallic form and grows larger the more Jeanne submits to him. As Jeanne grows more and more powerful, she poses a threat to both the village lord and its priest, who seems to always be beside him. Jean seems progressively more wimpy, succumbing to drink and excess. The men grow weaker as she grows stronger, until she becomes a powerful witch and must be taken down. But that becomes difficult, because the peasant villagers have become attached to her—she provides them healing and hosts nights of unimaginable pleasure in the forest. Violence is the only recompense.
The theater adds that the unrated movie is restricted to audiences 18 and older and "contains explicit imagery of sexual violence". The theater also adds an epilepsy trigger warning: "intense flashing/flickering sequences may be harmful to those with light sensitivity."
Tickets for the 10:00 pm show are available online. The theater is located at 1449 Potomac Ave. in Dormont (map), and is accessible by Pittsburgh's subway/LRT at a block south of Potomac Station.
