What it’s about
A beguiling, artful, wholly original animated-musical retelling of “The Ramayana,” a famous Hindu epic that relates the story of Rama, a king who doubts his beautiful wife Sita’s purity after rescuing her from the clutches of a kidnapping rival.
Why we love it
Combining the Betty Boop-ish Jazz Age vocal styling of Annette Hanshaw (via 78RPM phonograph records) with classical Indian mythology, literary interpretation, autobiography (the director’s own quirky account of separating from her husband after he takes a job in India serves as a modern counterpoint), and gorgeous hand-drawn animation, Nina Paley’s “Blues” is an unusual concoction, to be sure. But it’s one of the freshest, most vibrant pieces of personal filmmaking I’ve seen in a long time. Who needs blockbuster 3D pyrotechnics when you can kick back and watch “Sita Sings the Blues?”