MamaGravity good back-story, and good acting

Ketrivie It isn't all that great, actually. Really cheesy and very predicable of how certain scenes are gonna turn play out. However, I guess that's the charm of it all, because I would consider this one of my guilty pleasures.

Salubfoto It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

Beulah Bram A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

dromasca When 'Waltz with Bashir' almost got the Oscar prize for best foreign-language movie this year I did not know that it has a precursor in using animation to pass a very serious message. 'Princess' reminds from many points of view the Israeli movie, and even has some very similar looks. In a mix of animation and amateur movies filmed with hand-held camera it tells a story that would be too disturbing to be made with actors. A five year girl is orphaned by the death by overdose of her mother, a porn actress. Her uncle takes her under his protection, only to find out that she was abused by her mother's entourage. They engage in a violent voyage of revenge that ends in tragedy.The combination of animation - the cinema genre associated with the wonderful innocent world of childhood faeries - and documentary footage gives style to this otherwise disturbing story of a traumatic childhood and of violent revenge. Although the film is a little bit too simple in its approach and some of its details it leaves a strong impression exactly because of its apparent minimalism. It's like 'Kill Bill' meeting Disney on the very shaky and dangerous ground of a tragica story of revenge for a stolen childhood.

fertilecelluloid Imagine Paul Schrader's "Hardcore" updated for the internet generation and animated. That might give you some idea where the oddball "Princess" is coming from. August, a priest, partly blames himself for the fact that his young, dead sister, Christina, became a famous porn star named Princess. Taking Christina's young daughter, Mia, under his wing, the angry priest begins to dismantle the Danish porn business by torturing producers and firebombing their buildings. Mia accompanies him on his anti-porn campaigns and is even invited to sink a sharp garden instrument into the groin of one cowering producer. August's ultimate mission is to find and annihilate Charlie, the man responsible for Christina's ultimate "success" and reputation as a superwhore. The film is certainly original and defiantly non-PC. Mia is portrayed as a product of her mother's pornographic world, and "acts out" the behavior of whores and porn stars she has encountered. The film uses non-animated, live action footage of Christina to give us a broader perspective of her world. This footage is introduced primarily when Mia or August watch old videotapes of Christina's life. "Princess" is not fast paced or dynamic like a manga, even though its bright, glowing anime style feels Japanese at times. The violence is brutal, and the inclusion of a very young child in these scenes gives the film a disturbing edge. It is a film worth seeing, but it is not entirely satisfying because it plays a little too loose with its fascist politics.

sarastro7 Stylistically, Princess is unique and innovative and extremely well made; even to the extent of being called an art movie. Contents-wise, however, it is not an art movie, but purely an outpouring of anger. The story is good and important (if quite simple), and one understands the emotion that underlies it. It is a movie that deserves a high grade simply for initiating a discussion of this sort of subject matter. The porn industry is a crucible of enormous individual tragedy for those caught in it, and it is easy to blame those who seem immediately responsible: the producers. But, of course, porn is a consequence of larger social mechanisms, and to get rid of the type of porn (which today is almost all of it) that demeans and degrades women requires larger social changes. I suspect Morgenthaler is aware of this (esp. because the culprit, Charlie, survives the protagonists), but realizes that one must crawl before being able to walk. This is his opening statement, and it doesn't penetrate to any deeper social causes of the subject treated, but later works of his might. Let's hope.We live in an era that hardly even talks about this kind of subject matter, and that is part of the problem. We cannot have a meaningful public dialog about such things until the subject has been broached in some initial, fairly simple way that makes people willing to discuss it. Once the discussion has been opened, debate on the deeper causes of the problems can be engaged in. Kudos to Morgenthaler for attempting to treat a very serious subject which hardly anybody else have tried to take a good look at before.8 out of 10.

pod-21 August is a priest who returns to Denmark from missionary work to take care of his five year old niece Mia when his sister Christina dies of a drug overdose. August has spent years trying to save others through his work but was powerless to help Christina, whose life was a downward spiral since achieving fame in life as the titular "Princess"- a porn star. His feelings of guilt turn to anger when he realizes that his sister wasn't the only victim of this seedy underworld, but that little Mia has a long documented history of sexual and physical abuse. He directs his rage towards the men behind the camera that used and abused his sister and her daughter to line their own pockets. Thus begins a bloody tale of vengeance as August, with Mia as his side, resolves to wipe his sisters porn legacy from the face of the planet, while all the time trying to reach his prize- Charlie- the man who was Christina's lover, and who first brought her fame as the Princess.To say that the film is good is to do it a disservice. The film is simply put a work of art. The animation, while always limited, achieves something in its simplicity that all the millions of costly pixels (-seemingly employed by everyone and their third cousin twice removed these days) simply cannot. Honesty. August's journey is a cautionary tale- making no bones about the fact that the first victim of revenge (no matter how good the case for revenge may be) is always the one who seeks it. This is a complex film which challenges the viewer in that it makes us understand and indeed root for August but, as the body count rises, literally destroys any good in him in the process. What starts out as wish fulfillment fantasy ala Kill Bill, turns decidedly nasty as Morgenthaler never lets you forget that the lives lost to August's cause are not always deserving, or if indeed they are, they are only deserving seen from a certain point of view. There are no universal rights or wrongs, no innocents. Just people. I would love to write more on this point, but firmly believe that it would spoil the journey for anyone coming into the film fresh.Morgenthaler is in a league that few can claim. I was constantly and happily reminded of Scorsese ala "Mean streets" and "Taxi Driver", of Towne and Polanski ala "Chinatown". There is a fierce directness to this work that is staggering and his decisions are constantly surprising. The film is inter-cut with live action footage, taken by August in his youth when he was a camera nut. This lays out the back story of their lives and charts how all this came to pass. I was wary of this concept going into the film as I have rarely thought that mixing these two media was successful. With one exception he pulls it off, the shaky home video feel adds credence to the animated world (not to mention the porn, which with the exception of the opening sequence is always shown live action), plus providing us with a third reel whammy that will knock you for six.The star of the film though is Mia. She is the ultimate in innocence corrupted. Where as in "Perfect Blue" we watched as a childlike young woman is tortured by a sexual predator, here we have an actual child who has experienced much worse, but is too young to have any idea of the psychological consequences. She is hurt, frightened, tragically sad, but only seen from our point of view. She was raised in this world, and that's all she really knows. Playing house for her is something entirely different then for other children. It is played for laughs at times, but Morgenthaler chokes that laugh in your throat by never letting you forget the sheer horror of what it is you are watching. It leaves a lasting mark on you that is hard to shake.I cannot recommend this film highly enough.