RECOMMENDED
Keiichi Hara’s episodic but richly detailed “Miss Hokusai” (Sarusuberi: Miss Hokusai), an Edo-era-set anime drawn from Hinako Sugiura’s historical manga “Sarusuberi,” follows the daughter of the famed and revered painter, much of whose work he subsumed under his name. It’s lush and dreamy and naughty as well. Far from relying solely on the fantasy elements of too much Japanese animation that makes it to the U.S., “Miss Hokusai” takes an impressionistic approach to its animation, evoking known paintings and painting styles, but also as a memoir of an important nineteenth century female artist’s life in the madly teeming metropolis of 1814 Tokyo. Still, we watch the visions of her imagination, from dragons in the sky, on down, transformed into art. PS: Erotic etchings. 93m. (Ray Pride)
“Miss Hokusai” opens Friday, October 21 at Siskel.
