Pulpmovies Reviews

Red Princess Blues Animated: The Book of Violence is an animated short film prequel to Alex Ferrari’s upcoming feature film Red Princess Blues and provides some of the backstory of “Princess” - the main character in both films – as well as giving us an opportunity to see some of her world. And what a world it is.

The story centres on the 12-year-old Princess (voiced by Paula Garcés) who – following a violent incident - finds herself in a foreign country trying to find her father. Here, she encounters Nino (Larry Robinson), who tells her that her father is dead and that he had promised to take care of her.

Nino puts her to work in his book shop and it’s here, while cleaning the back room, that she discovers The Book of Violence. On learning that she has found the book, and seeing that she has some talent, Nino agrees to give her some training. The results of this training, of course, will be seen in the upcoming feature.

Alex Ferrari and Dan Cregan have worked together on several films all of which are very striking visually, and this film is no exception. The hand-drawn animation is beautiful to look at and very detailed, but quite static. This approach works very much in the film’s favour by creating a mood of barely suppressed emotion throughout and the suggestion of the violence to come – something made explicit in the film’s final shot.

Paula Garcés puts in a stunning performance here as well. Even though most of the dialogue is in the form of a voice-over narrative she still manages to draw the audience into her character so that we really do want to know how things will pan out for Princess.

Red Princess Blues Animated is an exceptionally stylish film harks back to the sort of anime that many of us grew up with. It can currently be seen online at Latino Review (until February 7th), after which it will its festival run. The film is well worth seeing and I can’t recommend strongly enough that you do so.

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