boris_kolarov I'm a huge fan of animation and Denmark's Princess from 2006 gives me more reasons to be fan of this genre.Princess is a recipe for an excellent film. You have a great animation, as well as some originality - there's some live-action also. You have two highly likable characters - August and Mia, and their relationship is what carries the movie. There's a great plot, where some moments make you happy and others - sad. If that isn't enough the film is about darker themes. One other thing I'll point out about Princess is a scene that had an awesome style (I don't want to spoil the scene).There's nothing in Princess that ruins the experience. A little, microscopic flaw is within the animation at some moments could be polished.Princess is a must-watch for fans of animation and films and it is an excellent film.

Rapeman Anders Morgenthaler's animated film Princess tells the disturbing tale of corrupted innocence and the bloody revenge taken by a missionary priest intent on taking down Denmark's porn industry.After his porn star sister Christina (aka The Princess) dies from a drug overdose, August, a priest previously doing missionary work on the other side of the world, returns to his homeland Denmark to take custody of his sisters five-year-old daughter, Mia. The longer he lives with Mia, the more August realizes how much the sexual, physical & mental abuse she has been subjected to while being dragged along through the sleazy underbelly of the porn industry with her mother has indefinitely warped her young mind. For instance, while August is bathing Mia she deftly unzips his fly while looking seductively (as much as a child can) up at him or, while joining in a game of "Mommies & Daddies" with some other children, she volunteers to be "the whore" because they don't have one of them yet. After the game she takes the boys to a secluded spot where she drops her panties and one of them attempts to anally penetrate her with a stick.All the while August is plotting ways to rid the world of all traces of his sister porn career and the man responsible for it, the illusive Charlie. At first he sends threats then not long after he violently fulfills them, sometimes with Mia's help (in one scene we see her gleefully sinking a crowbar into one producers genitals). On his mission of vengeance we see August set alight many distribution warehouses, gorily slaughter producers and managers, then eventually blow up a mansion "built on porn". Also sprinkled throughout the film are candid glimpses of Christina which we see via home video footage shot by August when they were teenagers - it seems he obsessively recorded everything - this footage is all live-action and adds a powerful sense of reality to the proceedings.All in all I was highly impressed by Princess, I don't think I've ever felt such strong emotion from an animated film before - it's portrayal of a timid priest who slowly transforms himself into a focused killing machine and the loss of innocence / sexualisation of a child are all depicted in an unflinching fashion, and yet while this is structured like a basic revenge flick, it is also anti-revenge because we see the damage August's revenge eventually inflicts on him and the people he loves. Although the film is obviously anti-porn, (in it's opening scenes we see a shocked August dressed in full priest attire accidentally witness his heavily pregnant sister being f@cked by two men on film, and when we see Christina's tombstone it is like an altar to porn flanked by four towering marble cocks and littered with dildo's and vibrators left by adoring fans) it isn't pushed too didactically which is a definite plus. The live-action sequences really enhance the film and give it more dimension as we witness Christina gradually getting more & more into her drugs and porn career while forgetting about her daughter as August looks on, helpless to do anything.

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.

linkkk Princess was the most anticipated film of the Midnight Madness program this year at TIFF for me after I heard the basic premise of the film and was surprised to learn that a story of that nature would be told in an animated feature. It turned out to be a very hardcore noir revenge tale that was gritty as hell and dealt with some very sensitive material. I wish there was some official website/trailer, or even some images I could find on the net from this movie but I can't seem to much at all. To compare it to other works I guess the movie felt to me like it had certain elements from films like Taxi Driver, Leon: The Professional, and a load of other film noir just set in a more underground modern day euro trash setting.The story follows a man named August, a priest in the opening of the film, who finally tracks down his pregnant sister, whom he discovers in a very shocking scene engaged with several men in a gang bang. The images of that and the character's reaction, framed in an intense close up of his quivering blue eyes that look like they could crack at any moment, pretty much sets the tone for the rest of the movie. Years later, August's sister, who we learn was a renowned porn star named Princess, is found murdered, and her daughter now orphaned. August must now take his sister's daughter Mia under his care, while slowly discovering the deep trauma this child has suffered living under such a degrading, sexually oppressive environment. The connection these two characters form is what's most powerful about this movie, as they both endure the loss of a sister/mother who fell into such a disgusting, dangerous world, and Mia who is probably only about 5-8 years old slowly learns who her mother really was.What definitely carries the film though is August's transformation from rational, peaceful man and caring figure into an infuriated angel of death to those responsible for killing his sister and continuing to make money from her Adult Video sales and merchandise, exploiting her even in death, while trying to eliminate all the existing pornographic material of his sister. You even begin to see symbolic traces of religious empowerment in August's extreme actions later on in the film. This man reaches such a breaking point that when he finally unleashes the results will leave you speechless. The level of violence in this film is surprising at times, though never becomes too indulgent and over the top, as brutality almost seems quite necessary and appropriate at times given the subject matter and themes of the film. This is a man who enters a world that completely contradicts everything he holds to be morally right and pure, a world that destroyed his only sister, and whom he is somewhat responsible for plunging her into as you'll learn later on in the film. I wish i could rant on more about the animation and direction in it too. Really, the animated medium this story reaches it's audience is so effectively used, every transition and image is so well executed, while the animation is quite simplistic yet very well suited to the gritty places and faces we're introduced to. 20% of the film is actually live action camcorder footage which appears as glimpses into the character's pasts, as August used to record everything on his video camera, though we never actually see him in any of these live action flashbacks. There is so much beauty to this film despite much of it's vile content; the settings, depth of character & expression, atmosphere, colors and soundtrack all create such a wonderfully hypnotic visual experience and a film that I eagerly await to see again. I doubt it'll ever get much of a theatrical release given the level of violence and sexuality in it, especially when dealing with a small child, but lets hope there'll be more buzz around Princess in the future.