This feature-length anime was adapted from the historical manga series, about early-19th-century painter Katsushika Hokusai (best known for The Great Wave off Kanagawa, the most-reproduced Japanese artwork ever) and his relatively obscure daughter, O-Ei, a fellow artist attemping to recreate a "man's world" she did not have access to.
"The spell Miss Hokusai casts is a powerful one that lingers long after the lights go up in the theater." - Seattle Times
"One of the ways this film feels fresh and revisionist is that it doesn’t succumb to “great man”-ism, positioning a famous artist’s genius as singular." - A.V. Club
"Surprises us with its different emotional tones, ranging from the sinister and supernatural to the unapologetically sexual and the sweetly sentimental." - Los Angeles Times
"Magical and melancholy, tender and robust: rippling reserves of theme and style." - Total Film
As all of Edo flocks to see the work of the revered painter Hokusai, his daughter O-Ei toils diligently inside his studio. Her masterful portraits, dragons and erotic sketches – sold under the name of her father – are coveted by upper crust Lords and journeyman print makers alike. Shy and reserved in public, in the studio O-Ei is as brash and uninhibited as her father, smoking a pipe while sketching drawings that would make contemporary Japanese ladies blush. But despite this fiercely independent spirit, O-Ei struggles under the domineering influence of her father and is ridiculed for lacking the life experience that she is attempting to portray in her art. Miss Hokusai‘s bustling Edo (now known as Tokyo) is filled with yokai spirits, dragons, and conniving tradesmen, while O-Ei’s relationships with her demanding father and blind younger sister provide a powerful emotional underpinning to this sumptuously-animated coming-of-age tale. Not rated (PG-13-ish). 93 mins.
***Please note that NO OUTSIDE DRINKS OR FOOD are allowed inside Richards' Goat Tavern for legal reasons and violators of this rule may be banned from the theatre permanently. Cocktails, non-alcoholic beverages, popcorn, and cookies are available at the bar. If you are interested in one of our hot food specials, please show up at least 30 minutes early to finish it in the bar area, as hot food is not allowed inside the dark theatre for your safety. Thank you, see you at the movies!