A lonely, carefree office worker by day, Honey (Eriko Sato) lives a double life as her magical, crime fighting alter ego Cutie Honey. Teaming up with a cynical, hard-hearted cop (Mikako Ichikawa) and a smooth-talking, horn-dog journalist (Jun Murakami), Honey must summon all her powers to defeat the evil Panther Claw gang and their demonic leader, Big Jill — and maybe even avenge her father’s death in the process…

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Adapting the 1970s manga and anime series created by Go Nagai, director Hideaki Anno (Love & Pop, Shin Godzilla, Evangelion) transforms this source material in a delirious, high camp fantasy that bends reality into something bold and bizarre. Overflowing with loud colors, slapstick antics, and stunning ‘70s-by-2004 fashion, Anno’s film is a high-concept live action cartoon that parodies (and pays tribute to) the anime culture it comes from.

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Made years before Marvel would standardize the look and feel of superhero movies, Cutie Honey imaginatively combines practical effects, luridly unrealistic CGI, and gorgeous tokusatsu-style costumes into a style all its own. The film’s kitschy, lovingly hand-made sensibility recalls the films of Nobuhiko Obayashi (House, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time) and Stephen Chow (Kung Fu Hustle), while anticipating the more-is-more hysteria of the Wachowskis’ own classic anime adaptation, Speed Racer.

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As Anno’s films continue to be rediscovered in the West, Cutie Honey offers a manic counterpoint to the bleak work he is best known for. Anchored by Sato’s electric performance (and her sparks-flying chemistry with Ichikawa), it is at heart a sensitively-told story of a group of misfits banding together to take on a power greater than their own. A perfect way to start the summer, this rarely-screened, would-be cult classic is a truly one of a kind experience.

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dir. Hideaki Anno, 2004
Japan, digital projection
93 min

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7:30 DOORS
8:00 SCREENING