Princess Plum P-udding (1999)

In 19th century Europe, photographs of the “grotesque” such as deformed bodies and corpses were popular and enthusiastically traded and collected. In contemporary Japan, a video about voluptuous little Sayomi who loves to collect Mickey Mouse paraphernalia—how do people look at her as she sways to Baroque in a white negligee? Do modern-day cavaliers court her? Will her domineering mother save her from evil eyes? The director hands her the video camera and attempts to present the world through her perspective. She dresses her up in extravagance, shows off her glamorous presence, and proves that she is no sissy object or victim—she is larger than life.

Mari TerashimaDirector