Persepolis

[peter johnson]

     It's been so long since I've seen something I could call a powerful work of Art on the big screen, I'd forgotten what it felt like --
     After seeing "There Will Be Blood" & not being overwhelmed, I went into this one with a sort of ho-hum attitude -- I was blown away --
     Aside from the expressive animation, this film has a real Story to it/Plot to it that manages to involve one from the first few frames, yet comes to an ambiguous end that remains poignant and satisfying.  For drawings, you genuinely come to care for the heroine and her grandmother & the film isn't afraid to let the heroine be a real jerk at times, just like real life.
     I was in Tehran in 1977, the year before the film starts, and if drawn from memory, it is astounding how much this film looks like the real city.
     The voicework is exceptional.  Some very powerful acting on the part of Catherine DeNeuve, and other French actors I'm not as familiar with.
     Tension, intrigue, violence (The war scenes are very creepy and awful), sex and drugs and rock & roll -- There is a hysterically funny sequence set in the Punk Club scene of 1980's Vienna.  And love and tension and horror and yeah, yeah, then what happened? -- I hate it when people say:  This film's got it all!  Well, this film really does have it all:  Politics, religion, philosophy and fart jokes.  This movie did, for me, what other animations & Graphic Novel adaptations only promise.
     You may all hate it, but I still simply can't reccommend it enough --
peter johnson/denny still reeling

[Mofo Rising]

I read the graphic novel a while back, so I'm interested in seeing this. I'll probably wait until DVD, since arthouse theaters are not close to my house.

[BeyondTheGrave]

My friend told me this was really good. This ones getting big in the punk community too as I have heard people start to talk about it at shows. I would go see but the art house theater a bit expansive like $11-12 and no matinee to speak of. Might have to wait for dvd.

[peter johnson]

As I say, quite a bit of punk culture in this --
I know I'm lucky to live in the area I do -- I saw this in a mainstream theatre, but because this is Boulder County, even the mainstream theatres show arthouse cinema stuff --
Sure, I'm sure the DVD will be very good, too -- and I'm sure full of extras -- but I'm very happy I caught it on a big screen, as the drawings just get in your face that way.
I now have to find the graphic novel(s).
peter johnson/denny crane

[HarlotBug3]

  It better not leave the theatre before I have time to see it!

[BeyondTheGrave]

I finally got to see Wes.when my friend (who already saw it) wanted to see it again with me and for real cheap ($5.50!) at a arthouse theater. Glad I saw it. Peter Johnsons accurate when it has everything. Something of eveyone really. I even changed my tagline under my Avatar to something from the movie

[peter johnson]

Yes!  She buy Iron Maiden tape and not Jackson Michaels!!
Punk not ded . . .
peter johnson/denny crane

[Mofo Rising]

I finally watched it today. I think the move from the comic to the cinema screen was a great idea.

I started watching it by myself at home because I was fairly sure the nobody else would want to watch this tale about a young woman growing up in Iran. Halfway through my roommate showed up (not the target audience for the film), and before it finished my little brother and his friend showed up as well.

They all loved the movie. That surprised the hell out of me.

I'll be recommending this to everybody.

[HarlotBug3]

Buy it.

You'll just waste money renting it.

[kganymede]

Totally agree, peter.  Did you get to see the actual persepolis when you were there?

I've heard it's amazing, have always wanted to see it.

[peter johnson]

I'm pretty sure Persepolis is the ancient Greek name for what is now modern Tehran.  There are certainly Greek, Alexandrian and Persian ruins all over the place, along with minarets from the 8th century, all of it quite achaeologically and artistically interesting. 
I recall that whole area with some fondness.  I was walking down a side street one day when a girls' school let out, and they all swarmed around me in their white uniforms.  This was before they were forced to veil-up, and I have never seen more beautiful women in my life, then or since.  It was like being beaten to death with rose petals.  I can make myself gasp with the recollection even now, some 28 years later.
peter johnson/denny crane

[ER]

I like how the movie looks exactly like the graphic novel.

You know, as was the message when this film was released, I been hearing for twenty years how with so much of its population being young Iran is on the verge of a wave of positive change, but to me it looks to be the same evil nation it's been for almost fifty years, sponsoring terrorism, threatening its neighbors, and getting away with quietly nerve-gassing US citizens without any US response.

I'm beginning to feel like sympathy toward Iran is like sympathy toward Nazi Germany and this movie isn't the favorite of mine it once was.