Persepolis (2007)

Saw it in the theatre a couple weeks ago. (Along with a woman who not only didn't turn off her cell phone, but proceeded to answer a call and talk on it during the film.)

I haven't read the second book but the first half was very true to the first book, which I really liked. It really came to life. There were a few moments - like the scream - which I really liked as well.

It wasn't very upbeat, but then, given the state of Iran and how the people who have left the country look upon it's current status, that isn't really surprising. Also, I don't know how they would have ended it since the protagonist of this autobiography is extant, they have to close on some particular note, and I can understand why they chose what they did.

It does give a bit of a loss of hope feel, the idea of Iran losing all its children abroad and becoming forlorn and dying because of it, in a way.

Really well animated. I hope it gets some recognition - even if only wider audience - I think it deserves it. I liked it better than the Triplets of Belleville, as far as animated French films go, although Triplets was more upbeat in its ending.

I really want to see this again as it's now been awhile and it's faded in my memory some - just when it's hitting for others to see it.

I loved it, I truly did. I think it had a lot to say but managed to consistently reflect that history and message through the characters story. It's also pretty beautiful. I loved how they would use textures to give the very simple black and white, thick-lined animation more depth and contrast - some very extensive thought was given into how to get this on the screen, moving, and still looking good.

EDIT: I am pretty much completely unfamiliar with the source material - but it's a priority.

It's already on DVD?

Maybe Mr. Andrew got ahold of a screener copy....

It's shameful that this didn't win Best Animated Feature.

a real shame

i saw this a couple of nights ago after my roomate rented it,

really really enjoyed it. i liked how it balanced the humour with the reality of her life, the ups and downs.

It didn't win? Oh, fuck that mess. This was an excellent, excellent movie. Absolutely loved it. I've held it as a very high recommendation, and it basically forced its way into my group of favorite films. Just blissful from start to finish. I'm sad there isn't more discussion of it on these boards.

Saw this in the theater last year. It was packed, but then again it was a small art house theater in NYC. I guess it didn't really get a wide release.

I absolutely adore this film. Loved the awkward teenage years. No matter what country you grow up in, we all go through the same feelings.

Here's the post-release thread.

Edit: Just read through it. All the posts stop at 10-17. We lost all post from mid-October to Jan '08 in the CHUD revamp. Sucks cuz the discussion was longer (I know I posted in it).

Favorite scene: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlIAmCfHzbg

I'll just copy and paste from my thread which sort of died a death

I caught the first half of this film at the Leeds International Film Festival last year, but the subtitles cut out about twenty minutes in. Finally managed to see it all the way through with subtitles and the film is just immense, I knew it was based on a French Graphic Novel and is an autobiography of sorts but I had little else.

It's just kind of brilliant, both hilarious and terrifying at the same time. It's also ridiculously informative. I knew very little about Iran when I went into the film and afterwards I almost felt like I'd been given a compacted history lesson. Certainly it doesn't cover everything, but the narrative gives a really clear idea of what happened to Iran and its war with Iraq.

But yeah, really fucking terrifying too.

When people speak about Iran as if it's this huge country full of monstrous terrorists waiting to tear America and the free world apart, I tell them to watch this movie or read the graphic novels.

Great movie. I'd say my only major problem with it was the typical "Read the book, movie wasn't the book" syndrome, but even that wasn't really a big problem in this case.

Anybody watched the dubbed version on the DVD? I've heard it's actually quite good. Sean Penn, Catherine Deneuve, Iggy Pop all voice characters apparently.

I think Deneuve is in both versions, while Pop voices the uncle that is released from prison and is later killed.

Yeah, I saw this in theatres dubbed. The voices are not bad, though it took a bit of "Hey, this is Iggy Pop talking" adjustment time.

Expanding on the "movie's not as good as the book complaint", I felt it more in the first half personally. I kind of wished that it could've gone just a bit further into Iran at the time as I seemed to remember the book doing. But the adaptation of Book Two I felt was much more complete.

This was one I really had to force people I know to watch (black and white? animated? FOREIGN?) but I have yet to hear a complaint.

I can't imagine watching this dubbed. Sounds terrible.

See and that's what I said, but with that cast.....

Maybe, but at least Ratatouille had the decency to have the French people speak English. No such luck here. Bleh

In all seriousness though, this was a real gem of a movie. Diva's right; Marjane manages to bring out the universal humanity of the people which helps make violence all the more personal. I'll be passing this one along to friends.

I read the book and saw the movie pretty much one after the other, and what with them being pretty similar it's kind of hard to judge the movie as a movie without doing comparisons.

The art style in the movie is great - keeps all the charm and individuality of the comic but adds extra depth to it, and some of the more adventurous flourishes are perfectly suited for animation. And as for the story, the books (especially the first one) tended to be really episodic and the film did a good job of shifting things around a little bit into something with proper narrative momentum and a feeling of conclusion and everything, without making it feel too compromised.

It did tend to focus on the teenage and adult years, which makes sense as there's a lot more human drama there. But I sort of miss some of the attention to small details about Iranian society you get from the book, and some of the harsher moments early on don't hit as hard when we're given much less time with some of the characters. One of the things I took from the book was a sense of how different people in Iranian society behaved and how they felt about what was happening, but I'm not sure I'd have gotten such a specific feel for the place just from watching the movie. But on the whole I thought they were both about as enjoyable as each other.