Review of Persepolis (2007) by Chads. — 16 Feb 2008
If 2-D animation is dead, then "Persepolis" is a dead man's party. While "Shrek" gorges himself on Bambi and all his forest critter friends, filmmakers like Satoshi Kon("Paprika", "Tokyo Godfathers") and Sylvain Chomet("Les Triplettes de Belleville") continue to work in the cel tradition.
"Persepolis", however, could be said to have precious little, if any, of "Steamboat Willie['s]" DNA. Like Jessica Yu's "In the Realms of the Unreal"(the 2004 documentary about outsider artist Henry Darger), "Persepolis" takes static imagery(in this case; the illustrations from a graphic novel, in the Yu film; Darger's paintings) and transforms them into a meditation on kinesics.
The results are truly startling; Iran and France rendered in a phantasmagorical world of black and white. The intermittent use of color is used to differentiate the past from the present, but it's also a commentary on how Marjane's life in her homeland and adopted home covered the full breadth of experiences in both geographical instances.
Don't readily assume that Marjane's life in Iran was all bad, and her move to France was all good; only our president sees things in terms of black and white. Our president, our country, in which "Persepolis" sneakily characterizes as being the devil, and the devil's lair.
Marjane(voiced by Chiara Mastroianni) listens to Iron Maiden, a band from Sheffield, England that purportedly worships the devil(well, they did release an album entitled "The Number of the Beast").
In other words, Great Britian is in cahoots with the United States, or, "the devil", as we are known to our international neighbors.
This review of Persepolis (2007) was written by Chads. on 16 Feb 2008.
Persepolis has generally received very positive reviews.
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