Seed NewsvineOld School Animation Is Not "Ded" Either
Marjane Satrapi is an expatriate. She is also my new Frank Miller. Up until now, I had no knowledge of her graphic novel, her biting humor or her zestful approach to storytelling.
I mean, I was aware of the film's Jury Prize win at last year's Cannes Film Festival; I read Ebert's four-star review of it; the fact that it ended up Entertainment Weekly's top ten list (Scwarzbaum's list anyway) caught my eye. But I still hadn't seen the movie.
A few hours ago, I went into "Persepolis" looking forward to eating my 2 for $3 Big Mac bag-o-goodies. I must admit, I wasn't really holding "Persepolis" as a serious candidate for observation (it looked like a cute toon, nothing more). After watching it, I can honestly say that if it beats "Ratatouille" for the Oscar on Sunday, it deserves it. It's that good.
A quick plot synopsis would highlight the fact that it is autobiographical, concerns the progression into womanhood by an outspoken young girl (Marjane), and is set against the backdrop of an Iran going through a tumultuous revolution. The Shah is being overthrown, the radical enforcement of the concealing of women--wait, all I'm doing is listing bullets about the movie. This is not "Elizabeth: The Golden Age." This is a film to embrace, and for avid comic book fans, it is the best cinematic interpretation of the genre that I've seen since Miller's "Sin City" (although that was a graphic novel as well).
It's insane how ingenious the animations unfold onscreen. Satrapi, along with her co-Director Vincent Paronnaud, have found away to make flat drawings of her novel pop and unfurl beautifully. I remember a few of the shots serving as slick transitions using the same outlines of key figures from previous shots; think of the opening shots of "Citizen Kane" where the lit window would stay in place, but the points of the mansion would blend into the points of the fence, and the sky would reflect itself unto a puddle of water--it's like that.
And the use of ambient sound is on par with a heavy Ken Burns recreation. The soundtrack is pretty appealing too, featuring Iron Maiden and "Eye of the Tiger" in a hilarious scene of rejuvenation, just to name a few. Just go see this movie if you haven't.
And don't let my celebration of its technical merit make you believe it's another eye-popping "Beowulf" or something. It's better; this movie has heart. And a lot of jasmine flowers in its bra.
