One of the best animated films of the year (or so some are saying) won't arrive until Christmas Day in the U.S. Persepolis is an animated film based on the graphic novel series of the same name by Marjane Satrapi. They are autobiographical comics that detail her life growing up in Iran after the revolution. The story is amazing, and from what I've seen so far, they've been able to adapt the black and white comic into a lush black and white film, matching and improving upon the style of the comic. Cartoon Brew (they feature a number of clips) and a number of blogs have been covering the lead-up for some time. It was just in the Toronto Film Festival, and already won at the Cannes Film Festival. I've been looking foward to seeing this all year.
4 comments:
have you read the Sandman series? I found Persepolis through a mixed up series of events originating from falling head over heels for the Sandman books.
I haven't read the Persepolis comic yet, because I feel like I need to be in the right frame of mind to absorb it. It doesn't seem like a book you can breeze through. (Similar to Maus, which I also put off reading for years.) I guess I should read the book before seeing the film... or maybe I would enjoy the film more if I don't read the book first?
The books are actually a breeze to get through--nothing like Maus, though the comparison is fair. While there are plenty of serious moments, there are a lot of funny moments. Loren scooped me on this one. She doesn't read a lot of comics, but read about it in some magazine and picked it up in the bookstore. She told me I should read it, so that's how I eventually did. It's more of a coming of age story than anything else, just with an interesting backdrop. I would read them before you see the film, only so you can appreciate the animation, and not be distracted by figuring out what's going on. I believe the American release is going to be English dubbed.
John - you have to read this book. I started it at 6:00 today and haven't put it down until right now to write this message. It is amazing.
Post a Comment