Marjane Satrapi's autobiographical graphic novel, Persepolis, makes for a striking and unusual animated feature, one that puts you in Iran during its political shift from fascist to religious tyranny and makes you see through the eyes of a young girl, then a young woman. There are parts of the world Westerners just don't understand and paint with the widest possible brush. Iran in such a place, so on a didactic level, we learn a lot from Satrapi's remembrances. On an emotional level, her family and friends feel like real people (the granny is the best character, to be sure), and her memoirs are honest and can take the bent of confessions. And though you'd think revolution, war, political prisoners, torture, repression, and the never fitting in would be crushingly heavy topics, thanks to the animation, there's a light touch that keeps it bouncing along. If anything, it bounces too quickly, and when it ended, I was resentful and wanted it to continue for a bit.
Painful story told beautifully. A flawed human, living in a flawed world, but aren’t we all in the same boat? The only thing left to do is to be honest with ourselves. Amazing.
@ everyone disagreeing with Jook; I think it's less that the film itself is pretentious than that it's about a pretentious person. Marjane is pretty honest throughout about presenting her faults, and BOY does she have fucking faults. On a minuscule level, her initial love of then dismissal of the Bee-Gees demonstrates her behavior towards pretty much every element of her life: embrace passionately, then reject passionately. It's a movie about adolescence in an extremely difficult environment, and that experience colors the tone of the movie; a very average person giving themself too much credit for developing in a very uncommon, stressful situation.
Fucking fantastic movie. I was actually kind of blown away by how much I love it. The art is beautiful, the story is fantastic, the dialogue is great, the characters are all memorable and distinct and it's an emotional roller coaster. Thoroughly captivating. I can't promote this movie enough, watch it.
@Jook I'm sure your opinion is grounded, but how exactly was Persepolis pretentious? :O Sure, artsy moments like color switching, etc., but it all served a purpose, which is the exact opposite of pretentiousness.
A politically-charged tearjerker that gets to the bottom of things -- including the role of women in even more patriarchal societies than ours. It's a shame that they don't make more movies like this.
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Siskoid
Marjane Satrapi's autobiographical graphic novel, Persepolis, makes for a striking and unusual animated feature, one that puts you in Iran during its political shift from fascist to religious tyranny and makes you see through the eyes of a young girl, then a young woman. There are parts of the world Westerners just don't understand and paint with the widest possible brush. Iran in such a place, so on a didactic level, we learn a lot from Satrapi's remembrances. On an emotional level, her family and friends feel like real people (the granny is the best character, to be sure), and her memoirs are honest and can take the bent of confessions. And though you'd think revolution, war, political prisoners, torture, repression, and the never fitting in would be crushingly heavy topics, thanks to the animation, there's a light touch that keeps it bouncing along. If anything, it bounces too quickly, and when it ended, I was resentful and wanted it to continue for a bit.KuroSawWhat
Interesting inclusion on the top "Family" film list with its multiple uses of the C-word..karuss
Painful story told beautifully. A flawed human, living in a flawed world, but aren’t we all in the same boat? The only thing left to do is to be honest with ourselves. Amazing.mysteryfan
First you irritate me with the type of animation used, then you show me a history documentary with that animation. I rate it 4/10 on IMDbmanwithpetgull
@ everyone disagreeing with Jook; I think it's less that the film itself is pretentious than that it's about a pretentious person. Marjane is pretty honest throughout about presenting her faults, and BOY does she have fucking faults. On a minuscule level, her initial love of then dismissal of the Bee-Gees demonstrates her behavior towards pretty much every element of her life: embrace passionately, then reject passionately. It's a movie about adolescence in an extremely difficult environment, and that experience colors the tone of the movie; a very average person giving themself too much credit for developing in a very uncommon, stressful situation.swhaze
Pretentious? No way. But, everyone is entitled to their own opinion.Graminthesalmon
Fucking fantastic movie. I was actually kind of blown away by how much I love it. The art is beautiful, the story is fantastic, the dialogue is great, the characters are all memorable and distinct and it's an emotional roller coaster. Thoroughly captivating. I can't promote this movie enough, watch it.nicolaskrizan
interesting and important but lacking that extra something – not in the bookhttps://beyond1001movies.wordpress.com/
mondovertigo
I love the animation in this.rainy
<3kidijs
@Jook I'm sure your opinion is grounded, but how exactly was Persepolis pretentious? :O Sure, artsy moments like color switching, etc., but it all served a purpose, which is the exact opposite of pretentiousness.A politically-charged tearjerker that gets to the bottom of things -- including the role of women in even more patriarchal societies than ours. It's a shame that they don't make more movies like this.
Skyscore
http://www.afisha.ru/movie/180358/review/187235/Oneironaut
Didn't like it.ericaf
Watched it in French and thought it was both quirky and meaningful. Definitely enjoyed it.Jook
Hate to spoil the party but I thought this was dull pretentious drivel.Showing items 1 – 15 of 23