persepepepperelepolis
February 21st, 2008
Persepolis – B
Well, having read the comics a few years ago when they came out, and absolutely loving them, and being blown away by the art and story and storytelling techniques she uses, my expectations for the film version were high. Then reading articles about how they animated it, seeing the gorgeous previews, hearing about how it was selected for the NY Film Festival, etc., etc.
And it was pretty good. It’s kind of impossible to be objective about it, because I find I have a bit of the "the book was better" syndrome. Obviously, as with any book to film translation, there was lots in the book that wasn’t in the film. And some of the voices didn’t match the kinds of voices I had imagined while reading the comic. And knowing the story already, I wasn’t able to be amazed by discovering what life in Iran was like.
That said, it was beautifully done. The animation was gorgeous, the black and whites, and the movement and transitions were imaginative and beautiful. The sound design was great, there were some genuinely frightening and genuinely sad moments. It’s just that for a lot of it, it sort of felt like "and then this happened. And then this other thing happened." It was just sort of missing whatever that emotional connection is to take it to the next level.
It is always amazing (a la This American Life) to hear some random person’s life story and realize that just living and doing whatever it is you’re doing can be a fascinating story. And this is a film worth seeing, especially if you haven’t read the comics. I just wanted more somehow.