Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Persepolis

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Posted by Mark Lensenmayer (Member # 134) on 02-19-2008, 09:16 AM:

Nominated for Best Animated Film

Quick Summary: Tehran is not a fun place to live. Ratatouille is a better film.

What is Good: Unique story shown in a unique way (stark animation), interesting look at a society we aren't very familiar with, interesting animation style

What is Not Good: Picture drags a bit in the middle, young girls face in early part of film looks too much like Gerald McBoing-Boing

Rating: B-

Viewed at Regal Georgesville Road in Columbus, OH 3:55pm 2/18
Shown in original French version with subtitles.

The image at this theatre always seems a bit dim...white level is more gray then pure white. Also, house light cue was placed too early at the end...it should come AFTER the dialog about the flowers, not at the beginning. This is still part of the movie, not part of the credits.

And that stupid usher check Regal does sure is annoying. Usher walks in, climbs up 6 steps, turns around and leaves. They don't see to look for anything, just go in and out. This is a very small room with the aisle in the center...it is impossible to ignore this, and it really disrupts a serious picture like this. It may be a Regal requirement, but I don't have to like it.

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 06-28-2008, 11:23 PM:

Persepolis didn't play in theaters near where I live. So I had to wait until it arrived on Blu-ray disc. I give the movie 3.5 stars out of 4.

Persepolis is a good movie in the respect it shows much about a society that us Americans no little about. We have the picture in our heads about Iran, and that blocks out the idea that many millions of people in that country like the same kinds of things we do (such as Iron Maiden records) and have the same hopes and fears. Iran just had the misfortune of going from one dictatorship under the Shah to an even more oppressive dictatorship. Despite the oppression, some "western" cultural influence still sneaks through.

The story is fairly conventional but with it being auto-biographical and revealing of a closed society the movie ends up being enlightening and educational. Persepolis should make anyone in this country appreciate their level of freedom.

I'm a member of a certain civic club and one of our members is from Tehran. He came to the United States and Lawton back in the 1980s when Iran and Iraq went to war. Whenever I see something being reported in the media about Iran I think about my fellow club member instead of thinking of Iran being a nation filled with angry nut-jobs. I think Persepolis does a great job of casting Iranian society in a sympathetic light.

The Blu-ray disc has a few extras featuring "making of" stuff for the movie, some limited commentary tracks for a few scenes (not a full blown track) and a press conference from Cannes 2007. Here's what I took from it. Marjane Satrapi lived through a lot of challenges in Iran and Europe. She speaks Farsi, French and English fluently. And she was the driving force behind one of the best animated movies of 2007. Kinda makes me feel like a lazy piece of shit.

I recommend the Blu-ray version above renting/buying the DVD. Although the animation style is very abstract and simple, a great deal of rough, sketchy textures are present through much of the movie. That feel would be blurred and largely lost in the low resolution of DVD. On top of that, the contrast on Blu-ray is better than that of DVD and color is far better controlled. The NTSC palette is crap compared to what's possible with HDTV.