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Saw three flicks this weekend, but only one sticks out in my memory, Persepolis, an animated film written and directed by Marjane Satrapi about her youth in Iran from 1978-1994, before she immgrated to live in France and based on the graphic novels of the same name, which she also wrote and drew.
This may be the best film I've seen in the past three or four years. It certainly is the most eye-opening. The only other film I've seen that haunts me in this way was at the NY Film Society Festival on Human Rights about three-four years ago. (2005) It was a documentary film about a Sri Lankan woman's life in war torn Sri Lanka or Ceylone. Entitled No More Tears, Sister . In some ways Persepolis, reminds me of the other film, even though the two films are quite different, not only in how they are told but in their subject matter. It's their overall effect on me personally that was similar.
Persepolis is a film that I wish I could make you see. Unlike the other films and tv shows I've discussed in this journal, this one is harder to describe, because of how the story is told. It's an animated film, but as Iggy Pop, one of the voices for the English version, states - the animation reminds me more of the old German abstract war and noir films of the 1930s, such as the Peter Lorre film "M", or Orson Well's "The Third Man", or the work of Fritz Lang.
Outside of the opening and closing reels, the majority of the two hour film is told in flashback and in black and white, much like the graphic novels, yet it is also very different from the graphic novels. The writer wisely realizes that the two mediums are quite different and require different approachs - story boards she states in one of the commentaries, do not work, you have to build scenes that move.
Persepolis animation is unlike any I've seen. It's not as cute as disney, or as three dimensional as Pixar, it goes for abstract realism and focuses on shadows and light, as opposed to brilliant color or 3D CGI imagery. According to the behind the scenes documentary in the special features section after the film, the animators used a combination of cell animation or hand drawn and computer. Each movement was drawn by a different animator. Then they were put together on the computer, where color was added along with movement and sound. If you want to know what the process is for creating a film like this on a small budget, be sure to watch "Making of Persepolis" in the special features section.
The story itself is mainly a young woman's coming of age tale in war torn Iran during the period in which the Shah was overthrown and the Mulism extremists took over. Women went from being able to go about town without anything covering their heads, to being covered head to toe in long scarves. There's a rather funny sequence at an art school, where Marjane is attempting to draw one of these women in a life drawing class. She states, this is pointless, from every angle the woman looks the same, a head inside a big tent. While tragic in places, its funny in others - effectively pulling the audience inside the POV of the protagonist. We feel what it is like to be a true outsider, in both your own culture and all others. Marjane must leave Iran, because in Iran she would be killed, raped or placed in prison for being herself. Yet even outside of Iran, she struggles with how her people are perceived. Marjane states in the documentary that she chose animation because with live action, people would just perceive it as another story about a bunch of Arabs, as opposed to a human story that could be about anyone and is more universial in context. Animation, she believes, can provide a more level playing field. She's also able in animation to show the features that set her people apart, yet at the same time the ones that make us all human.
Marjane's hope is that the film will provide a better understanding of what is happening in Iran, that the Iranian people are not our enemy, and create an interest in learning more about Persia and it's culture. Speaking purely for myself, I think she succeeded. After watching this film, I had a new appreciation for what Iranians were going through and an increased desire to learn more about their culture. It's so easy, I think, to dismiss the people in Iran and Iraq. Forgetting that these are just people, no different than the rest of us, with the same desires, urges, fears, and hopes, just different ways of expressing and enjoying them.
A lot of people are under the false impression that Iran is Arab, Marjane states (I blame the media). They aren't. They are Persian. Calling them Arab is a bit like calling Palestinans - Jewish or vice versa. Or Chinese - Japenese. Or the French - Spainish. The cultures are very different.
Another comment Marjane states in the documentary, is that while the film is about politics, it's really just about the universal concept of being an outsider, of trying to fit in, and trying to make one's life work in a difficult environment. The politics - she states is also a big part of it, but that is not because she wants to discuss it, one does not wish to talk about politics, she says, politics is sort of thrust upon you and you are given no choice. It won't let you ignore it. Particularly in a country ruled by a dictatorship.
I wish I could write better this morning, have a sick headache partly due to the weather, I'm sensitive to the barometric pressure in the air before violent thunderstorms - it gives me nauseous headaches..., the second in row this weekend. Makes a difficult to think. Also incredibly frustrating. Had a lot I wanted to get done, but was largely unable to do most of it. Including this review. Ah well, will post, anyhow.
I hope the people with netflix out there, put PERSEPOLIS on their queue. It is the best movie I've seen since 2005. Nothing compares to it in every respect. It's in some ways like a breath of fresh air on a smoggy morning. Clean, crisp, and brand new. Off to take an aleve and get rid of this headache.
[ETA:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
frenchani reminded me of something that I forgot to mention above and is yet another reason that this film is so special, particularly for a renter. The DVD has two film versions - one in English and one in French. Both versions were written and directed by Marjane, both have the same actors for the mother and daughter (Marjane), the uncle and father are voiced by different actors in each version. The French features a popular French Comedian as the father's voice. The English features Scean Penn and Iggy Pop. As the Grandmother, the great Gena Rowlends of the John Cassevetes films, plays the role in the English version. Unlike other animated and foreign films that have been dubbed in this manner, Marjane did something interesting - she created a new film for each version. She states in the documentary, that in reality the English version is a new film, because the actors are different and they had to change things, Gena brings a different dimension to the grandmother than the French actress did for example. Also as Gena Rowlends states, the French speak much faster than the English/Americans do. It's a faster language, less words are required. So they had to slow down the animation in places for the actors. Both versions are on the DVD, along with two documentaries - Making of Persepolis - which is in French with English subtitles, and Behind the Scenes at Persepolis which is English. I've never seen anyone do this on a DVD before. Usually, it's all in French with English subs. Or all in English. Nor have I ever seen anyone redo their own film so that a speaker of another language can appreciate it without having to read the subtitles. It's important to note that Marjane wrote and directed both versions, she did not hire an English writer. Marjane is fluent in both languages. Innovative concept and quite admirable considering the budget of the film and time constraints of the process. Okay, now I'm off to watch the French version - since I sort of understand French without having to read it. This may be a movie that'll have to buy at some point, or at the very least one I buy and give to my brother and his wife to ensure they see it.]
This may be the best film I've seen in the past three or four years. It certainly is the most eye-opening. The only other film I've seen that haunts me in this way was at the NY Film Society Festival on Human Rights about three-four years ago. (2005) It was a documentary film about a Sri Lankan woman's life in war torn Sri Lanka or Ceylone. Entitled No More Tears, Sister . In some ways Persepolis, reminds me of the other film, even though the two films are quite different, not only in how they are told but in their subject matter. It's their overall effect on me personally that was similar.
Persepolis is a film that I wish I could make you see. Unlike the other films and tv shows I've discussed in this journal, this one is harder to describe, because of how the story is told. It's an animated film, but as Iggy Pop, one of the voices for the English version, states - the animation reminds me more of the old German abstract war and noir films of the 1930s, such as the Peter Lorre film "M", or Orson Well's "The Third Man", or the work of Fritz Lang.
Outside of the opening and closing reels, the majority of the two hour film is told in flashback and in black and white, much like the graphic novels, yet it is also very different from the graphic novels. The writer wisely realizes that the two mediums are quite different and require different approachs - story boards she states in one of the commentaries, do not work, you have to build scenes that move.
Persepolis animation is unlike any I've seen. It's not as cute as disney, or as three dimensional as Pixar, it goes for abstract realism and focuses on shadows and light, as opposed to brilliant color or 3D CGI imagery. According to the behind the scenes documentary in the special features section after the film, the animators used a combination of cell animation or hand drawn and computer. Each movement was drawn by a different animator. Then they were put together on the computer, where color was added along with movement and sound. If you want to know what the process is for creating a film like this on a small budget, be sure to watch "Making of Persepolis" in the special features section.
The story itself is mainly a young woman's coming of age tale in war torn Iran during the period in which the Shah was overthrown and the Mulism extremists took over. Women went from being able to go about town without anything covering their heads, to being covered head to toe in long scarves. There's a rather funny sequence at an art school, where Marjane is attempting to draw one of these women in a life drawing class. She states, this is pointless, from every angle the woman looks the same, a head inside a big tent. While tragic in places, its funny in others - effectively pulling the audience inside the POV of the protagonist. We feel what it is like to be a true outsider, in both your own culture and all others. Marjane must leave Iran, because in Iran she would be killed, raped or placed in prison for being herself. Yet even outside of Iran, she struggles with how her people are perceived. Marjane states in the documentary that she chose animation because with live action, people would just perceive it as another story about a bunch of Arabs, as opposed to a human story that could be about anyone and is more universial in context. Animation, she believes, can provide a more level playing field. She's also able in animation to show the features that set her people apart, yet at the same time the ones that make us all human.
Marjane's hope is that the film will provide a better understanding of what is happening in Iran, that the Iranian people are not our enemy, and create an interest in learning more about Persia and it's culture. Speaking purely for myself, I think she succeeded. After watching this film, I had a new appreciation for what Iranians were going through and an increased desire to learn more about their culture. It's so easy, I think, to dismiss the people in Iran and Iraq. Forgetting that these are just people, no different than the rest of us, with the same desires, urges, fears, and hopes, just different ways of expressing and enjoying them.
A lot of people are under the false impression that Iran is Arab, Marjane states (I blame the media). They aren't. They are Persian. Calling them Arab is a bit like calling Palestinans - Jewish or vice versa. Or Chinese - Japenese. Or the French - Spainish. The cultures are very different.
Another comment Marjane states in the documentary, is that while the film is about politics, it's really just about the universal concept of being an outsider, of trying to fit in, and trying to make one's life work in a difficult environment. The politics - she states is also a big part of it, but that is not because she wants to discuss it, one does not wish to talk about politics, she says, politics is sort of thrust upon you and you are given no choice. It won't let you ignore it. Particularly in a country ruled by a dictatorship.
I wish I could write better this morning, have a sick headache partly due to the weather, I'm sensitive to the barometric pressure in the air before violent thunderstorms - it gives me nauseous headaches..., the second in row this weekend. Makes a difficult to think. Also incredibly frustrating. Had a lot I wanted to get done, but was largely unable to do most of it. Including this review. Ah well, will post, anyhow.
I hope the people with netflix out there, put PERSEPOLIS on their queue. It is the best movie I've seen since 2005. Nothing compares to it in every respect. It's in some ways like a breath of fresh air on a smoggy morning. Clean, crisp, and brand new. Off to take an aleve and get rid of this headache.
[ETA:
frenchani reminded me of something that I forgot to mention above and is yet another reason that this film is so special, particularly for a renter. The DVD has two film versions - one in English and one in French. Both versions were written and directed by Marjane, both have the same actors for the mother and daughter (Marjane), the uncle and father are voiced by different actors in each version. The French features a popular French Comedian as the father's voice. The English features Scean Penn and Iggy Pop. As the Grandmother, the great Gena Rowlends of the John Cassevetes films, plays the role in the English version. Unlike other animated and foreign films that have been dubbed in this manner, Marjane did something interesting - she created a new film for each version. She states in the documentary, that in reality the English version is a new film, because the actors are different and they had to change things, Gena brings a different dimension to the grandmother than the French actress did for example. Also as Gena Rowlends states, the French speak much faster than the English/Americans do. It's a faster language, less words are required. So they had to slow down the animation in places for the actors. Both versions are on the DVD, along with two documentaries - Making of Persepolis - which is in French with English subtitles, and Behind the Scenes at Persepolis which is English. I've never seen anyone do this on a DVD before. Usually, it's all in French with English subs. Or all in English. Nor have I ever seen anyone redo their own film so that a speaker of another language can appreciate it without having to read the subtitles. It's important to note that Marjane wrote and directed both versions, she did not hire an English writer. Marjane is fluent in both languages. Innovative concept and quite admirable considering the budget of the film and time constraints of the process. Okay, now I'm off to watch the French version - since I sort of understand French without having to read it. This may be a movie that'll have to buy at some point, or at the very least one I buy and give to my brother and his wife to ensure they see it.]
