BLU-RAY
REVIEW: PERSEPOLIS
06/21/08
Persepolis is an animated
coming of age story told through the eyes of Marjane 'Marji'
Statrapi (Chiara Mastroianni). The film based on Marjane
Satrapi's autobiographical graphic novels is mainly black
and white, however the present day scenes are shown in
color. The animation is crude, but the simplistic animation
actually helps in making the story more effective.
Marjane Satrapi lives in an a Iran ruled by the Shah. Her
and her family are not satisfied in the Iran they live and
are happy when the Shah is overthrown by the Iranian
Revolution of 1979 transforming Iran from a monarchy to an
Islamic republic.
However, the new Iran is not what the Satrapi family expects
and their dream of a modern Iran disappears as they feel the
effects of Iran‘s new rule.
Fearing the Marji is in danger because of her outspoken
personally, she is sent to Vienna to study. In Vienna, Marji
must adapt to the new culture and even manages to have a
boyfriend, but it all proves too much for her and she
returns to Iran.
The Iran she returns to is not the same one she left. Marji
must decide whether to adapt to the controlling environment
of the new Iran or to leave and never come back.
Persepolis is an interesting movie that gives us a glimpse
of what life was and is like is Iran. Marji’s personality is
what makes Persepolis so funny. The “Eye of the Tiger”
sequence is probably one of the funny scenes of 2007. Marji
also has the ability to say the things that other people
would only dare to think. While the animation is crude, it
doesn’t interfere with the story. I would say the crude
animation actually helps convey the story. Another
interesting thing about the animation is whenever they
animate the back story, for example, how the Shan rose to
power, the figures moved like puppets. This is a very nice
artistic move on the part of the directors and animators.
Sony Picture Classics is releasing Persepolis in standard
DVD and Blu-ray High Definition. I saw the movie in Blu-ray,
but I don’t see what the different would be between the
standard DVD and Blu-ray High Definition Disk. The movie in
High Definition looks about the same as a standard DVD. The
crude animation doesn’t offer must details and so this title
doesn’t benefit much from High Definition. Since both disks
have the same features, I suggest you pick up the standard
DVD, unless you have a large screen TV and than maybe you
might benefit from the 1080p picture offer in High-Def.
Review By Milton Brayson
milton@smartcine.com
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VIDEO:
1080P Widescreen Version
(1.85:1)
AUDIO:
English, French
Dolby TrueHD 5.1
Subtitles: English, English SDH, Spanish
SPECIAL FEATURES:
English language version featuring the voices of
Chiara Mastroianni, Sean Penn, Catherine Deneuve, Gena
Rowlands and Iggy Pop.
Audio
Commentary by Director Doug Liman, Writer/Producer Simon
Kinberg and Producer Lucas Foster
The hidden side of Persepolis - Marjane Satrapi and
Vincent Paronnaud discuss adapting the graphic novel. The
also discuss why they used traditional animation “on paper”
instead of computers. (30:17)
Behind the scenes of Persepolis - Marjane Satrapi
talks about the process of directing. Also featured are Iggy
Pop and Gena Rowlands. (8:39)
2007 Cannes Film Festival Press Conference - The
cast of Persepolis give a press conference at Cannes.
(29:01)
Animated scene comparisons with commentary by Marjane
Satrapi - Extended Storyboards are show for three
scenes and one Animation Test.
1. After the
bombing
2. Depression
3. The Wedding
4. Animation Test
Commentary on select scenes by Marjane Satrapi, Vicent
Paronnaud and Chiara Mastroianni
1. Marjane Satrapi on the Opening Scene
2. Chiara Mastroianni on The Eye of The Tiger Scene
- Funnies scene in the movie. Chiara discuses how Marjane
wanted her to sing the song off key. (1:45)
3. Vicent Paronnaud on The Vienna Scene
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