Premise: A young girl, Marjane (Gabrielle Lopes as a child and Chiara Mastroianni as a teen and adult), lives through the Islamic revolution in Iran, finding quiet moments to be true revolutionaries with her politically active parents (Catherine Deneuve and Simon Abkarian), her grandmother (Danielle Darieux), and her influential uncle (François Jerosme).
This is an astonishing picture. It takes a time into which we have little insight on the individual level, focuses it through the lens of a precocious child, and refuses to make a big deal out of everything. It's not that there aren't big deals in the movie. There are plenty of them. But it's filled quiet with moments that the movie allows to resonate in ways I don't think it would have if it had been a live action feature. There's an excellent sense of when to linger and when to move on to the next. Most importantly, in her co-written and co-directed film based on her autobiographical graphic novel, Marjane Satrapi doesn't spare herself.
It's that insight into herself, her willingness to show times when she did mean things and times when she did stupid things, that makes this picture, co-written and co-directed with Vincent Paronnaud, so poignant. It's easier to believe someone who doesn't give herself a free pass. And, as such, she gives us wonderful insight into the real dangers of neither assimilating into a monolithic culture nor outwardly rebelling.
I feel like I am being vague about this film, and I don't mean to be. I'm reluctant to spoil even one minute of the gorgeous black and white frames for you. There is something so beautiful and interconnected about this film that I'm not sure we can talk about it until you see it for yourself. Until then, A+.
While I've got you here, I should mention that I 
also saw another of last year's fantastic animated features: Ratatouille. Oh, how sweet, how funny, how sumptiously wonderful. It really does deserve to be one of the best reviewed movies of the year and one of the biggest commercial successes. I'm at a loss to tell you if I think the moment when a drunk Linguini complains that ratatouille sounds like rat patootie or if the entirety of Peter O'Toole's performance as restuarant critic Anton Ego is the most hilarious bit. Suffice it to say that this movie is charming, clever, and inspiring. Everyone should see it. A+
also saw another of last year's fantastic animated features: Ratatouille. Oh, how sweet, how funny, how sumptiously wonderful. It really does deserve to be one of the best reviewed movies of the year and one of the biggest commercial successes. I'm at a loss to tell you if I think the moment when a drunk Linguini complains that ratatouille sounds like rat patootie or if the entirety of Peter O'Toole's performance as restuarant critic Anton Ego is the most hilarious bit. Suffice it to say that this movie is charming, clever, and inspiring. Everyone should see it. A+
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