Persepolis
Grade: A

Opens on December 25th:

Marjane Satrapi’s celebrated graphic novels about growing up in Iran and Austria have jumped from the page to the screen with most of their charm, intelligence and edginess intact. Except for a few color scenes, Satrapi and her co-director Vincent Paronnaud stick to simple black-and-white animation that is refreshingly heartfelt compared to the barrage of computer animated movies out there. It takes awhile for the film to strike a balance between Satrapi’s silly humor and her horrifying recollections about war and oppression in Iran, but by the midway point the story is completely engrossing on both levels, and it becomes impossible to imagine excluding Persepolis from a list of this year’s best films. Catherine Deneuve provides the voice of Satrapi’s mother.