Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Tuesday


Aimless doesn't work. I like having a fairly firm structure to my free days, though I often tell myself the opposite. Tuesday began early with a trip to the bicycle repair place (I fell off the bike, very publicly, two weeks ago - no bones broken but the machine wasn't so lucky) and ended with an evening yoga class.

Somewhere in between, to the local arts centre for a lunchtime viewing of Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi's autobiographical animated film about a young girl with a taste for the music of Iron Maiden, growing up in Teheran from the 1970s to the 1990s. Witty, harrowing, tragic and at times downright comical, with a political edge. I learned a surprising amount that I didn't know previously about the history of Iran and the rise of fundamentalism. One quibble: ten minutes could perhaps have been cut somewhere towards the end; the last half hour was a little too long for me.

French with English subtitles but there's a dubbed English language version out there as well. Definitely recommended.

4 comments:

leslee said...

I saw that with my movie group awhile back (first one I saw with them, I think) and really enjoyed it. I loved the grandma especially.

Hope you and your bike are recovering well. I really need to pump my tires up and get out on mine. I haven't been on it since I moved here - partly because I'm unnerved by the amount of traffic compared to the country roads I used to ride on.

Zhoen said...

Loved the books, I've been trying to see the film.

Strange thing about animation, the non-comic ones do tent to run too long. It's like they cannot bear a single frame left behind, but it would be so much better if they did.

mm said...

Leslee: I'd forgotten you'd seen it. I've just been back in your archives to read the review. Wasn't it good?

Zhoen: Well I haven't read the books. Obviously I must! Interesting, your comment re film length. I'm not a great fan normally of animated films for adults, though after Persepolis I might change my mind.

Anonymous said...

Ooh, I missed this one!