Friday, July 06, 2007

Persepolis (Marjane Satrapi, Vincent Paronnaud - France) ***1/2



Persepolis was not part of the festival but since I wanted to see the original French version rather than the dubbed English version that is scheduled for Flanders after the summer, I went to see this Cannes prize-winning animated movie in a regular Brussels theatre. Persepolis tells the autobiographical story of the director when she was growing up in Tehran during the Islamic Revolution in the 1970s. It’s a great joy to see how the powerful black-and-white comic strip images come to life in a movie that perfectly blends the historical with the personal. Witty, moving and illuminating!


Una Ballata Bianca (Stefano Odoardi - Italy/Netherlands) *1/2

Poetic and contemplative art house film in which an ageing couple looks back on love, life and approaching death. The couple is played by non-professional actors but the old man didn’t convince me at all. Too theatrical and bombastic for my taste.


Ce Que Je Sais De Lola (Javier Rebollo - France/Spain) **

An entertaining but rather banal story about a loner who falls in love with his new neighbour, a vicacious Spanish woman, and begins to follow her life. Well made but of little substance…

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