Sunday, May 4, 2008

Persepolis and Joy Division at cruising altitude



Air Canada Rocks! They not only give you an o screen in front of your seat on the headrest of the seat in front of you, they give you access to dozens of movies, some of which have not been released to DVD yet.

Now, I know this is not perhaps the most optimal way to watch a movie, I think of David Lynch and his "You can't watch a movie on a f-ing phone."
But somehow, watching Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis for the first, of which I predict will be several screenings, worked for me partly because of the setting, on a domestic Canadian plane filled passengers of many nationalities, many heading to make connecting flights from Toronto to European countries or elsewhere, A major theme in Persepolis is being between cultures and experiences.

Could this graphic memoir be transferred more successfully to the screen, even one smaller than a loaf of bread? I could do some nitpicking, but I really don't see how it could be much better. Satrapi's voice and vision are there because the work belongs to her. She and the team of filmmakers have retained her visual style, but also found ways in the script to illustrate and explain the explosive series of changes that were Iranian politics and government in the seventies and eighties through voice over and sillouheted figures. I hope for lots of behind the scene extras when the DVD is issued.

The other film I watched in the air was Control, the recent biography of Joy Division's Ian Scott. Surprisingly, the film was a reprise of the kind of kitchen soup films (Billy Liar, The Sporting Life, etc,) from the early sixties. Scott is revealed as primarily a well-intended bloke who works for Employment office, marries and fathers young. It doesn't glorify or romanticize his internal demons. His band gets very large in a hurry and his epilepsy and success leads to temptation and challenge. It probably should have been shortened, but I'm not sure if that response is not entirely unrelated to having it cut off with a reel to go as the plane was readied for descent.
posted by well-executed buffet at 9:42 PM
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