NYFF: Holden comes around to animation
It's no wonder that "Persepolis" finally thawed Stephen Holden toward animation. The great film version of Marjane Satrapi's graphic novel closes the New York fest before it plays the inaugural Middle East International Film Festival in Abu Dhabi. (The Circuit will be there.)
Because it is animated, "Persepolis" is a bold choice for the festival's closing-night selection. "A cartoon?" you may sniff. "How dare they?" But the movie is so enthralling that it eroded my longstanding resistance to animation, and I realized that the same history translated into a live-action drama could never be depicted with the clarity and narrative drive that bold, simple animation encourages.
Michael Jones is the film festival editor at Variety.com. 
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