Persepolis (12A)

Deservedly nominated for an Oscar, this film marks a landmark in animation.

It is different from all the others out there because it's story could be told in live action, but the decision has been made to choose animation.

Marjane Satrapi is the author of four highly acclaimed graphic novels that deal with her childhood and her young teenage years. She was born in Iran under the Shah and was sent to school in Paris as a teen.

The four novels are here streamlined into one coherent, funny, touching and deeply affecting story about a young woman's rites of passage.

The stark black and white works very well and the animation is superb throughout. But despite the film's technical excellence and the imagination of the story, it¹s real success comes in the memory and depiction of the tiniest details.

It's these moments that make Satrapi's animated heroine a much more convincing character.