One of the best things I can say about Persepolis is that I cannot imagine it being in any style other than the one in which its told. The film’s elegantly minimalist characters are drawn with a simplicity of lines and curves that reminds me of a cross between Charles Schulz’s Peanuts and Hergé’s Tintin books, yet they are so deeply expressive that it’s easy to forget you’re watching a cartoon. This old-fashioned style of animation—more complex than it first appears—is the perfect vehicle for both the universality and the specificity of Marjane Satrapi’s autobiographical coming-of-age story in Iran during the Islamic Revolution and its aftermath. It has a rare elegance and power, marrying the funny and the painful in ways that will be recognizable to anyone. (Hollywood Jewel 16, Waco, TX)