I had to read it a couple times though to get the story lines, the characters, clear in my head. (Black and white line drawings of the characters were not very distinctive.) The story is about the movement of art-and people- in WWII Paris. So there are secrets and misdirections all around, sometimes to the point where I felt that there was something that I was missing, some point that had been made that I was to obtuse to have caught on to. I like books where I feel I've learned something, but this makes me feel like I there was something I should have learned, but couldn't quite get it. The graphics are lovely, but especially when it comes to people, perhaps a little too spare. I feel as though if I knew more about art, I might have gotten to the heart of this story a little easier. Set during the Nazi occupation of France, it's about a woman who works at a museum and, at least lightly, it's about her attempts to help remove and hide pieces so the Nazis cannot take them, and about a Nazi official's attempts to likewise catologue and move artworks only on the other direction.But really, this is a story about Ila herself - a Canadian who intentionally decides to stay in Paris and continue her work, who clearly has the best interests of the art and, ostensibly, of the art's importance to the people in her heart. But things aren't that simple - they never are in a good book - and some of the whys and methods of her actions hint that she might not be an abiding hero, and her nemesis-in-interrogation might not be the total bad guy.The art in this book is stunning. I'm not really that knowledgeable about art, but even I was totally struck by it - by the simple lines of his characters (I know some people had trouble telling characters apart. I only had that trouble with one pair who were actually meant in-book to look alike), the heavy use of black space especially in certain scenes where a dance of careful words and double meanings is being played out most heavily in the dialogue... it was just beautiful.Also, some famous works of art are reproduced, to an extent, in the comic. I am not sure how close they are, but even within his comic style they seemed to have their own unique style, one to the next. Someone better versed in art history would probably know better than I.This is not an easy book to read though. Or rather... it's easy to read, but I found some things I had to go back and reread a few times to understand, and some I'm still thinking over. I suspect I'll give this one a few days to digest and then go back to it - it's a very short book, a quick read, but even with my uncertainty and my lack of art knowledge, I found it utterly compelling.
What do You think about Moving Pictures (2010)?
Very cool concept for a storyline - especially in graphic novel format.
—IceLotus
5 stars for the art, 3 stars for the story.
—Nilofar236
