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Off-kilter, offbeat, a little surly, quite funnyReview: 'Ghost World' worthwhile bummer
By Paul Tatara (CNN) -- Terry Zwigoff's "Ghost World" follows the slowly developing escapades of Enid (Thora Birch), a gloomy 18-year-old who can't graduate from high school until she attends summer art classes. It's a colossal understatement to say that Enid is unhappy with her life. She's unhappy with everyone's life. Anyone who's ever been a teen-ager will find something to laugh at in this off-kilter little film. But if you can't synchronize your inner clock with Zwigoff's and co-screenwriter Daniel Clowes' hangdog sense of rhythm, you'll be in for a long ride. Clowes writes the comic book that the movie is based on, and the narrative's choppiness is an accurate recreation of its source material. Enid and her best friend, Becky (Scarlett Johansson), wander the streets of an anonymous American town, making snide, monotone comments about anyone who isn't them. Their suffocating environment is a cavalcade of chain stores, fast-food joints, and prefabricated popular culture. Spontaneity is in its death throes; every concept and relationship in this godforsaken place seems to be a second-hand reenactment. The locals are trapped in a spiritual whirlpool, and they don't even know it.
There's a satirical tedium here that gets weightier once Enid's depressive viewpoint is established ... and established, and established. In the early going, Zwigoff and Clowes spend too much time having Enid make withering assessments of every person, place, or thing she encounters. It's often quite funny, but not so often that you can ignore the rising desire to put her in a headlock. How long can you explore boredom before the picture itself becomes boring? The answer, in this instance, lies in your ability to withstand hip teen-age surliness. Similar worldviewsOne day, after making him the victim of a cruel practical joke, Enid meets Seymour (Steve Buscemi), a lonely middle-aged guy who collects jazz and blues 78s. (The movie's soundtrack features a variety of spooky, crackly old recordings.) Enid quickly realizes that Seymour, far from being a loser, is a sensitive man with a worldview and personal tastes similar to her own. The catch is that Seymour hasn't wholly divorced himself from interaction with other people the way Enid has. He can actually hold a job and handle responsibilities, and he's still open to loving another person if they can provide some love in return. Whether or not that person will be Enid is the central question of the story, once a question finally gets asked. By now, Buscemi is the Christopher Walken of bad posture. He plays virtually the same character in every picture, but you never get tired of seeing him do it. His almost-queasy social misfit looks half murderous and half tender. There's rich life in his watery eyes, and his instinctive tremble suggests a person in need of human connection. Buscemi reveals a depth of range in "Ghost World" that's rivaled only by his irritated kidnapper in Joel and Ethan Coen's "Fargo." Seymour is a victim all right: He's got a huge heart that no one recognizes. Sharp eye for detailZwigoff, whose first film was "Crumb," an unsettling documentary about the underground cartoonist R. Crumb, proves himself to be an interesting feature director, with a sharp eye for mundane detail and ugly Americana. He and his production team have created a sterile little town whose central characteristic is a complete lack of expressiveness. Everything seems snapped together or purchased from a discount rack; corporate logos and tangled power lines choke the horizon. The milieu is funny at first, then you're horrified by how recognizable it all is. The script has problems beyond its repetitive opening. You don't feel any transition when the more fashionable Becky falls out of Enid's life; it's too abrupt and explained too late in the game, as if panels are missing from the comic book. And Enid's relationship with her father (Bob Balaban) is just a series of unproductive gestures. That's almost certainly the point, but it's the same point that gets made in a pile of other scenes. That said, "Ghost World" is quite unlike anything else you'll see at the movies this year. You may recognize more of yourself than you'd like to admit in Enid, and that's a real accomplishment when you consider how morose she is. Give this weirdly humanitarian picture a try, and don't be surprised if you find yourself smiling through the bummer. After all, everybody gets the blues once in a while. There's quite a bit of profanity in "Ghost World," and a little bit of sex. Teens will undoubtedly love it, since it speaks to their inner ogre. Look for Teri Garr and Illeana Douglas in small roles. (Douglas has a couple of good moments as Enid's pretentious art teacher.) Rated R. |
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