Hey folks, Harry here... Daniel Clowes' GHOST WORLD is a very special comic. Instead of being about superheroes or violence, it is about the world of the confused teen-age girl. This isn't CANTEEN KATE mind you... This comic is about that girl that looks at the norm in society and realizes... "I don't belong there" that feels she is cooler than the Ken-dolls of the world. She's attracted to the strange and unusual. She likes circus freaks and the blues... She loves watching the so-called normals in their intense moments of weirdness... The book is an INCREDIBLE READ and if Clowes and director Terry Zwigoff can make the transition from ink and paper to screen... If the film really does start off kind of lame, but then creeps into your brain by the end... then it is GHOST WORLD and it succeeds in what it sets out to... I can not wait to see this film! I want to see it now!
Hey, folks.
You can take my input with a grain of salt the size of Lot's wife, if you want.
I attended the cast and crew screening of 'Ghost World' last night. My friend had a small part that I think should have been edited out, so I'm not working to please.
But this is a swell movie. It begins with a crazy blindfolded dance number from an Indian film that I once saw on continuous loop in an esoteric video store. This clues you in to one of the movie's greatest strengths: its love of collectors. Only a person devoted to digging in the kitsch dustbins would recognize that legendary scene.
The film then starts off shakily with some very stiff and acted sequences that reminded me of a Kevin Smith movie. For the most part, the stuff written for obvious laughs falls flat. But as I sat there, I noticed more and more how often I was smiling.
When the movie finds its heart--the relationship between Thora Birch and Steve Buscemi--is also when Terry Zwigoff finds his directorial strengths.
Buscemi's room is a collector's dream. When we finally enter that space, the film becomes intimate. The items within--in particular, the old ragtime and country blues recordings--represent the essentials for Buscemi's character. His devotion to their beauty and his belief in their perfection are matched by his inability to find beauty or perfection or love with other people. I won't do justice to the mood created: there is much humor, sorrow, empathy, and recognition.
There is Scarlett Johanssen's beauty, Steve Buscemi's tremendous work, Bob Balaban's sweet turn as a father, and a raft of great supporting characters. (Be sure to stay for the credit cookie.)
But most surprising of all, there is Thora Birch, who is the heart and soul of this movie. She is not a character you fall in love with. She is a character that you recognize and follow. Most of the time we go to movies to pour ourselves into extreme characters and situations: the greatest love, the greatest laughs, the greatest thrills, beauty, and so on. Thora's character is also such a seeker, hiding behind a disaffected mask. Her search truly becomes our search.
I followed her, and I fell into Terry Zwigoff and Daniel Clowe's world. (They do merge!) And I stayed there, happily, until it was time to leave.
-D. Boring
