Ghost World finally makes it to SF. Definitely a high point of the summer. Or a low point, depending on one's perspective, for the film certainly depressed me, despite being very funny.

I don't really have anything to add except a couple of random notes and the fact that I wanted to push this thread to remind people in second tier marketplaces like SF that there are alternatives to Planet of the Apes and its ilk.

Random notes:

Visually, Ghost World is a feast -- very clean and spare backgrounds, cool pastel colors in the exteriors, in contrast with Enid's and Seymour's living spaces, which are cramped, dark, crowded, etcetera. Attention to detail is remarkable. I don't think anything was left to chance or not thought through. It's worth seeing again just to look at the perimeters. That is true with environments and it's true with actors. The people in the background are just as interesting and peculiar as those in the foreground. In the middle ground, as a side note, I think I used to know the convenience store customer when my ex-husband owned sleazy bars in the San Fernando Valley. These people are real, and that is in large part what makes this film so beautiful and so sad.

David Denby ends his review by saying that the film "even suggests that she (Enid) has a destiny, and this is an unwelcome surprise, since most of us would wish no other future for Enid the brilliant comic-book invention but to be herself, a hilariously morose teen-ager, forever and ever." Now, admittedly, Denby was contrasting the world of film with the world of comic books, and saying that the film created a "psychologically accountable" world that the comic book did not. So I see his point. But I fundamentally disagree with him that the film suggests that she has a future. To me, the film suggests that she kills herself. And I don't know how Denby would have come out on the ending if he had interpreted it as I did.

I really appreciate the fact that the emotions in the film were very complicated and not easily resolved. It's nice to see that kind of attention in a film that also includes enough overtly funny moments to entertain the dunderheads sitting behind me. But just the stuff about Enid's conflicting emotions with respect to Seymour, his own conflict between Enid and Dana, Rebecca's slow and gentle growth or perhaps numbed acceptance of what comes next, all the stuff that takes place with Enid's father and Maxine that is completely real to us despite the fact that it all takes place off screen, all of that was wonderful. I don't think we need to believe that we're losers or nerds or any derogatory term in order to identify with and appreciate some of these emotions or conflicts.

Note again the crossover with Bully: in this film, Josh is played by Brad Renfro, who plays Marty in Bully. Again, as with Michael Pitt, the more compelling performance is in Bully. But in this case, as opposed to Pitt's performance in Hedwig, it would have been inappropriate for Renfro to stand out in any way. He is certainly someone else I'll be watching for.

I love Steve Buscemi and I think that his performance in Ghost World is wonderful. It is in my opinion his deepest and most nuanced work since Trees Lounge.