Go back to previous topic
Forum namePass The Popcorn Archives
Topic subjectanonymubiquity
Topic URLhttp://board.okayplayer.com/okp.php?az=show_topic&forum=23&topic_id=18471&mesg_id=18529
18529, anonymubiquity
Posted by misteranonymity, Sun Aug-26-01 01:11 PM
This was one of the funniest movies I've seen this year. Zwigoff's subversive take on life after high school and coming of age was genius. I put it up there with films like _Election_, _Rushmore_, & _Welcome to the Dollhouse_ to name a few.

>Okay, here is something everyone here
>should be able to relate
>to: nerds are cool.

With this movie and Weezer's album (let's not forget The Neptunes), this must be the year of the nerd.

>Sure, few people here (I hope)
>would gladly admit to seeing
>themselves in the characters of
>GHOST WORLD, the movie from
>the Daniel Clowes comic series.
>But we are there, all
>of us. The hating. The
>negativity. The anonymous pot-shot taking
>at the true losers, avoiding
>the issue of our own
>patheticness. This is the ultimate
>Okayplayer movie.

I think we have to wait for an OKP staff member to make this official.
>
>GHOST WORLD stars plumped-up Thora Birch
>(American Beauty) and the little-seen
>Scarlet Johansson as Enid and
>Rebecca, two graduating seniors about
>to venture forth into society.
>Up to this point, their
>lives have been made up
>of running commentary on how
>uncool it is to be
>cool, and how pathetic is
>where it's at. They get
>a kick out of watching
>unfunny comedians. Enid listens to
>Indian rock music from the
>60s (I didn’t even know
>there was such a thing).
>But high school is over,
>and the two best friends
>are growing apart as Rebecca
>decides she is ready to
>join the world she's ridiculed
>so mercilessly, while Enid can't
>let it go.

I was looking at those two throughout the whole movie (like I had a choice) wondering, they don't make white girls like they used to. Enid (or more so Thora Birch) was stacked for real. Too bad she was such a fuck-up.

>The movie revolves around a practical
>joke they play on Seymour,
>played to the pathetic hilt
>by Steve Buscemi. He's the
>über-loser, such a sad sack
>that Enid takes a special
>interest in helping him turn
>his life around. The result
>is a relationship incredibly weird
>and creepy, yet somehow haunting
>and touching.

The most haunting thing was that the more Seymour and Enid connected with one another, the worse their lives became.


>There's no surpise in that realizing
>the theme of the movie
>is the loneliness of human
>existence. What is suprising is
>how easily that loneliness of
>these creeps translates into something
>so universally recognizable. Also, what
>is surprising is just how
>easily one can laugh and
>hurt at the same time.

The guy at the bus stop would best emulate this.

>
>Directed by Terry Zwigoff of Crumb
>fame, GHOST WORLD gives a
>touch of humanity to the
>fringe players of society. While
>some things carry over from
>the source material, Zwigoff and
>Clowes only used the comic
>as a jumping off point.
>Steve Buscemi's character is based
>very much on Zwigoff, a
>tiny, shell of a specimen
>very much like Robert Crumb,
>the odd comic icon who
>somehow managed to be the
>sane one in his family.
>(If you haven't seen CRUMB,
>you have missed one of
>the true gems of documentary
>filmmaking.)

Haven't seen _Crumb_ in its entirety, but I saw some references throughout the film that I assumed were connected to that film.

>GHOST WORLD is dark, biting, very
>depressing and outright hilarious. A
>lot like Okayplayer.

Except this movie didn't get on my nerves as much as OKP does every now and then.
>
>(this review is lame. there, I
>said it.)

You could've mentioned how funny Illeana Douglass was. This was the best performance I've ever seen her in. Everyone had to have that condescending art/music/film/drama instructor who played favorites like retirees play the lottery. Plus that guy who looked like Aaron Eckhart in _Nurse Betty_ was just ridiculous, especially when he gets beat up by...oops, can't give that away. You have to stay until the very end to catch that one.

It was very interesting seeing how race was dealt with in the film. I remember seeing a review of _Crumb_ on Siskel & Ebert when it first came out, and it showed how he made demeaning caricatures of Black people. That's what immediately came to mind when I saw the Coon's (Cook's) Chicken logo. It makes you wish that this film came out before Spike made _Bamboozled_, which I hate to say.

That's all I got to say for now. Check this flick out.

anonymubiquity (Au)
meudontno@hotmail.com