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Zone's Eye View of "Ghost World" |
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Synopsis of movie: Based on the serialized comic book tale by Daniel Clowes, the film is based on two ultra-hip friends (Thora Birch, Scarlett Johansson) who spend their summer after high school together contemplating the future. As Enid and Becky talk snobbishly and cynically about the world ahead of them, they're being watched, unbeknownst to them, by another person. Now for The Zone's Eye View By Laura Alber Terry Zwigoff has definitely made a teenage “coming of age” drama that is actually believable. Pretty tough task in modern films these days! Not only did he take a story from a comic book and turn it into a realistic vision, but also he cast the talented Thora Birch in the lead role. Birch plays “Enid”, the pessimistic, judgmental and eccentric teen. Who better to fill those shoes than the “American Beauty” teen with the same characteristics? In both films Birch shines and steals the attention. Enid and her best friend Rebecca (Scarlett Johansson), who portrays the more ‘normal’ and ‘cute’ one of the two, are planning on moving in together after their long awaited high school graduation. Enid opens her diploma only to discover she is short one credit in art and must attend summer school to make it up and graduate. Her art teacher is a very kooky and new age character played by Illeanna Douglas. Another brilliant casting job. Rebecca, being the more responsible one, gets a job immediately. The two friends have always spent most of their time degrading everyone else for being so “stupid”. One of their attempts to do this happens when they come across a personal ad in their local paper. They decide it would be hilarious and humiliating to call the guy and set up a “fake date” with the person he was looking for. They arrange the date and sit back and watch as the man sits in wait. They both expect the man to be devastated after no one shows up, but instead, “Seymour” (Steve Buscemi) just gets up and leaves without any look of disappointment or surprise. This upsets but intrigues Enid (Birch) and they decide to follow him home. They later stumble across a yard/garage sale in Seymour’s apartment complex and Enid strikes up a conversation. Finding him more intriguing and discovering they have similar interests, Enid begins to spend quite a bit of time with him. She even sets out on a mission to find him a date. All the attention that Seymour is getting and the lack of attention to Rebecca is making her a bit jealous and also concerned, since Enid has not yet even found a job so they can hurry and move. Rebecca also doesn’t understand what the big deal is with Seymour, “he’s a dork”. The story continues with each of these situations and at one point Enid is pretty much ostracized from everyone, leaving her alone with her own thoughts. The time she spends alone brings her a little self-awareness and she tries to mend fences with her friends. Every scene in the movie is shot beautifully and even the dialogue is believable and doesn’t sound “scripted” at all. Every actor gives 110% and that is always a beautiful thing. It was so great to see Buscemi doing another dramatic role too. You really become connected to each and every character. Bravo to Zwigoff for this film! I think it’s time to retire from documentaries all together and keep up this level of greatness in feature films. Ghost World gets an “Easy 8” from The Zone!
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