Ghost World (16 June 2001)
directed by Terry Zwigoff
starring Thora Birch, Scarlett Johansson, Steve Buscemi, Brad Renfro, Illeana Douglas, Bob Balaban, Stacey Travis, Charles C. Stevenson Jr., Dave Sheridan, Tom McGowan, Debra Azar, Brian George, Pat Healy, Ezra Buzzington, Teri Garr
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MPAA rating: Studio: United Artists, Capitol Films, Granada Film Productions, Jersey Shore, Mr. Mudd Script: Daniel Clowes, Terry Zwigoff Based on the book by: Daniel Clowes Music: David Kitay Running time: 111 minutes Tags: Comedy; comic-book adaptation; coming-of-age; Drama; high-school graduation Tactical strength: [7/10]
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for strong language and some sexual content
Rarely does a movie do a better job at portraying the story of a book, but in this case I think director and co-writer Terry Zwigoff has helped writer Daniel Clowes make a better product out of Clowes graphic novel Ghost World. In Ghost World, Enid (Thora Birch) and Rebecca (Scarlett Johansson) have just graduated from high school -- although Enid must take a summer art class to complete her graduation requirements. They inhabit that brief space of indirection and freedom. They no longer have high school directing their daily events, and the have yet to move on to the next step of college or work or whatever adult pursuit will follow.
Enid keeps trying to play the anti-establishment rebel. Shem makes bright and informed observations about the middle-class Los Angeles residents around her, and no one has the intellectual capacity to even understand her gripes. Enid changes her wardrobe style nearly every day and even colors her hair green for a time. Rebecca, on the other hand, seems ready to move on with her life. She has a job and shops for an apartment. She wants Enid to join her as her roommate, but realizes that Enid doesn't fit in with post-high-school life. Enid can't keep a job and seems to want to extend her high-school rebellion to her adult life as well. Rebecca and Enid keep hanging out, but you can feel the distance growing between them.
Rebecca and Enid keep trying the old things that brought them laughs in high school. They make fun of the same people (just about everyone) and go to the same diners. They read the personals and place prank calls to some of the advertisers. Through one prank call the girls meet Seymour (Steve Buscemi). Enid answers Seymour's personal and leaves a message that he should meet her at a local diner. Enid and Rebecca then wait at the diner to watch Seymour wait expectantly for his dream girl from the personal ad to show up. Even though the girls recognize the lack of humor in the situation, Enid decides to follow Seymour home. Several days later Enid and Rebecca visit Seymour's apartment complex where the residents have a combined garage sale. Enid buys a record from Seymour, and at this point it appears that Enid recognizes, at least subconsciously, that she and Seymour both are social misfits.
Surprisingly, Enid and Seymour develop a friendship. Enid tries to get Seymour a date, and she encourages him when the real subject of his personal ad calls him. But Enid starts to get jealous of the time Seymour spends with this new woman, and she realizes that she likes Seymour as much more than a friend. In an inexperienced, unworldly, high-school girl sort of way, Enid messes everything up. She ruins her relationship with Rebecca by not wanting to get serious about life and getting an apartment. She ruins her relationship with Seymour when he finds out the circumstances at the diner. She ruins her chances of getting an art-school scholarship when she presents a racist poster as an object of "found art."
The graphic novel doesn't have the relationship between Seymour and Enid, and I think this relationship give the movie a center of balance that the graphic novel lacked. The graphic novel does develop the growing distance between Rebecca and Enid, but the film does a better job at showing why Enid doesn't fit in with the rest of society. With the relationship, the film has a plot that moves the action forward instead of just swirling around episodically. In the graphic novel, the characters keep passing walls tagged with "Ghost World," and unless I missed some subtle images, the graffiti doesn't appear anywhere in the movie. Although not essential for the story line, the tags do provide a context for the novel's name.
Thora Birch does an excellent job at portraying the quirky Enid. She shows that Enid has a good heart underneath all the cynicism. Scarlett Johansson does a good job at showing her growing dissatisfaction with Enid's continued rebellion, but really doesn't get too much room to develop her character beyond one of conventional ideals that acts as a foil for Enid's rebellion. Steve Buscemi plays the perfect social nerd. He functions in society, but just barely, and really doesn't have many connections to the people around him. The other performance to notices comes from Illeana Douglas, who plays Enid's remedial art teacher totally caught up with feminism and art as a message rather than objects of visual beauty.
Ghost World defies most of the conventions of both comedy and romance movies. The comedy comes in dark waves of irony and sarcasm. The romance doesn't follow a typical reunification and happily-ever-after ending. In fact, Ghost World leaves the characters poised on the borders of new worlds. Rebecca has joined the crowd. Seymour seems less shy and ready to make new connections to people outside his comfort zone. And, Enid has clearly left her childhood setting and friends and wants to move out into the world but still has to make and live by her own rules.
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Ghost World written by Daniel Clowes
