Clowes/Zwigoff collaboration makes for comix that is not so comic.
If you lived life long enough to be able to reflect back on your formidable teen years then you certainly remember that the majority of it was superficial and a sham. Bad Santa was crude, Ghost World was peculiar and doc portrait Crumb was perverted – three films where the doctrine was to be skeptic of surroundings. While much of same appeal finds its way into Terry Zwigoff’s Art School Confidential, one can’t help but feel that the narrative is more awkward than a teenager with braces. Simply put, serial killers and academia offer an odd screenplay combination.
The route to being a renowned artist is to either be dead, or to be recognized by your fellow peers. Based on the Daniel Clowes comic strip 20th Century Eightball, this looks at how one future grad takes the unconventional direction to grandeur. Surrounded by every single stereotype of teen folk available, the over privileged Jerome – the tale’s protagonist played by Max Minghella has got an irritation from all the sand kicked in his face. Just like in the real world, art school produces a fair share of nice guy who finish perhaps not last, but in second place.
Admittingly, this holds a great cast of players – when you have Malkovich, Buscemi, Angelica Houston and a very chummy Jim Broadbent on board there are times where the perils of a more ambitious screenplay are dismissed in favor for a sequence that displays comic talent or fine acting. With a screenplay that navigates between popularity, competition and celebrity, usually Zwigoff a natural at gelling the intricacies of dark humor, urban comedy and satire would have a field day with such social conventions – but here the commentary goes overboard or all over the board and the tone isn’t as clever as need be. From United Artists to Sony Pictures Classics, this one has been pushed around for a little while, a limited showing at a gallery near you should be expected.
Sundance 2006. Jan 26
