Ghost World

Terry Zwigoff has created an excellent parable about disaffected youth in "Ghost World". The character of Enid (memorably played by Thora Birch) is a sardonic iconoclast, and a bit of a hero to me. She has her own style, speaks her razor sharp mind, and truly doesn't care what people think about her. Picture a female, proactive version of Holden Caulfield. I desperately wish I were more like Enid when I was in high school.

Enid's partner in crime is Rebecca (Scarlett Johannson), who has one foot in the offbeat world Enid inhabits, and the other foot in the mainstream world Enid loathes. Rebecca's one of those types who never seem to mean what they're saying, not because of dishonesty, but because of lack of self-knowledge and security. When these two pals start to drift apart after they graduate from high school, Enid latches on to champion loser Seymour (Steve Buschemi, who seems to live for these kinds of roles), a devoted record collector. Through one long, seemingly uneventful summer, Enid takes a good look at the world around her, and a painful series of events force her to find her own place in it.

I adored this anti-"teen movie", and it was so refreshing to see a heroine who wasn't a blandly blonde, pool cue shaped cheerleader who spouted out adorable one-liners. Enid is a proud loner and rebel, who wears her crazy wardrobe and Truman Capote glasses with pride. Zwigoff never allows the movie to be Hollywood saccharine or indie film depressing. It's full of realistic, human characters we've all known at one time or another. I was further amazed by how true to life "Ghost World" is. Nothing in the film turns out the way you expect it to, but, really, isn't that just the same as life?

A significant number of reviews I have read regarding Ghost World complain about "nothing" happening. This is simply untrue. Having read the book by Daniel Clowes and being sceptical and admiring of it in roughly equal measure, I was very pleased to see the film far surpassed the book in excellence. Another book that can be likened to Ghost World is The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger, and even The Graduate shares themes with Ghost World. The narrative revolves in all three around characters who have reached a juncture in their life where the road splits many different ways, causing confusion.

The wonderful thing about Ghost World, however, is that Enid's reluctance to grow old is accentuated by the other characters ensuring their lives advance. Even Seymour "grows up" when he finally meets his attractive blonde. Constant reminders of Enid's immaturity make this film. When the two visit Josh's apartment and he is not in, Enid scrawls an immature and explicit note to him and hangs it on the door knob. But we hear Becky ask "Are you really gonna leave that?" This is one of the first signs of a difference between Becky and Enid. More follow, particularly the job hunting fiasco, in which Becky quickly finds and keeps her bum counter job in a coffee house, where as Enid jumps from job to job, her immature cynicism ensuring job loss.

Plenty happens in this film. Not least the ending, which, contrary to something I have read, is not an ending that the director rashly consturcting to rescue a failing storyline. Thankfully, the ending from the book was retained for the film, and it proves to be similarly poignant on screen. This is not a bus to nowhere, it is a bus out of nowhere. Enid finally finds a direction in her life - even if the direction is wide and undefined.

My only criticisms of Ghost World is that 1) the directing was tepid, showing little flare whatsoever, which detracts from the film and 2) Enid's university application in the book was not kept in the film. This was a particularly pivotal point in the book I felt, and it was unfortunate it was not kept in the film.

However, the acting is enjoyable - Buscemi is wonderful as the lugubrious Seymour and Birch is commendable as Enid. The comedy is a plus point in the film, however, I object to it being defined as a comedy, as the book was not and people may have seen this film expecting incisive comedy when the real story is far far more subtle than the frank comedy.

Definitely see this film. The desperate nature of the two protagonists is quite heartbreaking, the comedy characters are suitably cliched to ensure lightweight laughs (such as the hilarious store manager), and the ending is very good.

I give this film eight out of ten.

For a few weeks, the daily life of Rebecca and Enid, two teenagers who spend their time complaining and pesting, with a decided opinion on almost everything, without any diplomatic filter. One could almost think they were educated in France, at least partially. Thus, following their 4381st perfidy of the week, they meet Seymour, a lonely middle-aged music aficionado. Surprisingly, in contact with Seymour, Enid discovers the concept of benevolence. Despite the 25-year gap, they seem connected with real affinities. In fact, the film takes place at a time when Rebecca and Enid have just graduated from high school, and what seemed to be gratuitous malice is probably more an uncontrolled anger based on the fear of leaving their adolescence to join a world they hardly appreciate: the adult society. They fear to grow up and move on. In a way, Seymour was a transition or a key milestone for Enid: the perfect guy, at the perfect time. Thanks to Seymour, Enid has matured and learned to live differently, with a significantly more open mind. The world does not revolves anymore around herself: she is now part of it. Time to take a bus to discover it! Like Jules Winnfield said during the coffee shop conversation, within Pulp Fiction (1994), she's now gonna walk the earth from town to town, meet people, get in adventures.

The movie is complex, smart and well constructed. And the cast is globally awesome, with a special mention to Steve Buscemi, Thora Birch and Illeana Douglas.

Movies that criticise the world can fall into many traps, leaving the viewer to feel jaded by the film's experience. Ghost World's witty appraisal of 'America' successfully avoids being childishly caustic or self-important and thus emerges as one of the best films of 2001. We sympathise with Enid (the luscious Thora Birch) without being expected to completely believe that her cynical world-view is necessarily the right one. Enid's (and her best-friend Rebecca's)negativity is turned on all around them, and their obsessive need to be cool but on their own terms sees them take post-modernism to its absurd conclusion.

Enid's bizarre costume choices mean that she stands out from the rest of her baggy-panted generation, and in one scene is infuriated that no-one, even Rebecca, understands her 'original 1977 punk look' she's testing out.

The fact that we should not fully empathise with Enid is shown by the contrasting character arc of Rebecca. There is a definite sense that she grows up over the course of the movie, but not in a "what have we learned about life" Disney way. Perhaps she has sold out to the conservative ideals that seemed so repulsive to them at the beginning of the movie, but just as Enid ultimately fulfils her desires, so does Becky live out her 'seventh grade fantasy'. The important thing is not the choices people make, but whether they make choices with which they are happy.

The movie's main targets are people who betray themselves in an effort to fit in, and their resulting stupidity by doing so. But the people who have remained true to their values (like Steve Buscemi's Seymour, in a performance that should have been at least nominated for an Academy Award), are portrayed as leading equally vacuous lives. Seymour's infrequent attempts to achieve 'normality' are galling for us to observe, and near soul-destroying for him to experience.

This is an excellent movie. Thora Birch gives her most confident performance to date, and Scarlett Johansson is superbly laconic as Enid's icy side-kick. The supporting cast all shine. Strongly recommended!

Two female high school grads plan to get jobs and hang together, but bonds become frayed and paths separate after one of the girls ends up on an unintended journey of self-discovery. From the comic-book which takes a perverse delight in celebrating the geeky side of all of us, "Ghost World" is profane and cynical, but also surprisingly blithe and bright. I rather enjoyed it but realize it's not for every taste. Thora Birch and Scarlett Johansson are incredibly rich and vivid in their roles (low-keyed, deadpan, but not blanks); their love-hate friendship is convincing and blessedly free of melodramatics--even they seem to cherish the personality conflicts that come up, it may give them more ammunition. As for the ending, I'm not sure whether it is ingenious or a cop-out, but it did leave me touched (in a bemused, nostalgic way). A movie with much to offer. *** from ****