Art School Confidential

The beginning of this movie was hilarious. Jerome goes to art school and meets zany characters, including his gay roommate, his wannabe filmmaker roommate, and his art teacher (played by John Malkovich). The dialogue was witty. The audience loved the satire of modern art, because we all know how ridiculous modern art can be yet we must be polite and insightful when looking at it. Everyone could relate to the perverted college humor. Unfortunately, all this silliness ended. Right in the middle, the movie took a turn of tone and with it took the refreshingly simple but fun plot.

Art School Confidential suddenly became serious about its characters, including the mysterious strangler. The decision to transform the movie into a serious mystery was it's major flaw. With this move, the writers felt they had to incorporate a more confusing plot to achieve a mysterious tone. By the end, the initial idea of simply amusing the audience was lost because of the poorly-crafted mystery, leaving the audience disappointed.

Why do filmmakers do this? They think because we have paid to see an indie movie, we want an obscure plot twist topped off with an unresolved ending. It's like having ice cream, fun and simple, then someone comes over and adds a twist of lime and tops it off with crab apples! Obscure, but no fun because it tastes weird and you were content with the ice cream by itself. I recommend the first hour of this movie.

I came into this film expecting a mean, rude comedy in the vein of Zwigoff's previous effort Bad Santa (a film which has more brains than it gets credit for). For the first 3/4 or so of the film, that's what I got, and I enjoyed every second. Towards the last bit, the film takes a turn darker than you would expect. This sudden twist, unexpected as it was, did not feel trite or convoluted. More fascinating.

Make no mistake this a dark comedy in the truest definition. There is something about the ending that is supremely haunting.

Ethan Suplee provides the hyper-actively aggressive role he has become beloved for. Malkovich does not disappoint as the burnt-out and oh-so-full-of-crap art professor. Jim Broadbent channels Chuck Bukowski here as he barks like a pit-bull and alternately purrs like a tabby as the disheveled failed artist/ nihilistic mentor of our boy Jerome, who just may be the only unpretentious and truly talented student at Strathmore University. Throw in Anjelica Huston and Steve Buscemi in delightfully understated roles, a string of murders courtesy of the mythical Strathmore Strangler, and the positively stunning Sophia Myles as the nude drawing class model Audrey who becomes both the object of Jerome's affection and the source of his disillusion, and you have got a dysfunctional masterpiece.

First off, let me just say how much I love Max Minghella. I saw Bee Season at a film festival a while back and straight off knew he was going to do fantastic things with his career. So far he's proved me right.

I have been anticipating Art School Confidential for a long time. I found out about it through the IMDb, and as a big fan of Zwigoff's previous work, I was really looking forward to seeing what he was going to do with the fabulous cast he had assembled (Malkovich, Huston, Buscemi, etc). The movie did not disappoint.

The beginning of the film is about what I expected- cute, off-beat story about a talented geek who goes to art school and pursues the girl of his dreams. And then it got dark. And then it got very dark. And then it got extremely dark. I soon realized I had no idea where it was going to take me next, and that excited me. The 'mystery' aspect of the movie is brilliantly done as well- it keeps you just well informed enough that you have about a 50/50 chance of figuring it out preemptively, and you'll always realize what's going on just when you need to.

I have read reviews that called Art School Confidential misanthropic, among other things. I disagree. It has misanthropic aspects, misanthropic characters, but overall I found that it ended on an expressly positive note. I absolutely loved the ending. Five minutes before it ended, I wasn't sure how it was going to end, and that, in my opinion, is the best way to do it. Zwigoff's direction is also very impressive. There's a distinct difference in the atmosphere throughout- it starts out looking and feeling sunnier and lighter, and as Minghella's character becomes darker, so does the look of the movie. Just one of those little things that adds to the overall experience.

Art School Confidential thoroughly covers ground that Ghost World touched on briefly- namely, the line between art and BS. It is clearly a subject on which Terry Zwigoff has a lot to say, and he says it very eloquently. The cast is great, the music is great, the direction is great. Go see it. And let me say again... I love Max Minghella. Here's hoping he doesn't turn to stupid teen flicks to pay the bills.

What's fascinating about the films of Terry Zwigoff is the relativity contained within--for as shockingly vulgar, tasteless, and non-PC a punchline can be, it is made funny because we have seen the characters in some form in our own lives, and ultimately empathize with their plight (the self-loathing mall Santa of "Bad Santa"; the disaffected teenage girls of "Ghost World"; the hopeless introverted romantics of "Art School Confidential"); instead of pointing a mocking finger and getting a laugh at someone else's expense, Zwigoff's humor hits a note that insists "we've all been here before, and we can laugh about it." His films also possess an underlying sincerity (and humanity) that goes unseen in the over-confident Hollywood claptrap that stinks up theaters nowadays.

"Art School Confidential," Zwigoff's second collaboration with cartoonist/screenwriter Daniel Clowes ("Ghost World") is another modest coming-of-age film of subtle implication. The world of Strathmore College, an art school located in the inner city, is presented as a heavily-satirized den of losers, where Jerome (Max Minghella) is looking to become, in his words, "the greatest living American artist." He rooms with obnoxious film student Vince (Ethan Suplee), who is working on an amateur film about a rash of on-campus murders, naively romances pretty art model Audrey (Sophia Myles, "Underworld"), and is given tragic (yet hilarious) words of wisdom by Jimmy (Jim Broadbent), a burned-out alcoholic and former student. When met with disenchantment and disappointment over the pretentious students and the professors (including John Malkovich, who does a funny reprise of his "Shadow of the Vampire" persona) who ignore his work, Jerome hatches a self-destructive plot that eventually--through ridiculous circumstances we believe anyway--lands him in prison.

While "Art School Confidential" sometimes seems at the mercy of far too many subplots, the eclectic group of art students and wayward adults are so wonderfully depicted (even if more than a few are outright bastards) they make the film irresistible. Zwigoff's films often come off as pleasant anachronisms of cinematic technique--his lovers always bear more in common with the stars of early cinema than their magazine-friendly counterparts; yet at the same time, he can pull more hilarity out of a truly tasteless joke than any other director working today (the best go to Suplee and Joel More). Directors who attempt this kind of crude/sensitive balance usually fail--Zwigoff, however, is both in touch with his inner romantic and child. The end result of "Art School Confidential" is intelligent, bitingly satirical, magically romantic, and filled with irreverent hilarity.

I think that those who felt the movie started as an excellent parody of art schools but then failed by turning dark, you've missed the point. By turning dark, you start to fear for the main character only to be confronted by the fact that the art world is so ridiculous, it will laud anyone for the most insane reasons. Jerome's art was considered boring until he wasn't. It's not that the movie turned dark...it had to go in that direction to reach the ultimate parody.

As someone who is regularly disappointed by what passes for art today, it was refreshing to see this confronted in such an open arena. It's a disappointment that people without skills have succeeded-- and that art is the only discipline where professors are afraid to give out poor grades. I certainly experienced this in my art days. Students who put in the effort and failed to complete the requirements would still receive a good grade because they'd put in the effort.

This film is fantastic because it goes to the extreme to comment on art today.