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Ghost World [2001]


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Editorial
Amazon.co.uk Review

In an inspired opening, Ghost World begins with a montage from a 1960s Bollywood video and voyeuristic shots of the neighbours of the eponymous suburban town. This is teenage angst taken beyond the realms of the pure sexual frustration of American Pie, onto the level of displacement.

Just what lies in store for two girls after school has finished? Enid (Thora Birch) and Rebecca (Scarlett Johansson) mull over life, love and the weird and wonderful inhabitants of the small town of Ghost World. But while Rebecca attempts to "grow up" by getting a job and an apartment, Enid is forced into summer Art School and begins a friendship with the sad loner Seymour (Steve Buscemi), who has more of a relationship with his seven-inches than the human race. The girls' relationship begins to strain and as the story progresses Rebecca appears in both Enid’s life and the film, less and less.

Based on the comics by Daniel Clowes, which have themselves been acclaimed as a modern-day Catcher in the Rye, and directed by Terry (Crumb) Zwigoff, Ghost World is a beautiful exploration of the confusions and choices faced by young adults. Although criticised for being slow in places, the film's pace adds extra realism to its exposure of the constraints of small-town life. The poignant ending leaves us unsure about what’s next for Enid; though from what we’ve learnt through the course of the film, going it alone and making big decisions is the only way to reap the rewards in an uncertain life.

On the DVD: Ghost World on disc comes with a standard range of special features, including a photo gallery (mainly of Birch in her distinctive costumes), trailers and one subtitle option: English for the hard of hearing. In the section entitled "Daniel Clowes’ Ghost World" there's a tour of his old neighbourhood, the inspiration for the comic, in which the author states he never made anything up; a self portrait and Clowes talking about the process of turning his comic into a film--which is about as close as you will get on this disc to a commentary. --Nikki Disney

Editorial
DVD Description

DVD Special Features:

Three featurettes of artis Daniel Clowes on his own Ghost World
TV and Radio Spots
Theatrical Trailer
Photo Gallery
Interactive menus and scene access
Widesceen 1.85:1
Languages: Audio 5.1 English
Subtitles: English

Editorial
Synopsis

Terry Zwigoff finally follows up his 1994 breakout success, CRUMB, with this infectious, insightful, and ultimately sad look at teenage angst and boredom in suburbia that recalls such films as WELCOME TO THE DOLLHOUSE and RUSHMORE as well as MTV's excellent DARIA series. The screenplay, written by Zwigoff and Daniel Clowes, is based on Clowes's underground comic book, GHOST WORLD. Best friends Enid and Rebecca have graduated from high school, and now they need to figure out what comes next. Rebecca gets a menial job at a coffee shop and starts looking for an apartment, while Enid wallows in her miserable (Daria-like) worldview, in which all jobs are sellouts and nearly all people are creeps, geeks, and losers. But when she plays a practical joke on the biggest dud of them all, Seymour, a lonely man who lives only for his collection of classic 78s, her life gets turned upside as she finds herself needing him in ways she never thought possible. Thora Birch (Enid) and Steve Buscemi (Seymour) are nothing short of marvelous in their complex roles, and they receive ample support from Scarlet Johansson, Bob Balaban, Teri Garr, Brad Renfro, Illeana Douglas, and the great David Cross. The excellent soundtrack includes songs by Skip James, Blueshammer, the Buzzcocks, Lionel Belasco, Vince Giordano and the Nighthawks, and Mohammed Rafi, among others. Note to Buscemi fans: There's a small bit at the end of the credits, so stick around.
Editorial
From the Back Cover

Deliciously dry and quirky, Ghost World, based on the cult comic book, is like no other teen comedy you've seen before! Original and terrifically funny, Ghost World is a raw-edged comedy that follows Enid (Thora Birch) and Rebecca (Scarlett Johansson), two teenage girls who have always been too cool to bother with the losers at their High School. Embarrassing the local "freaks" and laughing at all around, their friendship is founded on the mutual conviction that pretty much everything sucks!

But when a practical joke on a malcontent named Seymour (Steve Buscemi), backfires, their lives start to turn upside down and Enid and Rebecca struggle to maintain their friendship. Ultra-cool, ultra-funny whilst still being warm and touching, this is a film that's refreshingly different and a total blast.



Funny!... Refreshing!...Poignant!!!!
Review date: 2008-08-08 Rating: 8 out of 10

This is a really enjoyable film. Focussing its attentions upon the young person's search for identity,the perpetuation/cessation of teen-angst malaise and the fear of conventionality, this is a proverbial hoot. A cracking, well-structured script infectiously and sympathetically portrays an early, formative rites-of-passage tale with infectious and engaging humour. Everything that "Juno" ought to have been but wasn't, this is a must-see movie!

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Reviews


No ghosts, but funny in a sweet and melancholy way
Review date: 2007-05-11 Rating: 10 out of 10

The phone rings. Enid says, "Aren't you going to answer that?"

Seymour says, "I have no desire to talk to anyone who wants to talk to me."

He picks it up anyway and listens and then says, "That's my mother."

I just about cracked up.

Well, the whole movie cracked me up. It's a work of art from indie auteur Terry Zwigoff whom I recall as the director of the edgy documentary Crumb (1994). For some reason, as I was watching this, I thought it was directed by Todd Solondz who directed the amazingly real and funny Welcome to the Doll House (1995). I imagined this as a kind of high school/out of high school progression from the junior high school of Welcome to the Doll House. It could be, actually, with Thora Birch playing an older Dawn Weiner and having all those bad things happen to her, but still managing to survive it all. Both Enid Coleslaw and Dawn Weiner are amazingly true to life and also amazingly talented and unappreciated outsiders in this arbitrary and capricious world. Birch (whom I remember vividly from American Beauty 1999) in her glasses and all those campish outfits over her rather ample figure was just outstanding.

Scarlett Johansson who plays her friend Rebecca was as vivid as my high school date on prom night and actually prettier (I have to admit). She was also outstanding. Both Johansson and Birch are charismatic in a way that will glue your eyes to the screen. They play ultra cynical slackers who love to satirize the world and their fellow creatures as they hide their vulnerability from themselves. They are so cute.

Steve Buscemi plays Seymour, a kind of autobiographical alter ego of cartoonist Daniel Clowes (thus Enid's last name, "Coleslaw") who wrote the comic from which he and Zwigoff adapted the movie. Buscemi manages a tricky part calling for old school dorkishness, vulnerability and self-consciousness portrayed in an ultimately winning and sympathetic way.

There are a lot of amusing insider "trivia" comments about this movie at IMDb, including the fact that Sophie Crumb, daughter of Robert Crumb, did the drawings in Enid's notebook. One of the most amusing is this: "The actor who plays the high school principal in the graduation scene also plays one of the customers in the porno shop. This was not intentional--Terry Zwigoff cast him as a porno shop customer forgetting that he also played the principal."

Right.

See this for Zwigoff who has the eye and the ear of a genius, a man who knows the hearts of his characters and the mass culture they live in, and how to satirize them both, but gently with affection.

Original, wacky and often very funny
Review date: 2007-05-09 Rating: 8 out of 10

I loved this film. It is based on a comic strip book by Daniel Clowes. In one of the extras on the DVD, he explains that the title, 'Ghost World', comes from some graffiti on a garage door in his neighbourhood and he conceived it as the name of the fictional locality or town. Don't expect a ghost story!

The main characters are two young women who have just finished high school - the Jewish Enid (Thora Birch) and her 'Arian' friend, Rebecca (Scarlett Johansson). They both affect hatred of all humanity. Enid is the ringleader and she hits out at society with considerable inventiveness and malicious wit and is only constrained by compulsory attendance at art classes as a condition of her graduation. One prank leads to the third main character. They read a 'lonely hearts' ad and reply to the phone number given and pretend to be the woman the advertiser is looking for, asking him to be in a local diner at a certain time. They turn up at the time specified, identify him from his demeanour and watch him sink into despair as he realises he has been had. The pair follow him home and later engineer a meeting. Enid strikes up a relationship with the man whose name is Seymour (Steve Buscemi). He is a sad character with floppy hair and buck teeth, and he is a bit of a nerd, collecting 78 records, some very rare. He hates sports and rock and roll and regards himself as unattractive and generally a hopeless case.

Rebecca, meanwhile, has got a job and is becoming more sensible by the day. She largely drifts out of the story while Enid acts as a sorcerer's apprentice with Seymour's life. At first her puppeteer's influence is beneficial and this is mirrored in her success at her art class. Her teacher eventually sees her as possessing considerable originality but she is really plagiarising Seymour's ideas and misusing a picture she borrows from him. Her actions, which have been a bit of a lark up to now, become destructive all of a sudden and this leads to a the beginnings of a transformation.

The film is populated by a host of grotesque comic characters which add greatly to the enjoyment and, after the credits, there is an additional comic scene which reverses the outcome of one of the scenes in the main film - a nice touch.

The acting is outstanding throughout. The true soul of American film still resides in these independent productions and 'Ghost World' is another example of the inventiveness, creativity and technical skill found in these productions. An excellent antidote to Hollywood banality.

The Awkwardness Of Adolescence
Review date: 2007-05-02 Rating: 10 out of 10

I have seen this movie a few times now and i enjoy it every single time. Enid (Thora Birch) and Rebbecca (Scarlett Johansson) are two outsiders who have just graduated from high school not really knowing what they want to do with their lives (except having jobs and renting an apartment together). Enid and Rebbecca one day prank call a lonely hearts ad, they stand him up as a joke but Enid realizing from that moment she and him aren't that different she feels sorry for him and later befriends him.
Enid enrolls in an art summer school while Rebbecca works to get the apartment shes been wanting most of her life, while their friendship seems to deteriorate over the plot of the movie, Enid and Seymour (Steve Buscemi)begin to get close the most unlikely pairing from the outside but rather similar as feeling an isolation and rejection from society after being alot different from the 'norm'.
Alot of people slated this film for not really having a storyline, I guess have never felt a bit of an outcast to realize the issues of the movie. I have to admit the end was a bit disappointing i was expecting more but all in all i love the movie.
If you ever get the chance to read Daniel Clowes' graphic novels (of which the film was adapted from) then i suggest it, he is a talented man.
I recommend this for more of a teenage to young adult audience one of my staple movies growing up.



Terrible
Review date: 2006-10-22 Rating: 2 out of 10

Perhaps I'm a generation too old but this was the worst film I've ever seen. Totally boring and depressing. Where is the story?

Product Details/Specifications


Actor(s):
Illeana Douglas
Steve Buscemi
Brad Renfro
Scarlett Johansson
Thora Birch

Creators:
Thora Birch (Primary Contributor)
Scarlett Johansson (Primary Contributor)

Director(s):

Recording label: Icon Home Entertainment
Manufacturer: Icon Home Entertainment
EAN: 7321900931984
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 1
Format: PAL, Widescreen,
Release date: 2002-05-20
Number of discs: 1
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Audience rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
Region code: 2
Running time: 110 minutes
Theatrical release date: 2001-10-18
Language: English (Original Language)
Language: English (Subtitles For The Hearing Impaired)
Language: English (Subtitled)

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