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Ghost World: A love paeon to music and a trenchant
Why a review on a movie on KindaMuzik? Well, any movie that lovingly examines the lamentable lack of respect that America has for its musical heritage and packages it in the guise of a teen flick can't be all bad, right?
Tekst: Dave Weil
Publicatiedatum: 20 december 2001
Ghost World, which has nothing to do with horror themes (or theme
parks for that matter), is an independent film directed by Terry
Zwigoff, who filmed the story of the eccentric underground comic
artist and 78 rpm record collector R. Crumb. Zwigoff is himself a
record collector and plays occasionally with Crumb in a ragtime/blues
band and thus is imminently qualified to comment on the collector
mentality, which he does with devastating honesty.
Ghost World is based on Daniel Clowes' "reality comic" Ghost World, which is the story of two disaffected teenage girls and their battle with identity in an increasingly homogenized American society. Set in a land of strip malls (the cultural equivalent of strip mining) and mass-marketing, Clowes was brought in to co-write the screenplay.
Enid, played by Thora Birch, and Rebecca, handled by Scarlett Johanssen, have just graduated from high school. Due to a mean prank, they are thrust into the odd world of 78s collector Seymour, played by Steve Buscemi with a sense of quiet despair. Seymour is a 40 something introvert who has built his life around collecting ephemeral of early 20th century America. As is typical of many geeks, his people skills have atrophied, but he's able to connect to Enid through a blues sampler that he sells her. Even though she's more a Buzzcocks type, her alienated soul is touched by the otherworldly moanings of Skip James' song, Devil Got My Soul. This propels her to insinuate herself into Seymour's life, which sets some interesting developments in motion.
The movie is alternately sarcastic, trenchant and bittersweet. The deadpan performances only reinforces the struggle that many Americans have in trying to rise above the mediocrity that the society tries to impose. Beautifully filmed, and set against the grain of most teen films in that it uses long, languorous set pieces, this movie will move you in a quiet sort of way. Another nice touch is the fact that vinyl records are the quiet star of the movie, an encouraging development for analogue fans everywhere.
It opened to limited release in the US, Canada and the UK and
disappeared almost without a trace. I suspect that it will be a quiet
video hit due to the word of mouth generated by those who have seen
it. Hopefully, it will open soon (and might have already for all I
know) in continental Europe. Don't miss this "small" movie if you can
help it. You'll be touched in some strange places and you'll chuckle
at the same time.
http://www.kindamuzik.net/achtergrond/709/ghost-world-a-love-paeon-to-music-and-a-trenchant/978/
Meer op KindaMuzik: http://www.kindamuzik.net/artiest/709
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