Ghost World
Note: Ghost World comes to video and DVD on February 5th, 2002.
One of the best movies of 2001 is about to become one of the best DVDs of 2002.
Ghost World, directed by the extraordinary Terry Zwigoff of Crumb fame and written by Zwigoff and Dan Clowes, is a transcendent journey through the world of two young women, fresh out of high school, and fresh out of ideas about what to do next. The DVD will be released February 5th.
It's a common enough scenario, disaffected teens struggling to find an identity and a purpose in life, but Zwigoff and Clowes take each moment in the film and come at it from an unexpected angle. They seem to delight in revealing unexpected quirks and character traits in everyone who occupies the screen, and the actors all rise to the occasion of what strikes me as an extraordinarily challenging script. A lot of the things the people in Ghost World do are not very nice, but the characters are explored in (sometimes disturbing) detail, and lent a humanity that sticks with you long after the movie is over.
A great deal of the credit for the power of the movie must be given to the actors. Thora Birch and Scarlett Johansson are outstanding in the way they bring life to these characters. Clowes originally created Enid and Becky (the main characters here) in his Eightball comic book from Fantagraphics, but Birch (who was so luminiscent in American Beauty) and Johansson bring even more depth and insight to the pair. I was entranced by Enid and Becky when they only existed on paper. On the screen, I find them irresistible and fascinating.
The story of Ghost World (the movie) will seem familiar to readers of the graphic novel, but don't think you can skip seeing the film if you've read the book. Clowes and Zwigoff lift scenes, themes and dialogue from the comic, but add new characters, scenes and plot complications to make this a tighter narrative, and a haunting film. Steve Buscemi, for example, would be in the movie for about 30 seconds if it was a straight adaptation of the graphic novel. Instead, his character is given a name and a life, and as Enid takes him on as her project (trying to find him a girlfriend), the deepening of his story adds even more to our understanding and sympathy for Enid.
One of the unexpected consequences of the new direction the plot goes in is to add even more division between Enid and Becky. The two clearly want different thingcs, different lives. But they've shared the same life for so long that they are terrified to step away from each other; especially Becky, who seems to have mapped out their lives together, and is shocked and hurt when she sees that Enid wants something different. The wall that comes up between them is heartbreaking, especially in the scene in which it appears that they will, after all, live together. As Enid unpacks her small box of stuff she has brought to the apartment they will share, there is a palpable sadness and a sense that she has lost something unknowable in giving up and following the course Becky expects her to. Zwigoff and Clowes both excel at depicting sadness and loss and misery in their work, and Birch and Johansson are more than up to the task of translating these complex emotions into three dimensions.
It's early to start talking about the best DVDs of the year, but there's no way there will be ten better than this. If you didn't see this when it was in theaters, then you need to see it on DVD or video.
DVD Features:
While the DVD features a beautiful, crisp and clear image and top-notch sound, the extra features may disappoint viewers who aren't satisfied by the excellence of the film. The main highlight of the special features is the music video "Jaan Pehechaan Ho," a bizarre Indian rock video from 1965 that feels very much like a segment from the Batman TV series, masks and skewed camera angles included. This clip plays an important role in the film's opening moments, and as such is a welcome addition.
There is a documentary "featurette" that runs about 12 minutes and has a little behind the scenes stuff and interviews with cast and crew, but this is a film that deserves a much weighter examination than this short piece.
I'm told that Thora Birch and Scarlett Johansson wouldn't give their approval for their alternate scenes to be included with this release, and that's a shame. Seeing alternate takes and deleted scenes is one of the delights of the DVD format, and the paltry offering here makes me long for a "definitive Edition" of this disc. There are trailers included as well, but of the four, strangely only two are for Ghost World. I cannot count ads for The Terminator and The Princess Bride as worthwhile extras, sorry.
I include these comments only for the most picky of DVD buyers. The fact is that Ghost World is the best movie ever made based on a comic book, and one of the best movies I've seen, period. This is a moving coming-of-age drama with a unique perspective and a heart-tugging subtext of sadness, emptiness, and sweetness. In that regard, it's a lot like life, and it's a film I treasure.