I love how cynical this film is, the embodiment of a
narcissistic artist persona with a craving for fame and ultimate glorification
through pretentious absurdity. You can't expect a movie about art school to be
accurate. It has to have all the usual clichés about what it is to be an
artist. One thing it definitely gets right is how students take criticism
personally. To anyone who has ever studied in a Fine Art School, this film is
for you!! You will recognize all the classic characters in this story.
The film is directed by Terry Zwigoff who is one of the most
original and funny filmmakers of all time. Zwigoff is quite familiar with the
independent Clowes comic. He was the director of the fantastic and essential
documentary Crumb (1994) about the independent and underground artist Robert
Crumb and, more important in regard to this film, he adapted the graphic novel
of Daniel Clowes Ghostly World to the big screen, resulting in the movie Ghost
World (2001) with Thora Birch and Scarlett Johansson.
While the cinematic adaptation of the superb graphic novel
Ghostly World paled in comparison to the original work, resulting in a correct
but not very interesting film, this time the result is excellent, possibly
because the story on which it is based does not have the entity and the weight
that Ghostly World has.
The film has the problem that much of it was already done much
better in Enid’s summer art class in Ghost World (the cheap feminist
“tampon-in-a-teacup trick” was taken from Clowes’s original “Art School
Confidential” strip). Indeed, one suspects that had Ghost World not been so
lauded, Art School Confidential would never have been conceived, let alone
made. It has all the failings of a sequel without actually being a sequel.
Art School Confidential is a four-page story in which Clowes
satirizes and ruthlessly mocks the elitist, pedantic and snobbish atmosphere of
an art school, based on his own experience at the Pratt art school in New York.
This short story is expanded by Daniel Clowes himself and becomes a mixture of
suspense, satire and black comedy: Jerome (Minghella) arrives as a student at
Strathmore art school with the dream of becoming an artist. However, it clashes
with the pedantry and bad taste of a series of quirky teachers and students. In
addition, poor Jerome falls in love with Audrey (Sophia Myles), a model of the
school and persecuted by other students. To finish complicating Jerome's
existence, a mysterious murderer is dedicated to strangling people related to
the school.
The strong point of the film is found in the portrait of the
school and its inhabitants. The most negative aspects of pedantry and snobbery
are mercilessly satirized and make up the funniest part of the movie. Thanks
also to the great secondary work like John Malkovich who plays one of the most
ridiculous teachers in the academy. The subtext of strangulation is
entertaining, although it really doesn't matter until the end. The dramatic
aspects around the sentimental story between Jerome and Sophia are correct. It
is nothing we have not seen before, but it is carried in a smart enough way to
interest us.
The film manages to make us laugh, but it is its reflections
on art (be it painting, cinema or clothing design) that make it stand out. It
is also a reminder that not all comics or all comic book adaptations are
starring muscular men with tights. This one is an ensemble of hilarity with a
thriller twist, pure comedy gold!
Direction: Terry Zwigoff
Script: Daniel Clowes (Comic: Daniel Clowes)
Music: David Kitay
Photography: Jamie Anderson
Cast:
Max Minghella, Sophia Myles, John Malkovich, Jim Broadbent,
Anjelica Huston, Ethan Suplee, Matt Keeslar, Joel David Moore, Scoot McNairy
