Ghost World
In Ghost World, we are welcomed into the zany world of Enid (Thora Birch) a too cool-for-everything hipster chick. She's accompanied by Rebecca (Scarlet Johansson) who is the normal one in the friendship. After their high school graduation, their hopes of living together and starting a life changed after Seymour (Steve Buscemi) comes into the picture.
Let me say this now rather than later, this movie was not what I expected. Rotten Tomatoes, IMBD, and Metacritic rated the moved 7.5/10, 93%, and 88%, respectively. They were all lies. The build up was slow. And with two hours there was no climax. Two hours of my valuable time to watch a girl be indecisive about a man who she never ended up with. It makes me question the screen writer's purpose. Enid was not a character made to be loved. Rebecca was made to be Enid’s polar opposite, and Steve Buscemi was that-weird-guy of the movie.
The two girls start out graduating from high school ready to discover the world. Well, that was Rebecca's intention. Enid gets caught in an obsession with Seymour, an older man who is just as zany as she. Enid's and Seymour's dialogue, on multiple occasions, gives light to real world conversations of fitting in and uniqueness. "I'm not even in the same universe as those creatures back there. I might as well be from another planet…." Seymour said. At a point in the conversation Enid responded, "Yeah, well, I can't relate to humanity either, but I don't think it's totally hopeless." Buscemi did an outstanding job with tactfully playing Seymour, and while Birch matched him in stiff body manner, her monotone voice didn’t compliment her character, nor their relationship.
We watch a rude, cocky, obnoxious Enid go through her life recklessly taking advantage of the people she associates with. Which makes us feel bad for the other characters in the movie; and they were very good a portraying their growing dislike for her. Johansson did a wonderful job of not giving off a frilly, naive girl, but a girl with determination.
Toward the beginning of the film, we see Enid’s and Rebecca's relationship. Together in their chill demeanor was challenged by their fake-BFF Margaret. It’s not clear whether she’s their age, but she runs into them and with her excited, preppy attitude, Enid and Rebecca easily give her the cold shoulder. The blocking of characters was great because while Margaret was in the middle, her presence never seemed to separate the two girls, figuratively. Another exceptional shot was Enid laying in her room listening to Seymour records and she was sitting in a bean bag with her feet up. The record playing was placed in the middle of her, and although long shots of characters showing little movement isn’t always appreciated, this one was. While the middle showed what was important to her, it was needed to portray was was not being said be straight dialogue.
Let me say this now rather than later, this movie was not what I expected. Rotten Tomatoes, IMBD, and Metacritic rated the moved 7.5/10, 93%, and 88%, respectively. They were all lies. The build up was slow. And with two hours there was no climax. Two hours of my valuable time to watch a girl be indecisive about a man who she never ended up with. It makes me question the screen writer's purpose. Enid was not a character made to be loved. Rebecca was made to be Enid’s polar opposite, and Steve Buscemi was that-weird-guy of the movie.
The two girls start out graduating from high school ready to discover the world. Well, that was Rebecca's intention. Enid gets caught in an obsession with Seymour, an older man who is just as zany as she. Enid's and Seymour's dialogue, on multiple occasions, gives light to real world conversations of fitting in and uniqueness. "I'm not even in the same universe as those creatures back there. I might as well be from another planet…." Seymour said. At a point in the conversation Enid responded, "Yeah, well, I can't relate to humanity either, but I don't think it's totally hopeless." Buscemi did an outstanding job with tactfully playing Seymour, and while Birch matched him in stiff body manner, her monotone voice didn’t compliment her character, nor their relationship.
We watch a rude, cocky, obnoxious Enid go through her life recklessly taking advantage of the people she associates with. Which makes us feel bad for the other characters in the movie; and they were very good a portraying their growing dislike for her. Johansson did a wonderful job of not giving off a frilly, naive girl, but a girl with determination.
Toward the beginning of the film, we see Enid’s and Rebecca's relationship. Together in their chill demeanor was challenged by their fake-BFF Margaret. It’s not clear whether she’s their age, but she runs into them and with her excited, preppy attitude, Enid and Rebecca easily give her the cold shoulder. The blocking of characters was great because while Margaret was in the middle, her presence never seemed to separate the two girls, figuratively. Another exceptional shot was Enid laying in her room listening to Seymour records and she was sitting in a bean bag with her feet up. The record playing was placed in the middle of her, and although long shots of characters showing little movement isn’t always appreciated, this one was. While the middle showed what was important to her, it was needed to portray was was not being said be straight dialogue.
The camera does a great deal of symmetry throughout the movie. Margaret in between Enid and Rebecca. The record player and Enid. Enid giving Seymour a Tastykake candle-lit birthday cake (Which is my favorite shot). The flapper dancing and the men around her. There were great choice shots of checking out characters, in the eye’s of Enid and Rebecca, and while there were many long shots of still movement, I could still feel partially engaged by what the movie intentionally wanted me to feel.
The colors in the movie were so washed out and boring. The most exciting part of the movie was the beginning, when we see flappers shaking and jiratting. After that, don’t expect much to come out of it. The lengths that were long with no action took up too much of the film, I was not expecting an action piece, but nothing… was… moving… on. Maybe my mind was going too fast for the movie.
I’m not sure if I learned anything, but what I did pick up on was how to get a character to be seen how we actually see people in real life. We take long moments to observe that to which we can appropriately react.
The colors in the movie were so washed out and boring. The most exciting part of the movie was the beginning, when we see flappers shaking and jiratting. After that, don’t expect much to come out of it. The lengths that were long with no action took up too much of the film, I was not expecting an action piece, but nothing… was… moving… on. Maybe my mind was going too fast for the movie.
I’m not sure if I learned anything, but what I did pick up on was how to get a character to be seen how we actually see people in real life. We take long moments to observe that to which we can appropriately react.