Ghost World (DVD)
Directed by: Terry Zwigoff
Written by: Daniel Clowes (comic book), Terry Zwigoff
Starring: Steve Buscemi, Thora Birch, Scarlett Johansson, Brad Renfro

Terry Zwigoff loves things in life that are strange, underappreciated and misunderstood. All of his films thus far have been a celebration of the bizarre and the obscure. There is his first film, Louie Bluie, a documentary about a little-known blues musician named Howard Armstrong, whom he spent years trying to track down after hearing him play on an old 1930’s record that was among Zwigoff’s vast record collection. There is his critically acclaimed second film, Crumb, also a documentary, this time a character study of the demented yet extremely influential underground comic book artist Robert Crumb.

For his third film, Zwigoff has given us Ghost World. It is his first fictional feature, and yet it is still a very personal one. Ghost World is based on the graphic novel of the same name by Daniel Clowes, with whom Zwigoff collaborated in order to create the film’s screenplay.

Ghost World (not to be confused with Ghost Dad starring Bill Cosby) is an extraordinary film about an 18 year old girl named Enid (Thora Birch) who has just graduated from high school along with her best friend Rebecca (Scarlett Johansson). They both have a great amount of contempt for their classmates, and very little optimism regarding their futures. The title of the film is a little misleading, in that the film really has nothing to do with ghosts, at least not in the literal sense. So if you’re hoping for The Sixth Sense or Poltergeist, you should probably look elsewhere.

As the story unravels we meet a wonderful assortment of quirky characters. There is Doug, the crazy metalhead dude who antagonizes the local variety story owner, there is Al, the depressed waiter at the local 60’s “retro” diner, and there is Roberta, Enid’s summer school art teacher who is all too concerned with the deeper meaning behind art as opposed to simply the surface appearance. And then there is Seymour (played to perfection by Steve Buscemi), the nerdy, middle-aged record collector whom Enid and Rebecca accidentally meet by responding to a personal ad as a joke. As time goes on, Enid starts to admire Seymour and they begin an unorthodox relationship, brought together by their shared experiences as societal outsiders. Rebecca, on the other hand, is more concerned with getting a job and moving on in her life, which creates tension between her and Enid.

Ghost World is quite literally a “teen comedy”, but a label like that would likely give the wrong impression as this movie is the exact opposite of something like, say.. American Pie. It has a dark, biting sense of humour more along the lines of Welcome To The Dollhouse (which is just fine with me). Despite many of the wacky characters in this film, it’s interesting to note that it actually feels a lot more familiar and more real than the other standard teenager coming-of-age stories, and I think that’s why this movie is so damn loveable.

The film looks quite pleasing, aesthetically speaking. All the shots would seem to be carefully constructed, with sets and costumes that are colourful and cartoony, feeling as though they are straight out of a comic book. Which of course, they are, except that Clowes’ comic was done in black and white. The original music used in the movie is also really cool. It sounds goofy and light-hearted yet it has an emotional impact to it because it is used sparingly.

This DVD does not have much in the way of special features. There are a few deleted scenes, but they are basically extended takes of scenes that are already in the film. I read somewhere that a lot of the deleted scenes were not approved for inclusion by Thora Birch. There is also a behind-the-scenes featurette, which is interesting because it shows panels from the original comic book, but other than that contains little substance. I wouldn’t be surprised if there is a special edition DVD released one of these days, but that is certainly no reason to miss out on this great film in the meantime. — Sean